1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Kentucky Invitational Tournament, Champion
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 16
Record18-6 (10-4 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPSkip Thoren
CaptainSkip Thoren
Home arenaAssembly Hall
Seasons
1964–65 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L PCTW L PCT
No. 1 Michigan131 .929244 .857
No. 7 Minnesota113 .786195 .792
Illinois104 .714186 .750
Indiana95 .643195 .792
Iowa86 .5711410 .583
Ohio State63 .6671212 .500
Purdue59 .3571212 .500
Wisconsin410 .286913 .409
Northwestern311 .214717 .292
Michigan State113 .071518 .217
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Head coach Harry Combes Fighting Illini basketball team returned to their winning ways for the 1964-65 season. Even though they were not ranked in the pre-season top 20 of college basketball teams, they peaked at #6 during the course of the season in the Associated Press and finished the season ranked #16 in the coaches poll. During the course of the season, the Illini would play in two mid-season tournaments and participate 24 regular season games, the most since 1908 when they played in 26. The tournaments the Illini would participate in would be the ECAC Quaker City Tournament in Philadelphia and a return trip to the Kentucky Invitational Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky. The highlight of the season would happen in the season opener when the Illini would defeat the previous season's national champion UCLA Bruins by a score of 110-83. The 1965 Bruins would finish with a 28-2 record and their second national championship.

The 1964-65 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer, team "MVP" and captain, Skip Thoren. It also saw the return of team seniors Tal Brody, Bogie Redmon, Bill McKeown as well as Juniors Don Freeman, Jim Vopicka and Larry Hinton to their lineup. It also included sophomores Jim Dawson, Bob Johansen and future Dallas Cowboy, Preston Pearson. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 10 wins and 4 losses, finishing in 3rd place in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 18 wins and 6 losses. The starting lineup included Skip Thoren at the center position, Tal Brody and Jim Dawson at guard and Don Freeman and Bogie Redmon at the forward slots.[1]

Roster

1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#NameHeightWeightYearPrevious schoolHometown
G11Larry Miller5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)161 lb (73 kg)SrConnellsville High SchoolConnellsville, Pennsylvania
G12Tal Brody6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)173 lb (78 kg)SrCentral High SchoolTrenton, New Jersey
F14Jerry Mettille6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)179 lb (81 kg)SoMorris Community High SchoolMorris, Illinois
G15Donnie Freeman6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)179 lb (81 kg)JrMadison High SchoolMadison, Illinois
F21Bob Johansen6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)185 lb (84 kg)SoGeneva High SchoolGeneva, Illinois
G22Jim Vopicka6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)175 lb (79 kg)JrMorton West High SchoolBrookfield, Illinois
G23Ron Beeks6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)180 lb (82 kg)SrPrinceton High SchoolPrinceton, New Jersey
G24Jim Dawson6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)172 lb (78 kg)SoYork High SchoolElmhurst, Illinois
G25Preston Pearson6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)195 lb (88 kg)SoFreeport High SchoolFreeport, Illinois
F30Deon Flessner6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)193 lb (88 kg)SoFithian High SchoolFithian, Illinois
F33Bogie Redmon6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)225 lb (102 kg)SrCollinsville High SchoolCollinsville, Illinois
G34Bill McKeown6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)185 lb (84 kg)SrClinton High SchoolClinton, Illinois
C35Skip Thoren (C)6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)232 lb (105 kg)SrRockford East High SchoolRockford, Illinois
G/F40Bob Brown6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)190 lb (86 kg)JrP. S. Dupont High SchoolWilmington, DE
F43Larry Hinton6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)194 lb (88 kg)JrShelbyville High SchoolShelbyville, Illinois
F44Mike Graville6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)175 lb (79 kg)JrMadison High SchoolMadison, Illinois
F54Dan Lee6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)175 lb (79 kg)JrAttica High SchoolAttica, Indiana
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (28th year)
  • Jim Wright (University of Illinois) (7th year)

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

Roster

Schedule

Source[2]

Date
time, TV
Rank#Opponent#ResultRecordSite (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/4/1964*
no, no
No. 2 UCLAW 110-83 1-0
Assembly Hall (11,873)
Champaign, IL
12/5/1964*
no, no
at St. LouisL 64-79 1-1
Kiel Auditorium (9,230)
St. Louis, MO
12/8/1964*
no, no
Bowling GreenW 100-62 2-1
Assembly Hall (9,889)
Champaign, IL
12/12/1964*
no, no
Washington (St. Louis)W 103-59 3-1
Assembly Hall (9,027)
Champaign, IL
12/15/1964
no, no
at WisconsinW 70-56 4-1
(1-0)
Wisconsin Field House (9,538)
Madison, WI
12/18/1964*
no, no
vs. Dayton
Kentucky Invitational Tournament
W 104-86 5-1
Memorial Coliseum (11,800)
Lexington, KY
12/19/1964*
no, no
at No. 8 Kentucky
Kentucky Invitational Tournament
W 91-86 6-1
Memorial Coliseum (11,800)
Lexington, KY
12/26/1964*
no, no
No. 7 vs. NYU
ECAC Quaker City Tournament
W 102-79 7-1
Palestra (9,500)
Philadelphia, PA
12/28/1964*
no, no
No. 7 at St. Joseph's
ECAC Quaker City Tournament
L 71-75 7-2
Palestra (9,500)
Philadelphia, PA
12/29/1964*
no, no
No. 6 at Villanova
ECAC Quaker City Tournament
W 74-65 8-2
Palestra (9,500)
Philadelphia, PA
Big Ten regular season
1/4/1965
no, no
No. 6 No. 2 Indiana
Rivalry
W 88-81 9-2
(2-0)
Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
1/9/1965
no, no
at No. 3 MichiganL 83-89 9-3
(2-1)
Yost Field House (7,600)
Ann Arbor, MI
1/16/1965
no, no
MinnesotaW 75-72 10-3
(3-1)
Assembly Hall (10,789)
Champaign, IL
1/30/1965*
no, no
vs. Notre DameW 101-87 11-3
Chicago Stadium (16,746)
Chicago, IL
2/6/1965
no, no
PurdueW 121-93 12-3
(4-1)
Assembly Hall (8,828)
Champaign, IL
2/8/1965
no, no
at Ohio StateW 86-71 13-3
(5-1)
St. John Arena (7,626)
Columbus, OH
2/13/1965
no, no
No. 10 at MinnesotaL 90-105 13-4
(5-2)
Williams Arena (8,184)
Minneapolis, MN
2/16/1965
no, no
Ohio StateW 95-72 14-4
(6-2)
Assembly Hall (8,751)
Champaign, IL
2/20/1965
no, no
at Michigan StateW 100-89 15-4
(7-2)
Jenison Fieldhouse (8,643)
East Lansing, MI
2/23/1965
no, no
Iowa
Rivalry
W 97-80 16-4
(8-2)
Assembly Hall (13,387)
Champaign, IL
2/27/1965
no, no
No. 1 MichiganL 79-80 16-5
(8-3)
Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
3/2/1965
no, no
at Northwestern
Rivalry
W 93-70 17-5
(9-3)
McGaw Memorial Hall (5,500)
Evanston, IL
3/6/1965
no, no
at Iowa
Rivlary
L 84-94 17-6
(9-4)
Iowa Field House (10,500)
Iowa City, IA
3/9/1965
no, no
Michigan StateW 121-89 18-6
(10-4)
Assembly Hall (10,456)
Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

PlayerGames PlayedField GoalsFree ThrowsReboundsPoints
Skip Thoren[2]2421995349533
Tal Brody[2]2418395108463
Don Freeman[2]2417884226440
Bogie Redmon[2]2415555192365
Bill McKeown[2]941173999
Jim Dawson[2]2238114187
Jim Vopicka[2]2334196187
Bob Johansen[2]1956223456
Larry Hinton[2]1836141736
Preston Pearson[2]171641816
Deon Flessner[2]13451413
Bob Brown[2]1326810
Jerry Mettile[2]93288

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

PlayerNBA ClubRoundPick
Tal BrodyBaltimore Bullets24
Skip ThorenBaltimore Bullets44
Bogie RedmonBaltimore Bullets102
Roger TaylorBaltimore Bullets171

[4]

Rankings

References

  1. ^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History by News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1964-65 Archived 2014-03-08 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  3. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  4. ^ 1965 NBA Draft Archived 2013-02-03 at the Wayback Machine
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