1978–79 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. Not ranked
AP	No. Not ranked

1978–79 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 3 Michigan State	13	–	5	.722	26	–	6	.813
No. 15 Purdue	13	–	5	.722	27	–	8	.771
No. 20 Iowa	13	–	5	.722	20	–	8	.714
Ohio State	12	–	6	.667	19	–	12	.613
Indiana	10	–	8	.556	22	–	12	.647
Michigan	8	–	10	.444	15	–	12	.556
Illinois	7	–	11	.389	19	–	11	.633
Wisconsin	6	–	12	.333	12	–	15	.444
Minnesota	6	–	12	.333	11	–	16	.407
Northwestern	2	–	16	.111	6	–	21	.222

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978–79 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

In 1978-79 season, Illinois finished seventh in the Big Ten, but went 19-11 overall, including ascension to No. 2 in the national polls after starting the year 15-0. During this season, Illinois upset top-ranked Michigan State and Magic Johnson, 57-55, in one of the school’s most memorable games. It was during this season that Illinois also led the nation in field-goal percentage defense (.404).

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
12	Kevin Westervelt	Peoria, Illinois	Richwoods High School	Sr.	Guard
13	James Griffin	Grandview, Texas	Dunbar High School	So.	Center
15	Cletis Hubbard	Ft. Worth, Texas	Dunbar High School	Fr.	Guard
20	Matt Meyer	Manito, Illinois	Foreman High School	Sr.	Guard
21	Steve Lanter	Belleville, Illinois	Mascoutah Community High School	Jr.	Guard
22	Perry Range	South Beloit, Illinois	South Beloit High School	Fr.	Guard
23	Larry Lubin (captain)	Glencoe, Illinois	Evanston Township High School	Sr.	Guard
30	Rob Judson	Zion, Illinois	Zion-Benton High School	Jr.	Guard
31	Neil Bresnahan (captain)	Oak Park, Illinois	Fenwick High School	Jr.	Forward
32	Levi Cobb	Chicago, Illinois	Morgan Park High School	Jr.	Forward
33	Eddie Johnson	Chicago, Illinois	Westinghouse High School	So.	Forward
42	Mark Smith	Peoria, Illinois	Richwoods High School	So.	Forward
43	Bryan Leonard	Belleville, Illinois	Belleville High School-East	Fr.	Forward
44	Derek Holcomb	Peoria, Illinois	Richwoods High School	Jr.	Center

Head Coach Lou Henson (4th year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
11/24/1978* no, no	Texas-Arlington	W 109-74	1-0	Assembly Hall (9,097) Champaign, IL
11/28/1978* no, no	Denver	W 81-57	2-0	Assembly Hall (10,092) Champaign, IL
12/2/1978* no, no	Tulane	W 65-60	3-0	Devlin Fieldhouse (3,542) New Orleans, LA
12/5/1978* no, no	Missouri Show-Me Classic	W 69-57	4-0	Hearnes Center (6,002) Columbia, MO
12/8/1978* no, no	South Carolina	W 64-57	5-0	Assembly Hall (12,156) Champaign, IL
12/9/1978* no, no	Centenary	W 86-60	6-0	Assembly Hall (10,082) Champaign, IL
12/16/1978* no, no	Kent State	W 82-44	7-0	Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center (1,020) Kent, OH
12/22/1978* no, no	Syracuse (#8) Kentucky Invitational Tournament	W 64-61	8-0	Rupp Arena (21,000) Lexington, KY
12/23/1978* no, no	Texas A&M (#7) Kentucky Invitational Tournament	W 71-57	9-0	Rupp Arena (23,272) Lexington, KY
12/28/1978* no, no	Western Michigan Glacier Bowl Classic	W 84-79	10-0	Buckner Fieldhouse (-) Anchorage, AK
12/29/1978* no, no	Ozarks Glacier Bowl Classic	W 88-82	11-0	Buckner Fieldhouse (-) Anchorage, AK
12/30/1978* no, no	Alaska-Anchorage Glacier Bowl Classic	W 92-80	12-0	Buckner Fieldhouse (-) Anchorage, AK
1/4/1979 no, no	Indiana	W 65-61	13-0 (1-0)	Assembly Hall (16,104) Bloomington, IN
1/6/1979 no, no	Northwestern	W 75-56	14-0 (2-0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (7,122) Evanston, IL
1/11/1979 no, no	Michigan State (#1)	W 57-55	15-0 (3-0)	Assembly Hall (16,209) Champaign, IL
1/13/1979 no, no	Ohio State	L 66-69 ^OT	15-1 (3-1)	Assembly Hall (12,088) Champaign, IL
1/18/1979 no, no	Wisconsin	W 81-74	16-1 (4-1)	Wisconsin Field House (12,204) Madison, WI
1/20/1979 no, no	Purdue	L 57-69	16-2 (4-2)	Assembly Hall (16,458) Champaign, IL
1/25/1979 no, no	Iowa	L 52-58	16-3 (4-3)	Iowa Field House (13,355) Iowa City, IA
1/27/1979 no, no	Michigan	L 54-56	16-4 (4-4)	Assembly Hall (16,473) Champaign, IL
2/1/1979 no, no	Minnesota	W 67-57	17-4 (5-4)	Assembly Hall (14,383) Champaign, IL
2/3/1979 no, no	Michigan	L 65-74	17-5 (5-5)	Crisler Center (13,609) Ann Arbor, MI
2/8/1979 no, no	Purdue	L 65-71	17-6 (5-6)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
2/10/1979 no, no	Minnesota	W 59-57	18-6 (6-6)	Williams Arena (16,615) Minneapolis, MN
2/15/1979 no, no	Wisconsin	W 81-64	19-6 (7-6)	Assembly Hall (12,880) Champaign, IL
2/17/1979 no, no	Iowa (#14)	L 53-67	19-7 (7-7)	Assembly Hall (9,441) Champaign, IL
2/22/1979 no, no	Ohio State (#14)	L 55-73	19-8 (7-8)	St. John Arena (13,489) Columbus, OH
2/24/1979 no, no	Michigan State (#7)	L 62-76	19-9 (7-9)	Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004) East Lansing, MI
3/1/1979 no, no	Northwestern	L 64-71	19-10 (7-10)	Assembly Hall (12,390) Champaign, IL
3/3/1979 no, no	Indiana	L 60-72	19-11 (7-11)	Assembly Hall (16,503) 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	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Mark Smith^[3]	30	160	84	173	121	23	53	404
Eddie Johnson^[4]	30	168	26	170	52	4	18	362
Rob Judson^[5]	30	123	35	68	61	3	33	281
Neil Bresnahan^[6]	30	105	40	236	75	7	32	250
James Griffin^[7]	30	105	19	98	7	29	12	229
Derek Holcomb^[8]	29	90	34	190	49	86	17	214
Levi Cobb^[9]	30	68	24	122	29	4	19	160
Perry Range^[10]	24	21	14	25	12	0	8	56

Awards and honors

Eddie Johnson
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Mark Smith
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[11]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club

^[12]

Rankings

References

[1] All-Time Illini Rosters

[2] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1978-79, FightingIllini.com

[3] . 119 Season Stats

[4] . 119 Season Stats

[5] . 119 Season Stats

[6] . 119 Season Stats

[7] . 119 Season Stats

[8] . 119 Season Stats

[9] . 119 Season Stats

[10] . 119 Season Stats

[11] List of MVPs

[12] 1979 NBA Draft

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

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	List of 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