1968–69 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. Not Ranked
AP	No. 20

1968–69 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 6 Purdue	13	–	1	.929	23	–	5	.821
No. 20 Illinois	9	–	5	.643	19	–	5	.792
Ohio State	9	–	5	.643	17	–	7	.708
Michigan	7	–	7	.500	13	–	11	.542
Northwestern	6	–	8	.429	14	–	10	.583
Minnesota	6	–	8	.429	12	–	12	.500
Michigan State	6	–	8	.429	11	–	12	.478
Iowa	5	–	9	.357	12	–	12	.500
Wisconsin	5	–	9	.357	11	–	13	.458
Indiana	4	–	10	.286	9	–	15	.375

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1968–69 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

In only his second season as the Head coach of the Fighting Illini, Harv Schmidt guided his basketball team to a high-point of an Associated Press ranking of number 4 by the beginning of January, 1969. Schmidt and his Illini won their first ten games of the season with the single biggest win occurring December 21, 1968, as they stopped the Houston Cougars' 60 game home winning streak, 97-84. After the win, the Illini, just two days short of two years after the original "Slush Fund" announcement, appeared to be back in their prime. During the season the Illini defeated a total of 4 top 20 teams, including a tenth ranked Ohio State in February. Like so many years before, the Illini's only losses came at the hands of the competition provided by the other teams within the Big Ten Conference. The team completed the season with only 5 losses, all coming within the league. The final totals were 19 wins overall with 9 of those wins coming within the conference. The team was led in scoring for the season by Dave Scholz, Greg Jackson, Mike Price and Jodie Harrison. Scholz would finish his senior season by being named 1st team All-American by the Helms Foundation, 3rd team All-American by the Associated Press and to the Converse honorable mention All-American team. The Fighting Illini would go on to finish the season with a 19-5 overall record and tied for 2nd place in the conference with a 9-5 record.

The 1968-69 team's starting lineup included Scholz and Fred Miller at the forward spots, Price and Harrison as guards and Jackson at center.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
10	Rick Howat	Downers Grove, Illinois	Downers Grove North High School	So.	Guard
11	Bob Windmiller	Ossian, Indiana	Ossian High School	So.	Guard
14	Fred Miller	Pekin, Illinois	Pekin High School	So.	Forward
15	Mike Price	Indianapolis, Indiana	Arsenal Technical High School	Jr.	Forward
20	Brad Richardson	Olney, Illinois	East Richland High School	So.	Forward
30	Randy Crews	Kankakee, Illinois	Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School	Jr.	Forward
31	Greg Jackson	Chicago, Illinois	St. Philip High School	So.	Center
32	Les Busboom	Royal, Illinois	St. Joseph-Ogden High School	Sr.	Guard
33	Jodie Harrison	Streator, Illinois	Streator High School	Sr.	Guard
34	Denny Pace	Collinsville, Illinois	Collinsville High School	Sr.	Forward/Guard
40	Dave Scholz	Decatur, Illinois	Decatur High School	Sr.	Forward/Center
43	Bob Shapland	Champaign, Illinois	Central High School	So.	Guard
44	Ron Armbrust	Lincoln, Illinois	Lincoln High School	Jr.	Guard

Head Coach Harv Schmidt (2nd year at Illinois) ^[2]

Schedule

Source^[3]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
12/2/1968* no, no	No. NR	vs.Butler	W 105-66	1-0	Assembly Hall (11,833) Champaign, IL
12/6/1968* no, no	No. NR	@ Creighton	W 69-66	2-0	Omaha Civic Auditorium (9,240) Omaha, NE
12/9/1968* no, no	No. NR	vs. North Dakota	W 83-51	3-0	Assembly Hall (11,795) Champaign, IL
12/14/1968* no, no	No. NR	vs. Iowa State	W 75-48	4-0	Assembly Hall (10,051) Champaign, IL
12/17/1968* no, no	No. NR	vs. Ohio	W 95-82	5-0	Assembly Hall (10,031) Champaign, IL
12/19/1968* no, no	No. NR	vs. Tulane	W 105-71	6-0	Assembly Hall (10,252) Champaign, IL
12/21/1968* no, no	No. NR	@ #20 Houston	W 97-84	7-0	Hofheinz Pavilion (5,200) Houston, TX
12/27/1968* no, no	No. 12	vs. Creighton Hurricane Classic	W 90-77	8-0	Miami Beach Convention Center (2,093) Miami, FL
12/28/1968* no, no	No. 12	vs. Miami (FL) Hurricane Classic	W 86-76	9-0	Miami Beach Convention Center (2,486) Miami, FL
1/4/1969 no, no	No. 8	vs. Minnesota	W 80-58	10-0 (1-0)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
1/7/1969 no, no	No. 4	@ Purdue	L 84-98	10-1 (1-1)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
1/11/1969 no, no	No. 4	@ #12 Northwestern	W 82-77 ^OT	11-1 (2-1)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,388) Evanston, IL
1/25/1969* no, no	No. 8	vs. #15 Notre Dame	L 83-86	12-1	Chicago Stadium (18,000) Chicago, IL
1/28/1969 no, no	No. 7	@ #12 Ohio State	L 67-76	12-2 (2-2)	St. John Arena (13,374) Columbus, OH
2/1/1969 no, no	No. 7	vs. Wisconsin	W 86-73	13-2 (3-2)	Assembly Hall (15,740) Champaign, IL
2/8/1969 no, no	No. 10	vs. Iowa	W 98-69	14-2 (4-2)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
2/11/1969 no, no	No. 10	@ Michigan	L 87-92	14-3 (4-3)	Crisler Arena (8,113) Ann Arbor, MI
2/15/1969 no, no	No. 10	@ Michigan State	L 70-75	14-4 (4-4)	Jenison Fieldhouse (7,020) East Lansing, MI
2/18/1969 no, no	No. 19	vs. #10 Ohio State	W 73-57	15-4 (5-4)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
2/23/1969 no, no	No. 19	vs. Michigan	W 100-92	16-4 (6-4)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
2/25/1969 no, no	No. 15	@ Iowa	L 53-74	16-5 (6-5)	Iowa Field House (13,700) Iowa City, IA
3/1/1969 no, no	No. 15	@ Indiana	W 77-64	17-5 (7-5)	Assembly Hall (5,425) Bloomington, IN
3/4/1969 no, no	No. 20	vs. Michigan State	W 71-57	18-5 (8-5)	Assembly Hall (14,912) Champaign, IL
3/8/1969 no, no	No. 20	vs. Northwestern	W 78-68	19-5 (9-5)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, 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 Scholz^[4]	24	181	97	209	459
Greg Jackson^[5]	24	163	68	200	394
Mike Price^[6]	24	120	58	163	298
Jodie Harrison^[7]	24	87	80	96	254
Fred Miller^[8]	22	44	55	64	254
Denny Pace^[9]	24	56	27	86	139
Randy Crews^[10]	24	43	46	82	132
Rick Howat^[11]	22	34	10	14	78
Bob Windmiller^[12]	15	23	10	14	56

Awards and honors

Dave Scholz
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[13]
- 1st team All-American (Helms)
- 3rd team All-American (AP)
- Honorable Mention All-American (Converse)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
4	9	Steve Kuberski*	Boston Celtics
4	13	Dave Scholz	Philadelphia 76ers
5	1	Rich Jones*	Phoenix Suns
15	6	Jodie Harrison	Baltimore Bullets

^[14]

*Kuberski transferred to Bradley to finish his eligibility due to the "Slush-Fund" scandal of 1966.
*Jones transferred to Memphis State to finish his eligibility due to the "Slush-Fund" scandal of 1966.

Rankings

References

[1] sports-reference.com 1968-69 Big Ten Conference Season Summary

[2] All-Time Illini Rosters

[3] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1968-69, FightingIllini.com

[4] Season Stats

[5] Season Stats

[6] Season Stats

[7] Season Stats

[8] Season Stats

[9] Season Stats

[10] Season Stats

[11] Season Stats

[12] Season Stats

[13] List of MVPs

[14] 1969 NBA Draft

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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
Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics