1995–96 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1995–96 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1995–96 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Illini Classic, Champion
National Invitation Tournament, First Round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	18–13 (7–11 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson;
Assistant coaches	Dick Nagy; Jimmy Collins; Mark Bial;
MVP	Kiwane Garris
Captain	Richard Keene; Kiwane Garris; Jerry Hester
Home arena	Assembly Hall
	Seasons ← 1994–95 1996–97 →

1995–96 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Indiana^[a]	13	–	5	.722	20	–	11	.645
No. 18 Penn State	12	–	6	.667	21	–	7	.750
No. 21 Iowa^[b]	12	–	6	.667	24	–	8	.750
Minnesota^[c]	11	–	7	.611	20	–	10	.667
Wisconsin^[d]	9	–	9	.500	18	–	14	.563
Michigan State	9	–	9	.500	16	–	16	.500
Illinois	7	–	11	.389	18	–	13	.581
No. 4 Purdue^[e]	6	–	12	.333	7	–	23	.233
Ohio State^[f]	5	–	13	.278	12	–	15	.444
Northwestern^[g]	4	–	14	.222	9	–	18	.333
Michigan^[h]	1	–	8	.111	1	–	10	.091

Rankings from AP Poll Records above are after NCAA sanctions against Minnesota, Purdue, and Michigan as noted:^[1] ^ Indiana adjusted from 12–6, 19–12 ^ Iowa adjusted from 11–7, 23–9 ^ Minnesota adjusted from 10–8, 19–13 (vacated 2 games) ^ Wisconsin adjusted from 8–10, 17–15 ^ Purdue adjusted from 15–3, 26–6 (forfeit 18 wins, vacated 2 games) ^ Ohio State adjusted from 3–15, 10–17 ^ Northwestern adjusted from 2–16, 7–20 ^ Michigan adjusted from 10–8/21–11 (vacated 21 games)

The 1995–96 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

After advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 1994-95, Illinois extended its run on postseason play with a berth in the 1996 NIT. The Illini started the 1995-96 season 11-1 before losing Kiwane Garris to injury. Without its leader, the Illini dropped its first five Big Ten games. Garris returned, but was never 100 percent and junior forward Jerry Hester missed games with a severely sprained ankle. The Illini finished the 1996 season 18-13 overall, 7-11 in the Big Ten. But more importantly the 1996 season marked the end of the most successful era in Illinois basketball when Lou Henson announced his retirement before the end of the season. In his 21 years at Illinois, Henson notched 423 victories and guided the Illini to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Okay, Oklahoma native coached Illinois to 11, 20-win seasons and finished his career as the third winningest coach in Big Ten history with 214 league victories.

Roster

1995–96 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	10	Jeff Lindenmeyer	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Fr	Arcola High School	Arcola, Illinois
G	21	Matt Heldman	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	So	Libertyville High School	Libertyville, Illinois
G	22	Kiwane Garris (C)	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	Westinghouse High School	Chicago, Illinois
G	24	Richard Keene (C)	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Sr	Collinsville High School	Collinsville, Illinois
G	25	Bryant Notree	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	So	Simeon High School	Chicago, Illinois
C	31	Brett Robisch	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	RS So	Calvary Academy	Springfield, Illinois
F	32	Jarrod Gee	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	So	St. Martin de Porres High School	Chicago, Illinois
G	33	Kevin Turner	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	So	Simeon High School	Chicago, Illinois
F	34	Brian Johnson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	RS So	Maine West High School	Des Plaines, Illinois
F	40	Jerry Hester (C)	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Manual High School	Peoria, Illinois
F	42	Herb Caldwell	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Jr	Jacksonville High School	Jacksonville, Illinois
F	44	Ryan Blackwell	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Fr	Pittsford Sutherland High School	Pittsford, New York
F	45	Chris Gandy	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	RS Jr	Bradley-Bourbonnais High School	Kankakee, Illinois

Head coach

Lou Henson (New Mexico A&M) (21st year)

Assistant coach(es)

Dick Nagy (New Mexico State University) (17th year)
Jimmy Collins (New Mexico State University) (13th year)
Mark Bial (University of Illinois) (2nd year)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

All-Time Illini Rosters Roster

Source^[2]

Schedule

Source^[3]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/25/1995* no, no		vs. Texas-San Antonio	W 83-80	1-0	Assembly Hall (12,382) Champaign, IL
11/28/1995* no, no		vs. Eastern Illinois	W 89-57	2-0	Assembly Hall (13,521) Champaign, IL
12/2/1995* no, no		@ #12 Duke	W 75-65	3-0	Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314) Durham, NC
12/4/1995* no, no	No. 21	vs. Kansas State	W 82-56	4-0	Assembly Hall (13,814) Champaign, IL
12/8/1995* no, no	No. 21	vs. Southeast Missouri State Illini Classic	W 89-70	5-0	Assembly Hall (14,611) Champaign, IL
12/9/1995* no, no	No. 21	vs. Ball State Illini Classic	W 97-53	6-0	Assembly Hall (14,920) Champaign, IL
12/16/1995* no, no	No. 16	vs. Illinois-Chicago	W 81-73	7-0	Assembly Hall (15,902) Champaign, IL
12/20/1995* no, no	No. 14	vs. #15 Missouri Braggin' Rights	W 96-85 ^ot	8-0	Scottrade Center (21,901) St. Louis, MO
12/23/1995* no, no	No. 14	vs. California	W 83-69	9-0	United Center (15,046) Chicago, IL
12/27/1995* no, no	No. 12	vs. #13 Syracuse Rainbow Classic	L 64-75	9-1	Stan Sheriff Center (8,757) Honolulu, HI
12/29/1995* no, no	No. 12	@ Hawaii Rainbow Classic	W 82-81 ^ot	10-1	Stan Sheriff Center (7,827) Honolulu, HI
12/30/1995* no, no	No. 12	vs. North Carolina State Rainbow Classic	W 85-76	11-1	Assembly Hall (7,787) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/3/1996 no, no	No. 13	@ Minnesota	L 64-69	11-2 (0-1)	Williams Arena (14,221) Minneapolis, MN
1/6/1996 no, no	No. 13	vs. Michigan State	L 58-68	11-3 (0-2)	Assembly Hall (16,413) Champaign, IL
2/26/1995 no, no	No. 21	@ #23 Michigan	L 68-83	11-4 (0-3)	Crisler Arena (13,562) Ann Arbor, MI
1/13/1996 no, no	No. 21	vs. Indiana Rivalry	L 71-85	11-5 (0-4)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
1/18/1996 no, no		@ #16 Iowa Rivalry	L 79-82	11-6 (0-5)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA
1/20/1996 no, no		@ #17 Purdue	W 71-67	12-6 (1-5)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
1/24/1996 no, no		vs. Ohio State	W 77-46	13-6 (2-5)	Assembly Hall (14,862) Champaign, IL
1/27/1996 no, no		@ Northwestern	W 74-62	14-6 (3-5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL
2/3/1996 no, no		vs. Wisconsin	L 56-57	14-7 (3-6)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
2/8/1996 no, no		@ #10 Penn State	L 58-61	14-8 (3-7)	Bryce Jordan Center (14,754) University Park, PA
2/14/1996 no, no		vs. Northwestern	W 93-62	15-8 (4-7)	Assembly Hall (13,560) Champaign, IL
2/17/1996 no, no		@ Ohio State	W 76-67	16-8 (5-7)	St. John Arena (12,718) Columbus, OH
2/20/1996 no, no		vs. #7 Purdue	L 71-74	16-9 (5-8)	Assembly Hall (15,628) Champaign, IL
2/24/1996 no, no		vs. #18 Iowa Rivalry	W 91-86	17-9 (6-8)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
2/28/1996 no, no		@ Indiana Rivalry	L 64-76	17-10 (6-9)	Assembly Hall (17,139) Bloomington, IN
3/3/1996 no, no		vs. Michigan	W 73-62	18-10 (7-9)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
3/6/1996 no, no		@ Michigan State	L 67-77	18-11 (7-10)	Breslin Student Events Center (13,187) East Lansing, MI
3/9/1996 no, no		vs. Minnesota	L 66-67 ^ot	18-12 (7-11)	Assembly Hall (16,206) Champaign, IL
National Invitation Tournament^[4]
3/13/1996* no, no		vs. Alabama First Round	L 69-72	18-13	Assembly Hall (8,398) Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	2 pt. Field Goals	3 pt. Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Kiwane Garris^[5]	25	80	38	112	86	98	0	42	386
Bryant Notree^[6]	31	105	17	66	190	30	5	32	327
Richard Keene^[7]	31	38	69	34	116	162	8	40	317
Jerry Hester^[8]	28	74	38	46	111	35	9	16	308
Jarrod Gee^[9]	31	115	0	35	190	16	33	17	265
Chris Gandy^[10]	31	72	4	33	126	14	16	14	189
Matt Heldman^[11]	31	23	30	33	29	43	1	11	175
Kevin Turner^[12]	31	40	25	15	49	54	3	17	170
Ryan Blackwell	30	33	6	34	86	23	6	9	118
Brett Robisch	14	14	3	3	22	6	1	2	40
Brian Johnson	20	13	0	3	23	17	1	3	29
Herb Caldwell	14	3	0	7	9	1	1	1	13
Jeff Lindenmeyer	12	4	0	0	8	0	0	1	8

Awards and honors

Kiwane Garris
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[13]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick

^[14]

Rankings

References

^ "Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 56. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
^ FightingIllini.com
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1995-96 Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
^ 1996 National Invitation Tournament
^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
^ 1996 NBA Draft Archived 2011-05-20 at the Wayback Machine

[1] Indiana adjusted from 12–6, 19–12

[2] Iowa adjusted from 11–7, 23–9

[3] Minnesota adjusted from 10–8, 19–13 (vacated 2 games)

[4] Wisconsin adjusted from 8–10, 17–15

[5] Purdue adjusted from 15–3, 26–6 (forfeit 18 wins, vacated 2 games)

[6] Ohio State adjusted from 3–15, 10–17

[7] Northwestern adjusted from 2–16, 7–20

[8] Michigan adjusted from 10–8/21–11 (vacated 21 games)

[DIR56-9] "Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 56. Retrieved March 16, 2021.

[10] FightingIllini.com

[11] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1995-96 Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com

[12] 1996 National Invitation Tournament

[13] "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.

[14] "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.

[15] "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.

[16] "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.

[17] "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.

[18] "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.

[19] "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.

[20] "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.

[21] "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.

[22] 1996 NBA Draft Archived 2011-05-20 at the Wayback Machine

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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