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1979–80 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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{{{year}}} [[{{{team}}} men's basketball]]
Ranking
CoachesNo. Not ranked
APNo. Not ranked
1979–80 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 7 Indiana 13 – 5   .722 21 – 8   .724
No. 10 Ohio State 12 – 6   .667 21 – 8   .724
No. 20 Purdue 11 – 7   .611 23 – 10   .697
Iowa 10 – 8   .556 23 – 10   .697
Minnesota 10 – 8   .556 21 – 11   .656
Illinois 8 – 10   .444 22 – 13   .629
Michigan 8 – 10   .444 17 – 13   .567
Wisconsin 7 – 11   .389 15 – 14   .517
Michigan State 6 – 12   .333 12 – 15   .444
Northwestern 5 – 13   .278 10 – 17   .370
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1979–80 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

For the 1979-80 season, head coach Lou Henson returned everyone from a team that finished with 19 wins. The team gave the head coach his first of 11, 20-win seasons at Illinois. That year, Illinois made its first postseason appearance since 1963, finishing third in the NIT. During the course of the season, the Illini would defeat eventual NCAA Tournament Champion, Louisville

Team

No. Player Hometown High School Class Position
10 Reno Gray Chicago, Illinois Hales Franciscan High School Sr. Guard
12 Kevin Westervelt Peoria, Illinois Richwoods High School Sr. Guard
13 James Griffin Grandview, Texas Dunbar High School So. Center
20 Kevin Bontemps Morton, Illinois Morton High School Fr. Guard
21 Quinn Richardson Robbins, Illinois Eisenhower High School Fr. Guard
22 Perry Range South Beloit, Illinois South Beloit High School So. Guard
30 Rob Judson Zion, Illinois Zion-Benton High School Sr. Guard
31 Neil Bresnahan (co-captain) Oak Park, Illinois Fenwick High School Sr. Forward
32 Levi Cobb (co-captain) Chicago, Illinois Morgan Park High School Sr. Forward
33 Eddie Johnson Chicago, Illinois Westinghouse High School Jr. Forward
42 Mark Smith Peoria, Illinois Richwoods High School Jr. Forward
43 Bryan Leonard Belleville, Illinois Belleville High School-East So. Forward
44 Derek Holcomb Peoria, Illinois Richwoods High School Jr. Center

Schedule

Source[3]

Date
time, TV 		Opponent Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Regular Season
11/30/1979*
no, no 		BYU (#15) W 86-76  1-0
 Marriott Center (23,042)
Provo, UT
12/4/1979*
no, no 		Missouri
Show-Me Classic 		L 66-67 OT 1-1
 Assembly Hall (14,004)
Champaign, IL
12/6/1979*
no, no 		Kent State W 74-65  2-1
 Assembly Hall (13,090)
Champaign, IL
12/8/1979*
no, no 		Long Beach State W 77-60  3-1
 Assembly Hall (14,075)
Champaign, IL
12/10/1979*
no, no 		TCU W 79-64  4-1
 Daniel–Meyer Coliseum (4,110)
Fort Worth, TX
12/11/1979*
no, no 		Missouri-St. Louis W 91-65  5-1
 Assembly Hall (13,021)
Champaign, IL
12/14/1979*
no, no 		Kentucky State
Illini Classic 		W 94-65  6-1
 Assembly Hall (14,363)
Champaign, IL
12/15/1979*
no, no 		Illinois State
Illini Classic 		W 47-40  7-1
 Assembly Hall (16,257)
Champaign, IL
12/22/1979*
no, no 		Marquette L 78-80  7-2
 Assembly Hall (12,618)
Champaign, IL
12/28/1979*
no, no 		Army
Rainbow Classic 		W 75-48  8-2
 Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-)
Honolulu, HI
12/29/1979*
no, no 		Louisville (#12)
Rainbow Classic 		W 77-64  9-2
 Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-)
Honolulu, HI
12/30/1979*
no, no 		Hawaii
Rainbow Classic 		W 94-82  10-2
 Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-)
Honolulu, HI
1/3/1980
no, no 		Iowa (#10) L 71-72  10-3 (0-1)
 Assembly Hall (10,839)
Champaign, IL
1/5/1980
no, no 		Northwestern W 81-71  11-3 (1-1)
 Assembly Hall (9,174)
Champaign, IL
1/10/1980
no, no 		Purdue (#10) L 66-74  11-4 (1-2)
 Mackey Arena (12,982)
West Lafayette, IN
1/12/1980
no, no 		Minnesota L 75-79  11-5 (1-3)
 Williams Arena (15,381)
Minneapolis, MN
1/17/1980
no, no 		Michigan W 80-69  12-5 (2-3)
 Assembly Hall (14,746)
Champaign, IL
1/19/1980
no, no 		Wisconsin W 69-64  13-5 (3-3)
 Wisconsin Field House (10,386)
Madison, WI
1/24/1980
no, no 		Ohio State (#4) L 76-79  13-6 (3-4)
 Assembly Hall (16,383)
Champaign, IL
1/26/1980
no, no 		Michigan State W 74-65  14-6 (4-4)
 Assembly Hall (16,490)
Champaign, IL
1/31/1980
no, no 		Indiana (#18) L 54-60  14-7 (4-5)
 Assembly Hall (16,723)
Bloomington, IN
2/2/1980
no, no 		Michigan State L 59-68  14-8 (4-6)
 Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004)
East Lansing, MI
2/7/1980
no, no 		Wisconsin W 67-50  15-8 (5-6)
 Assembly Hall (13,873)
Champaign, IL
2/9/1980
no, no 		Indiana (#20) W 89-68  16-8 (6-6)
 Assembly Hall (16,614)
Champaign, IL
2/14/1980
no, no 		Michigan L 76-78  16-9 (6-7)
 Crisler Center (9,738)
Ann Arbor, MI
2/16/1980
no, no 		Ohio State (#9) L 57-71  16-10 (6-8)
 St. John Arena (13,591)
Columbus, OH
2/21/1980
no, no 		Minnesota W 60-58 OT 17-10 (7-8)
 Assembly Hall (14,592)
Champaign, IL
2/23/1980
no, no 		Purdue (#15) L 69-72  17-11 (7-9)
 Assembly Hall (16,647)
Champaign, IL
2/28/1980
no, no 		Northwestern W 90-66  18-11 (8-9)
 Welsh-Ryan Arena (5,426)
Evanston, IL
3/1/1980
no, no 		Iowa L 71-75  18-12 (8-10)
 Iowa Field House (13,365)
Iowa City, IA
National Invitational Tournament
3/5/1980*
no, no 		Loyola Chicago
National Invitational Tournament 		W 105-87  19-12
 Assembly Hall (13,326)
Champaign, IL
3/10/1980*
no, no 		Illinois State
National Invitation Tournament 		W 75-65  20-12
 Assembly Hall (16,193)
Champaign, IL
3/13/1980*
no, no 		Murray State
National Invitational Tournament 		W 65-63  21-12
 Assembly Hall (15,070)
Champaign, IL
3/17/1980*
no, no 		Minnesota
National Invitational Tournament 		L 63-65  21-13
 Madison Square Garden (11,223)
New York, NY
3/19/1980*
no, no 		UNLV
National Invitational Tournament 		W 84-74  22-13
 Madison Square Garden (-)
New York, NY
*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
Eddie Johnson[4] 35 266 78 310 71 7 13 610
Mark Smith[5] 35 187 161 214 95 11 35 535
Reno Gray[6] 35 131 57 47 109 2 39 319
James Griffin[7] 35 119 36 154 25 39 18 274
Perry Range[8] 35 90 63 85 64 2 36 243
Derek Holcomb[9] 31 72 36 164 44 46 15 180
Neil Bresnahan[10] 35 67 27 121 64 11 14 161
Rob Judson[11] 31 59 32 44 47 0 15 150

National Invitation Tournament

  • First Round
    • Illinois 105, Loyola 87
  • Second Round
    • Illinois 75, Illinois State 65
  • Quarterfinal
    • Illinois 65, Murray State 63
  • Semifinal
    • Minnesota 65, Illinois 63
  • Third Place Game
    • Illinois 84, UNLV 74

[12]

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round Pick Player NBA Club
6 117 Neil Bresnahan Golden State Warriors

[14]

Rankings

Main article: 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

  1. ^ Rainbow Classic History
  2. ^ All-Time Illini Rosters
  3. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1979-80, FightingIllini.com
  4. ^ Season Stats pg. 119
  5. ^ Season Stats pg. 119
  6. ^ Season Stats pg. 119
  7. ^ Season Stats pg. 119
  8. ^ Season Stats pg. 119
  9. ^ Season Stats pg. 119
  10. ^ Season Stats pg. 119
  11. ^ Season Stats pg. 119
  12. ^ History of the National Invitation Tournament Archived 2009-11-07 at WebCite
  13. ^ List of MVPs
  14. ^ 1980 NBA Draft
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