1962–63 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 8

1962–63 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 7 Ohio State	11	–	3	.786	20	–	4	.833
No. 8 Illinois	11	–	3	.786	20	–	6	.769
Indiana	9	–	5	.643	13	–	11	.542
Michigan	8	–	6	.571	16	–	8	.667
Minnesota	8	–	6	.571	12	–	12	.500
Wisconsin	7	–	7	.500	14	–	10	.583
Northwestern	6	–	8	.429	9	–	15	.375
Iowa	5	–	9	.357	9	–	15	.375
Michigan State	3	–	11	.214	4	–	16	.200
Purdue	2	–	12	.143	7	–	17	.292

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1962–63 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illiniois.

Regular season

The 1962-63 season saw the Fighting Illini finish with 20-6 overall, 11-3 in the conference. Senior Dave Downey led the team in scoring, as he had the previous two seasons, and he moved into first on the all-time scoring list. Downey also set the school record for points in a game, which still stands, with 53 in a road loss to Indiana on February 16, 1963. Illinois was a game back of first place in the league standings with only two games remaining when the Assembly Hall opened its doors on March 4, 1963. Illinois’ first game at the Hall was an exciting 79-73 victory over Northwestern before 16,137 fans to stay within a game of first-place Ohio State. After Illinois edged Iowa, 73-69, in the last game of the season, the Fighting Illini would need an overtime loss two hours later by the Buckeyes at Indiana to share the title. During the season the Illini would win the Eastern College Athletic Conference Holiday Festival and make the Elite Eight of the 1963 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, losing to eventual champion Loyola (Chicago).

Roster

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position	Height	Weight
10	Larry Bauer	Springfield, Illinois	Springfield High School	So.	Forward	6-7	207
11	Bob Meadows	Collinsville, Illinois	Collinsville High School	So.	Guard	5-7	157
12	Tal Brody	Trenton, New Jersey	Central High School	So.	Guard	6-2	165
14	John Love	Ottawa, Illinois	Ottawa Township High School	Jr.	Forward	6-3	199
22	Jay Lovelace	Carbondale, Illinois	Carbondale Community High School	Sr.	Guard	6-0	164
25	Bill Burwell	Brooklyn, New York	Boys High School	Sr.	Center	6-8	227
30	Jeff Ferguson	Benton, Illinois	Benton Consolidated High School	Sr.	Forward	6-3	195
31	Tony Latham	Waukegan, Illinois	Waukegan High School	So.	Guard	6-10	163
32	Bill Edwards	Windsor, Illinois	Windsor High School	Jr.	Guard	6-2	208
33	Bogie Redmon	Collinsville, Illinois	Collinsville High School	So.	Forward	6-5	218
34	Bill McKeown	Clinton, Illinois	Clinton High School	So.	Guard	6-2	185
35	Skip Thoren	Rockford, Illinois	Rockford East High School	So.	Center	6-8	201
40	Dave Downey	Canton, Illinois	Canton High School	Sr.	Forward	6-4	204
44	Bob Starnes (captain)	Dukedom, Tennessee/Chicago, Illinois	Gage Park High School	Sr.	Forward	6-5	187
53	Bill Small	Aurora, Illinois	West High School	Sr.	Guard	6-2	185

Head Coach: Harry Combes (16th year at Illinois)^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
11/30/1962* no, no	No. 8	vs. Butler	W 66-49	1-0	Huff Hall (6,912) Champaign, IL
12/6/1962* no, no	No. NR	vs. Washington (St. Louis)	W 99-55	2-0	Huff Hall (6,912) Champaign, IL
12/16/1962* no, no	No. 10	@ Iowa State	W 76-73	3-0	Iowa State Armory (7,000) Ames, IA
12/17/1962* no, no	No. 10	vs. San Jose State	W 90-64	4-0	Huff Hall (6,912) Champaign, IL
12/22/1962* no, no	No. 8	vs. Oklahoma	W 93-90	5-0	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
12/26/1962* no, no	No. 4	vs. Penn ECAC Holiday Festival	W 98-66	6-0	Madison Square Garden (14,238) New York, NY
12/28/1962* no, no	No. 4	vs. NYU ECAC Holiday Festival	W 91-84	7-0	Madison Square Garden (15,036) New York, NY
12/29/1962* no, no	No. 4	vs. West Virginia ECAC Holiday Festival	W 92-74	8-0	Madison Square Garden (12,125) New York, NY
12/31/1962* no, no	No. 3	vs. Notre Dame	L 88-90	8-1	Chicago Stadium (10,346) Chicago, IL
1/5/1963 no, no	No. 3	@ Iowa	W 85-76	9-1 (1-0)	Iowa Field House (12,600) Iowa City, IA
1/7/1963 no, no	No. 5	vs. Ohio State (#5)	W 90-78	10-1 (2-0)	Huff Hall (6,912) Champaign, IL
1/12/1963 no, no	No. 5	vs. Purdue	W 106-82	11-1 (3-0)	Huff Hall (6,756) Champaign, IL
1/14/1963 no, no	No. 3	@ Northwestern	W 78–76	12-1 (4-0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (7,200) Evanston, IL
1/26/1963* no, no	No. 4	vs. Cincinnati (#1)	L 53-62	12-2	Chicago Stadium (23,000) Chicago, IL
2/4/1963 no, no	No. 4	vs. Indiana	W 104-101	13-2 (5-0)	Huff Hall (6,912) Champaign, IL
2/9/1963 no, no	No. 4	vs. Michigan State	W 91-86	14-2 (6-0)	Huff Hall (6,797) Champaign, IL
2/11/1963 no, no	No. 4	@ Wisconsin	L 77-84	14-3 (6-1)	Wisconsin Field House (12,088) Madison, WI
2/16/1963 no, no	No. 6	@ Indiana	L 100-103	14-4 (6-2)	Gladstein Fieldhouse (10,300) Bloomington, IN
2/19/1963 no, no	No. 6	@ Purdue	W 87-79	15-4 (7-2)	Lambert Fieldhouse (9,637) West Lafayette, IN
2/23/1963 no, no	No. 6	vs. Wisconsin	W 89-77	16-4 (8-2)	Huff Hall (6,912) Champaign, IL
2/25/1963 no, no	No. 6	@ Minnesota	W 81-70	17-4 (9-2)	Williams Arena (11,226) Minneapolis, MN
3/2/1963 no, no	No. 6	@ Michigan	L 81-84	17-5 (9-3)	Yost Ice Arena (9,450) Ann Arbor, MI
3/4/1963 no, no	No. 8	vs. Northwestern	W 79-73	18-5 (10-3)	Assembly Hall (16,137) Champaign, IL
3/9/1963 no, no	No. 8	vs. Iowa	W 73-69	19-5 (11-3)	Assembly Hall (16,007) Champaign, IL
3/15/1963* no, no	No. 8	vs. Bowling Green NCAA Tournament^[3]	W 90-67	20-5	Jenison Fieldhouse (12,143) East Lansing, MI
3/16/1963* no, no	No. 8	vs. Loyola (Chicago) NCAA Tournament	L 64–79	20-6	Jenison Fieldhouse (9,459) East Lansing, MI
*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	26	201	111	254	513
Bill Small	26	439	81	120	439
Bill Burwell	26	158	86	230	402
Bob Starnes	26	115	84	180	314
Tal Brody	26	95	63	90	253
Skip Thoren	26	53	37	150	143
Bill Edwards	26	23	10	28	56
Bogie Redmon	23	22	11	72	55
Bill McKeown	14	4	4	12	12
John Love	8	3	2	7	8
Larry Bauer	5	2	2	6	6
Jay Lovelace	4	0	0	0	0

^[4]

Awards and honors

Dave Downey
- Helms 1st team All-American
- Converse 2nd team All-American
- Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American
- Team Most Valuable Player^[5]
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Bill Small
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American
Skip Thoren
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
3	24	Bill Burwell	St. Louis Hawks
4	30	Dave Downey	San Francisco Warriors
5	40	Bill Small	Detroit Pistons

^[6]

Rankings

References

^ [1]
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1962-63, FightingIllini.com
^ http://www.databasesports.com/ncaab/tourney.htm?yr=1963
^ Season Stats
^ List of MVPs
^ "1963 NBA Draft on". Databasebasketball.com. Retrieved 2012-06-16.

[1] [1]

[2] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1962-63, FightingIllini.com

[3] ttp://www.databasesports.com/ncaab/tourney.htm?yr=1963

[4] Season Stats

[5] List of MVPs

[6] "1963 NBA Draft on". Databasebasketball.com. Retrieved 2012-06-16.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)
Rivalries	Indiana Iowa Missouri Northwestern
Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
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Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics