Jump to content

1975–76 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by PrimeBOT (talk | contribs) at 00:06, 21 June 2020 (→Schedule: Task 30 - remove deprecated parameter in Template:CBB schedule entry). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

1975–76 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. Not ranked
APNo. Not ranked
Record14–13 (7–11 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPNate Williams
CaptainAppointed Each Game
Home arenaAssembly Hall
Seasons
1975–76 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 1 Indiana 18 – 0   1.000 32 – 0   1.000
No. 9 Michigan 14 – 4   .778 25 – 7   .781
Purdue 11 – 7   .611 16 – 11   .593
Michigan State 10 – 8   .556 14 – 13   .519
Iowa 9 – 9   .500 19 – 10   .655
Minnesota 8 – 10   .444 16 – 10   .615
Illinois 7 – 11   .389 14 – 13   .519
Northwestern 7 – 11   .389 12 – 15   .444
Wisconsin 4 – 14   .222 10 – 16   .385
Ohio State 2 – 16   .111 6 – 20   .231
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1975–76 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

During the 1975-76 season, Illinois finished seventh in the Big Ten going went 14-13 overall. Lou Henson took over the team as head coach. Henson moved to the University of Illinois to replace Gene Bartow, after Bartow left Illinois to replace John Wooden at UCLA. Henson would lead the Fighting Illini to the 1989 Final Four. In 21 years at Illinois, Henson garnered 423 wins and 224 losses (.654 winning percentage), and with a record of 214 wins and 164 losses (.567) in Big Ten Conference games. The 214 wins in Big Ten games were the third highest total ever at the time of his retirement.

This marked the first time since 1919 that a Big Ten basketball team would finish the season undefeated. This also marked the second time a Big Ten team would finish with 30 or more wins.

Roster

1975–76 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 10 Nate Williams 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Crane High School Chicago, Illinois
F 12 Ken Ferdinand 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Fr Urbana High School Urbana, Illinois
G 20 Dennis Graff 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Gibson City High School Gibson City, Illinois
G 23 Larry Lubin 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Fr New Trier High School Glencoe, Illinois
F 24 Tom Gerhardt 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) So De La Salle High School Chicago, Illinois
G 33 Otho Tucker 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) RS Sr Paris High School Paris, Illinois
G/F 34 Rick Leighty 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Lawrenceville High School Lawrenceville, Illinois
F 40 Rich Adams 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Colerain High School Cincinnati, Ohio
G/F 42 Tim Bushell 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Jr Lincoln Community High School Lincoln, Illinois
G/F 44 Audie Matthews 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Bloom High School Chicago Heights, Illinois
C 53 Bill Rucks 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Sr Waukegan High School Waukegan, Illinois
C 54 Mike Washington 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Morgan Park High School Chicago, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

All-Time Illini Roster

Source[1] [2]

Schedule

Source[3]

Date
time, TV 		Opponent Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/28/1975*
no, no 		@ Nebraska W 60-58  1 - 0
 Nebraska Coliseum (6,235)
Lincoln, NE
12/1/1975*
no, no 		vs. Kent State W 73-54  2 - 0
 Assembly Hall (5,007)
Champaign, IL
12/4/1975*
no, no 		vs. Missouri-Rolla W 67-65  3 - 0
 Assembly Hall (5,050)
Champaign, IL
12/6/1975*
no, no 		vs. New Mexico W 67-66 OT 4 - 0
 Assembly Hall (5,684)
Champaign, IL
12/8/1976*
no, no 		vs. North Dakota State W 90-73  5 - 0
 Assembly Hall (3,016)
Champaign, IL
12/11/1975*
no, no 		@ Furman L 73-75  5 - 1
 Greenville, South Carolina (2,579)
Greenville, SC
12/13/1975*
no, no 		@ Southern California L 58-62  5 - 2
 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (4,458)
Los Angeles, CA
12/20/1975*
no, no 		vs. Arizona W 66-60  6 - 2
 Assembly Hall (6,115)
Champaign, IL
12/22/1975*
no, no 		vs. Rice W 106-64  7 - 2
 Assembly Hall (6,192)
Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/3/1976
no, no 		@ Iowa
Rivalry 		L 60-84  7 - 3 ( 0 - 1 )
 Iowa Field House (13,171)
Iowa City, IA
1/8/1976
no, no 		@ #17 Minnesota L 68-77  7 - 4 ( 0 - 2 )
 Williams Arena (10,062)
Minneapolis, MN
1/10/1976
no, no 		vs. Northwestern W 74-69  8 - 4 ( 1 - 2 )
 Assembly Hall (5,547)
Champaign, IL
1/12/1976
no, no 		vs. Wisconsin W 71-61  9 - 4 ( 2 - 2 )
 Assembly Hall (6,968)
Champaign, IL
1/17/1976
no, no 		vs. #1 Indiana
Rivalry 		L 55-83  9 - 5 ( 2 - 3 )
 Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
1/19/1976
no, no 		@ Ohio State L 63-64  9 - 6 ( 2 - 4 )
 St. John Arena (5,715)
Columbus, OH
1/24/1976
no, no 		vs. Michigan State L 63-74  9 - 7 ( 2 - 5 )
 Assembly Hall (6,975)
Champaign, IL
1/26/1976
no, no 		vs. #17 Michigan W 76-75  10 - 7 ( 3 - 5 )
 Assembly Hall (5,863)
Champaign, IL
1/31/1976
no, no 		vs. Purdue W 71-63  11 - 7 ( 4 - 5 )
 Assembly Hall (8,467)
Champaign, IL
2/2/1976
no, no 		vs. Minnesota L 62-72  11 - 8 ( 4 - 6 )
 Assembly Hall (7,317)
Champaign, IL
2/7/1976
no, no 		@ Northwestern W 61-55  12 - 8 ( 5 - 6 )
 McGaw Memorial Hall (4,228)
Evanston, IL
2/9/1976
no, no 		@ Wisconsin W 70-59  13 - 8 ( 6 - 6 )
 Wisconsin Field House (3,883)
Madison, WI
2/14/1976
no, no 		@ #1 Indiana
Rivalry 		L 48-58  13 - 9 ( 6 - 7 )
 Assembly Hall (17,759)
Bloomington, IN
2/16/1976
no, no 		vs. Ohio State W 91-73  14 - 9 ( 7 - 7 )
 Assembly Hall (8,087)
Champaign, IL
2/21/1976
no, no 		@ Michigan State L 59-69  14 - 10 ( 7 - 8 )
 Jenison Fieldhouse (4,227)
East Lansing, MI
2/23/1976
no, no 		@ #15 Michigan L 75-90  14 - 11 ( 7 - 9 )
 Crisler Center (8,121)
Ann Arbor, MI
2/28/1976
no, no 		@ Purdue L 62-81  14 - 12 ( 7 - 10 )
 Mackey Arena (13,729)
West Lafayette, IN
3/6/1976
no, no 		vs. Iowa
Rivalry 		L 70-82  14 - 13 ( 7 - 11 )
 Assembly Hall (10,028)
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 Points
Rich Adams[4] 27 181 67 158 41 429
Audi Matthews[5] 27 129 46 144 50 304
Mike Washington[6] 27 105 40 142 78 250
Nate Williams[7] 18 102 39 63 44 243
Otho Tucker[8] 26 83 68 135 84 234
Ken Ferdinand[9] 26 72 17 83 11 161
Rick Leighty[10] 27 50 10 70 53 110
Larry Lubin 26 22 16 19 46 60
Tom Gearhardt 22 15 8 34 12 38
Dennis Graff 15 4 16 4 6 24
Tim Bushell 8 2 2 3 2 6

Awards and honors

  • Nate Williams
    • Team Most Valuable Player [11]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player NBA Club Round Pick
Nate Williams Chicago Bulls 5 69
Otho Tucker Boston Celtics 10 169

[12]

Rankings

Main article: 1975–76 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

  1. ^ Men's Basketball Roster
  2. ^ All-Time Illini Rosters Archived 2010-04-22 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1975-76 Archived 2013-12-16 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  4. ^ Season Stats pg. 118
  5. ^ Season Stats pg. 118
  6. ^ Season Stats pg. 118
  7. ^ Season Stats pg. 118
  8. ^ Season Stats pg. 118
  9. ^ Season Stats pg. 118
  10. ^ Season Stats pg. 118
  11. ^ List of MVPs
  12. ^ 1976 NBA Draft Archived 2012-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1975–76_Illinois_Fighting_Illini_men%27s_basketball_team&oldid=963647159"