1961–62 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. Not Ranked
AP	No. Not Ranked

1961–62 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1 Ohio State	13	–	1	.929	26	–	2	.929
Wisconsin	10	–	4	.714	17	–	7	.708
Purdue	9	–	5	.643	17	–	7	.708
Illinois	7	–	7	.500	15	–	8	.652
Indiana	7	–	7	.500	13	–	11	.542
Iowa	7	–	7	.500	13	–	11	.542
Minnesota	6	–	8	.429	10	–	14	.417
Michigan	5	–	9	.357	7	–	17	.292
Michigan State	3	–	11	.214	8	–	14	.364
Northwestern	3	–	11	.214	8	–	15	.348

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1961–62 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1961-62 Fighting Illini basketball team bounced back from a miserable season the year prior. Head coach Harry Combes non-conference season was nearly perfect with an 8-1 record. The only blemish for the University of Illinois was a home loss to Cornell. The most unusual thing about this season was the fact that the Illini played three neutral court games in Chicago. This would also be the final full season that the Fighting Illini would play their home games at Huff Hall.

The 1961-62 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer and team "MVP" Dave Downey. It also saw the return of team captain Jerry Colangelo, juniors Bill Burwell, Bill Small, Bob Starnes as well as senior Doug Mills. The Illini also added sophomore John Love to their lineup. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 7 wins and 7 losses, finishing in a 4th place tie in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 15 wins and 8 losses. The starting lineup included Bill Burwell at the center position, Bill Small and Jerry Colangelo at guard and Dave Downey and Bob Starnes at the forward slots.^[2]

Roster

No.	Player	Position	Height	Weight	Class	Hometown	High School
14	John Love	Forward	6-3	190	Sophomore	Ottawa, Illinois	Ottawa Township High School
20	Jerry Renner	Forward	6-1	180	Junior	Aurora, Illinois	East Aurora High School
21	Sam Leeper	Guard	6-0	165	Senior	Tolono, Illinois	Unity High School
22	Jay Lovelace	Guard	6-2	165	Junior	Carbondale, Illinois	Carbondale Community High School
23	Jerry Colangelo (captain)	Guard	6-2	175	Senior	Chicago Heights, Illinois	Bloom High School
25	Bill Burwell	Center	6-8	243	Junior	Brooklyn, New York	Boys High School
30	Jeff Ferguson	Guard	6-3	180	Junior	Benton, Illinois	Benton Consolidated High School
31	Doug Mills	Guard	6-0	165	Senior	Galesburg, Illinois	Galesburg High School
32	Bill Edwards	Guard	6-3	190	Sophomore	Windsor, Illinois	Windsor High School
35	Clyde Kramer	Forward	6-4	185	Sophomore	Erie, Illinois	Erie High School
40	Dave Downey	Forward	6-4	195	Junior	Canton, Illinois	Canton High School
41	Jerry Curless	Guard	6-0	165	Senior	Table Grove, Illinois	VIT High School
44	Bob Starnes	Forward	6-4	180	Junior	Chicago, Illinois	Gage Park High School
53	Bill Small	Guard	6-2	185	Junior	Aurora, Illinois	West Aurora High School
54	Phil LaRussa	Center	6-6	210	Sophomore	Walnut, Illinois	Walnut High School

Head Coach: Harry Combes (15th year at Illinois)^[3]

Schedule

Source^[4]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
12/1/1961* no, no	No. NR	vs. Butler	W 82-72	1-0	Huff Hall (4,960) Champaign, IL
12/9/1961* no, no	No. NR	@ Oklahoma	W 72–60	2-0	McCasland Field House (3,000) Norman, OK
12/12/1961* no, no	No. NR	vs. Creighton	W 70-61	3-0	Huff Hall (6,017) Champaign, IL
12/16/1961* no, no	No. NR	vs. Iowa State	W 82-73	4-0	Huff Hall (6,437) Champaign, IL
12/18/1961* no, no	No. NR	vs. Xavier	W 81-69	5-0	Huff Hall (6,717) Champaign, IL
12/23/1961* no, no	No. NR	vs. Cornell	L 60-72	5-1	Huff Hall (5,258) Champaign, IL
12/28/1961* no, no	No. NR	vs. Manhattan	W 61-56	6-1	Chicago Stadium (3,000) Chicago, IL
12/30/1961* no, no	No. NR	vs. Colgate	W 88-50	7-1	Chicago Stadium (6,000) Chicago, IL
1/6/1962 no, no	No. NR	vs. Michigan	W 91-71	8-1 (1-0)	Huff Hall (6,509) Champaign, IL
1/8/1962 no, no	No. NR	@ Purdue	L 89-96	8-2 (1-1)	Lambert Fieldhouse (6,500) West Lafayette, IN
1/13/1962 no, no	No. NR	@ Michigan State	W 66-65	9-2 (2-1)	Jenison Fieldhouse (7,068) East Lansing, MI
1/27/1962* no, no	No. NR	vs. Notre Dame	W 85-77	10-2	Chicago Stadium (12,224) Chicago, IL
1/29/1962 no, no	No. NR	vs. Wisconsin	L 81-85	10-3 (2-2)	Huff Hall (6,740) Champaign, IL
2/3/1962 no, no	No. NR	vs. Indiana	W 96-85	11-3 (3-2)	Huff Hall (6,557) Champaign, IL
2/5/1962 no, no	No. NR	vs. Minnesota	W 89-80	12-3 (4-2)	Huff Hall (5,927) Champaign, IL
2/10/1962 no, no	No. NR	@ Iowa	W 91-81	13-3 (5-2)	Iowa Field House (12,300) Iowa City, IA
2/12/1962 no, no	No. NR	vs. Northwestern	W 88-70	14-3 (6-2)	Huff Hall (6,673) Champaign, IL
2/17/1962 no, no	No. NR	vs. Purdue	L 88-100	14-4 (6-3)	Huff Hall (6,912) Champaign, IL
2/19/1962 no, no	No. NR	@ Wisconsin	L 101-103	14-5 (6-4)	Wisconsin Field House (7,399) Madison, WI
2/24/1962 no, no	No. NR	@ Ohio State (#1)	L 79-102	14-6 (6-5)	St. John Arena (13,497) Columbus, OH
3/3/1962 no, no	No. NR	vs. Iowa	L 78-88	14-7 (6-6)	Huff Hall (6,669) Champaign, IL
3/5/1962 no, no	No. NR	@ Indiana	L 92-104	14-8 (6-7)	Gladstein Fieldhouse (5,000) Bloomington, IN
3/10/1962 no, no	No. NR	vs. Northwestern	W 73–68	15-8 (7-7)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (5,000) Evanston, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Points
Dave Downey	22	174	97	269	445
Bill Burwell	23	151	124	266	426
Bill Small	23	133	70	90	336
Jerry Colangelo	23	111	73	95	295
Bob Starnes	23	81	58	147	220
Doug Mills	15	25	9	18	59
John Love	22	18	15	86	51
Jay Lovelace	13	4	6	10	14
Jerry Curless	10	6	2	8	14
Bill Edwards	14	5	1	9	11
Jerry Renner	5	4	2	6	10
Sam Leeper	5	0	2	3	2
Jeff Ferguson	3	0	0	2	0

^[5]

Awards and honors

Dave Downey
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[6]
Bill Burwell
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick
No Player Selected

^[7]

Rankings

References

^ "1961-62 Big Ten Conference Season Summary". Sports Reference.
^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
^ All-Time Illini Rosters
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1961-62, FightingIllini.com
^ Season Stats
^ List of MVPs
^ 1962 NBA Draft

[1] "1961-62 Big Ten Conference Season Summary". Sports Reference.

[2] Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7

[3] All-Time Illini Rosters

[4] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1961-62, FightingIllini.com

[5] Season Stats

[6] List of MVPs

[7] 1962 NBA Draft

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
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Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics