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1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record11-12 (5–9 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPRick Howat
Captains
Home arenaAssembly Hall
Seasons
1970–71 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 10 Ohio State 13 – 1   .929 20 – 6   .769
Michigan 12 – 2   .857 19 – 7   .731
Purdue 11 – 3   .786 18 – 7   .720
Indiana 9 – 5   .643 17 – 7   .708
Illinois 5 – 9   .357 11 – 12   .478
Minnesota 5 – 9   .357 11 – 13   .458
Michigan State 4 – 10   .286 10 – 14   .417
Iowa 4 – 10   .286 9 – 15   .375
Wisconsin 4 – 10   .286 9 – 15   .375
Northwestern 3 – 11   .214 7 – 17   .292
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

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Head coach Harv Schmidt, in only his fourth season at the helm of the Fighting Illini men's basketball team, saw the longest losing streak of his career, 8 games. After starting the year by winning 9 of their first 12 games and 10 of their first 14, the Illini started their losing streak at Ohio State on February 13, and continue for a month. The agonizing month ended March 13, 1971, when the Illini visited Indiana in the season finale. The Fighting Illini finished the season with an 11-12 record, tied for 5th place in the conference with a 5-9 record.

The Illini added sophomore forward Nick Weatherspoon for the season. Weatherspoon finished his inaugural season by scoring 381 points, averaging 16.5 points per game, and collected 246 rebounds. By the completion of his time at Illinois, Weatherspoon was their all-time leading scorer.

The 1970-71 team's starting lineup included Weatherspoon and Fred Miller at the forward spots, Jim Krelle and Rick Howat as guards and Greg Jackson at center.

Roster

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1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 10 Rick Howat (C) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Sr Downers Grove North High School Downers Grove, Illinois
F 12 Nick Weatherspoon 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So McKinley High School Canton, Ohio
G/F 14 Fred Miller (C) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Sr Pekin High School Pekin, Illinois
G 21 Larry Cohen 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So New Trier East High School Wilmette, Illinois
G 25 Jim Krelle 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Aurora West High School Aurora, Illinois
C 31 Greg Jackson 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 265 lb (120 kg) Sr St. Philip High School Chicago, Illinois
G 32 Sam Scaletta 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Jr Eisenhower High School Blue Island, Illinois
G/F 33 Alvin O'Neal 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 183 lb (83 kg) So Spalding High School Peoria, Illinois
F 35 Jim Rucks 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So Waukegan High School Waukegan, Illinois
F 40 Tom Dezort 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Jr Edwardsville High School Edwardsville, Illinois
G 43 Bob Shapland 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Central High School Champaign, Illinois
F 44 Jed Foster 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So Fairfield High School Fairfield, Illinois
F/C 45 Nick Conner 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So East High School Columbus, Ohio
F/C 54 Jim DeDecker 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) So Alleman High School Moline, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster

Schedule

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Source[1]

Date
time, TV 		Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/1/1970*
no, no 		Butler W 113-102  1 - 0
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
12/5/1970*
no, no 		Oklahoma L 72-74  1 - 1
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
12/8/1970*
no, no 		Vanderbilt W 96-79  2 - 1
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
12/12/1970*
no, no 		at Iowa State W 78-63  3 - 1
 Iowa State Armory (6,000)
Ames, IA
12/14/1970*
no, no 		Northern Michigan W 82-70  4 - 1
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
12/26/1970*
no, no 		vs. No. 13 Villanova
Rainbow Classic 		L 76-89  4-2
 Neal S. Blaisdell Center (7,500)
Honolulu, HI
12/30/1970*
no, no 		vs. St. Louis
Rainbow Classic 		W 78-60  5-2
 Neal S. Blaisdell Center (1,414)
Honolulu, HI
Big Ten regular season
1/9/1971
no, no 		Michigan State W 89-61  6 - 2
(1 - 0) 		Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
1/12/1971
no, no 		Wisconsin W 84-82  7 - 2
(2 - 0) 		Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
1/16/1971
no, no 		at Michigan State W 69-67  8 - 2
(3 - 0) 		Jenison Fieldhouse (7,323)
East Lansing, MI
1/29/1971*
no, no 		No. 18 vs. No. 3 Southern California L 68-81  8 - 3
 Chicago Stadium (15,000)
Chicago, IL
1/30/1971*
no, no 		No. 18 vs. No. 7 Notre Dame W 69-66 OT 9 - 3
 Chicago Stadium (17,000)
Chicago, IL
2/2/1971
no, no 		No. 15 at Iowa
Rivalry 		L 84-92  9 - 4
(3 - 1) 		Iowa Field House (13,105)
Iowa City, IA
2/6/1971
no, no 		No. 15 Minnesota W 93-78  10 - 4
(4 - 1) 		Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
2/13/1971
no, no 		at Ohio State L 72-92  10 - 5
(4 - 2) 		St. John Arena (13,489)
Columbus, OH
2/16/1971
no, no 		Purdue L 70-73  10 - 6
(4 - 3) 		Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
2/20/1971
no, no 		Indiana
Rivalry 		L 86-88  10 - 7
(4 - 4) 		Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
2/23/1971
no, no 		at Wisconsin L 84-88  10 - 8
(4 - 5) 		Wisconsin Field House (5,878)
Madison, WI
2/27/1971
no, no 		at Minnesota L 64-80  10 - 9
(4 - 6) 		Williams Arena (7,317)
Minneapolis, MN
3/2/1971
no, no 		Michigan L 74-75  10 - 10
(4 - 7) 		Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
3/6/1971
no, no 		at Purdue L 93-99  10 - 11
(4 - 8) 		Mackey Arena (14,123)
West Lafayette, IN
3/9/1971
no, no 		Northwestern
Rivalry 		L 70-85  10 - 12
(4 - 9) 		Assembly Hall (5,885)
Champaign, IL
3/13/1971
no, no 		at Indiana
Rivalry 		L 67-87  11 - 12
(5 - 9) 		Assembly Hall (7,286)
Bloomington, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

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Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Rebounds Points
Rick Howat[2] 23 190 94 67 474
Nick Weatherspoon[3] 23 151 79 246 381
Greg Jackson[4] 23 113 49 157 275
Fred Miller[5] 22 79 65 109 223
Nick Conner[6] 23 74 33 162 181
Jim DeDecker[7] 22 37 16 40 90
Jim Krelle[8] 17 31 12 38 74
Alvin O'Neal 16 24 7 33 55
Jed Foster[9] 21 19 15 40 53
Larry Cohen 17 16 4 12 36
Bob Shapland 12 4 6 6 14
Tom Dezort 5 3 2 2 8
Jim Rucks 2 1 0 2 2
Sam Scaletta 1 0 1 0 1

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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Player NBA Club Round Pick

[11]

Rankings

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Main article: 1970–71 NCAA University Division men's basketball rankings

References

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  1. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1970-71 Archived 2013-12-16 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  2. ^ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  3. ^ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  4. ^ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  5. ^ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  6. ^ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  7. ^ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  8. ^ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  9. ^ "Season Stats pg. 117" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  10. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  11. ^ 1971 NBA Draft
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