1981–82 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1981–82 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 7 Minnesota	14	–	4	.778	23	–	6	.793
No. 16 Iowa	12	–	6	.667	21	–	8	.724
Ohio State	12	–	6	.667	21	–	10	.677
Indiana	12	–	6	.667	19	–	10	.655
Purdue	11	–	7	.611	18	–	14	.563
Illinois	10	–	8	.556	18	–	11	.621
Michigan State	6	–	12	.333	11	–	17	.393
Michigan	6	–	12	.333	7	–	20	.259
Northwestern	4	–	14	.222	8	–	19	.296
Wisconsin*	1	–	17	.056	4	–	23	.148

Rankings from AP Poll *Wisconsin forfeited all games after Jan 25, 1982 due to NCAA sanctions. Disputed record (3–15, 6–23)

The 1981–82 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1982 season brought Illinois another post-season appearance, in the NIT, and an 18-11 record. Derek Harper led the Big Ten in assists and steals.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
10	Craig Tucker (co-captain)	Flint, Michigan	Flint Northern High School	Sr.	Guard
11	Dan Klier	Naperville, Illinois	Naperville Central High School	Jr.	Forward
12	Derek Harper	West Palm Beach, Florida	North Shore High School	So.	Guard
13	James Griffin (co-captain)	Grandview, Texas	Dunbar High School	Sr.	Center
20	Kevin Bontemps	Morton High School	Morton, Illinois	Jr.	Guard
21	Quinn Richardson	Robbins, Illinois	Eisenhower High School	Jr.	Guard
22	Perry Range (co-captain)	South Beloit, Illinois	South Beloit High School	Sr.	Guard
23	George Montgomery	Chicago, Illinois	Corliss High School	Fr.	Forward
32	Jay Daniels	West Palm Beach, Florida	John I. Leonard High School	Fr.	Forward
34	Dee Maras	Antioch, Illinois	Antioch Community High School	Fr.	Forward
43	Bryan Leonard	Belleville, Illinois	Belleville High School-East	Jr.	Forward
44	Anthony Welch	Grand Rapids, Michigan	Creston High School	Fr.	Center

Head Coach Lou Henson (7th year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular Season
11/28/1981* no, no	@ Loyola (Chicago)	W 87-83 ^ot	1-0	Chicago Stadium (13,827) Chicago, IL
12/5/1981* no, no	vs. Kansas State	W 55-49	2-0	Assembly Hall (15,106) Champaign, IL
12/8/1981* no, no	vs. #13 Missouri Braggin' Rights	L 68-78 ^ot	2-1	St. Louis Arena (15,187) St. Louis, MO
12/11/1981* no, no	vs. Army Illini Classic	W 72-37	3-1	Assembly Hall (14,257) Champaign, IL
12/12/1981* no, no	vs. Texas A&M Illini Classic	W 76-63	4-1	Assembly Hall (15,126) Champaign, IL
12/19/1981* no, no	vs. St. Louis	W 53-43	5-1	Assembly Hall (14,094) Champaign, IL
12/22/1981* no, no	vs. North Dakota State	W 90-61	6-1	Assembly Hall (14,755) Champaign, IL
12/28/1981* no, no	vs. Bowling Green Blade-Glass City Classic	W 56-51	7-1	Centennial Hall (9,089) Toledo, OH
12/29/1981* no, no	@ Toledo Blade-Glass City Classic	L 51-71	7-2	Centennial Hall (9,108) Toledo, OH
1/7/1982 no, no	@ Northwestern	W 60-50	8-2 (1-0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (7,183) Evanston, IL
1/9/1982 no, no	@ #7 Iowa	L 50-56	8-3 (1-1)	Iowa Field House (13,356) Iowa City, IA
1/14/1982 no, no	vs. Ohio State	L 50-51 ^ot	8-4 (1-2)	Assembly Hall (15,579) Champaign, IL
1/16/1982 no, no	vs. Michigan State	W 55-51	9-4 (2-2)	Assembly Hall (15,290) Champaign, IL
1/21/1982 no, no	vs. Indiana	L 53-54	9-5 (2-3)	Assembly Hall (16,768) Champaign, IL
1/23/1982 no, no	@ #5 Minnesota	W 64-57	10-5 (3-3)	Williams Arena (17,218) Minneapolis, MN
1/28/1982 no, no	@ Purdue	W 63-48	11-5 (4-3)	Mackey Arena (13,946) West Lafayette, IN
1/30/1982 no, no	vs. Michigan	W 79-61	12-5 (5-3)	Assembly Hall (16,186) Champaign, IL
2/4/1982 no, no	vs. Wisconsin	W 88-54	13-5 (6-3)	Assembly Hall (15,763) Champaign, IL
2/6/1982 no, no	@ Michigan	L 53-58	13-6 (6-4)	Crisler Arena (9,208) Ann Arbor, MI
2/11/1982 no, no	@ Indiana	L 60-73	13-7 (6-5)	Assembly Hall (16,502) Bloomington, IN
2/13/1982 no, no	@ Wisconsin	W 68-60	14-7 (7-5)	Wisconsin Field House (6,387) Madison, WI
2/18/1982 no, no	vs. Purdue	L 44-52	14-8 (7-6)	Assembly Hall (15,817) Champaign, IL
2/20/1982 no, no	vs. #8 Minnesota	W 77-65	15-8 (8-6)	Assembly Hall (16,578) Champaign, IL
2/25/1982 no, no	@ Michigan State	L 47-56	15-9 (8-7)	Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004) East Lansing, MI
2/27/1982 no, no	@ Ohio State	L 53-63	15-10 (8-8)	St. John Arena (13,591) Columbus, OH
3/4/1982 no, no	vs. #11 Iowa	W 73-67 ^ot	16-10 (9-8)	Assembly Hall (16,413) Champaign, IL
3/6/1982* no, no	vs. Northwestern	W 85-65	17-10 (10-8)	Assembly Hall (16,396) Champaign, IL
National Invitation Tournament
3/10/1982 no, no	vs. Long Island National Invitational Tournament	W 126-78	18-10	Assembly Hall (10,505) Champaign, IL
3/15/1982* no, no	vs. Dayton National Invitational Tournament	L 58-61	18-11	Assembly Hall (16,275) 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
Craig Tucker^[3]	29	170	110	69	84	1	32	450
James Griffin^[4]	29	171	52	204	27	56	19	394
Perry Range^[5]	29	146	83	128	71	7	37	375
Derek Harper^[6]	29	105	34	133	145	16	67	244

National Invitation Tournament

First Round
- Illinois 126, Long Island 78
Second Round
- Dayton 61, Illinois 58

^[7]

Awards and honors

Derek Harper
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
James Griffin & Perry Range
- Team Co-Most Valuable Players ^[8]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
3	57	Craig Tucker	New York Knickerbockers
4	80	James Griffin	New Jersey Nets
7	143	Perry Range	Kansas City Kings
8	181	Brian Leonard	Milwaukee Bucks

^[9]

Rankings

References

[1] All-Time Illini Rosters

[2] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1981-82, FightingIllini.com

[3] Season Stats pg. 120

[4] Season Stats pg. 120

[5] Season Stats pg. 120

[6] Season Stats pg. 120

[7] History of the National Invitation Tournament Archived 2009-11-07 at WebCite

[8] List of MVPs

[9] 1982 NBA Draft

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
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Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics