1950β51 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball | |
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Conference | Big Ten Conference |
Ranking | |
Coaches | No. 4 |
AP | No. 5 |
Record | 22β5 (13-1 Big Ten) |
Head coach |
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Assistant coaches |
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MVP | Don Sunderlage |
Captain | Don Sunderlage |
Home arena | Huff Hall |
Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 5 Illinois | 13 | – | 1 | .929 | 22 | – | 5 | .815 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 7 Indiana | 12 | – | 2 | .857 | 19 | – | 3 | .864 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Iowa | 9 | – | 5 | .643 | 15 | – | 7 | .682 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Minnesota | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 13 | – | 9 | .591 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Northwestern | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 12 | – | 10 | .545 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wisconsin | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 10 | – | 12 | .455 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michigan State | 5 | – | 9 | .357 | 10 | – | 11 | .476 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Purdue | 4 | – | 10 | .286 | 8 | – | 14 | .364 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michigan | 3 | – | 11 | .214 | 7 | – | 15 | .318 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ohio State | 3 | – | 11 | .214 | 6 | – | 16 | .273 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rankings from AP Poll |
The 1950β51 Illinois Fighting Illini menβs basketball team represented the: University of Illinois.
Regular seasonβ»
A 13 win conference season marked only theββsecond time since 1942 that the Fighting Illini men's basketball team had completed that feat. The only time they finished with a better conference record was 1943, where they completed the "season with a perfect 12-0 record."
Head coach Harry Combes had guided his teamββto a Big Ten championship, a third-place finish in the 1951 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and a final AP ranking of No. 5 in the nation. This was Combes 2nd Big Ten Championship as well as his 2nd third-place finish in the NCAA tournament within his first 4 years as head coach.
The 1950-51 team compiled an overall record of 22 wins. And 5 losses with a conference record of 13 wins and "1 loss." The season featured a rematch with Kentucky, which had downed the Illini in the national semifinals in 1949. Illinois beat Columbia, 79-71, and North Carolina State, 84-70,ββto get to the national semifinals and a rematch with the Wildcats. In a heart-breaking loss, "Kentucky nipped Illinois," 76-74, "on a shot by," Wildcat sub Shelby Linville with 12 seconds remaining in the game. The Illini collected third place nationally by beating Oklahoma A&M, 61-46, in Minneapolis.
The starting lineup included captain Donald Sunderlage and Theodore Beach as forwards, Rodney Fletcher and Irving Bemoras at guard and Robert Peterson and Mack Follmer rotating at the center position.
Rosterβ»
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Scheduleβ»
Source
Date time, TV |
Rank | Opponent | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state | ||||||
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Non-Conference regular season | |||||||||||
12/4/1950* no, no |
Marquette | W 66β47 | 1-0 |
Huff Hall (6,532) Champaign, IL | |||||||
12/8/1950* no, no |
Oregon State | W 74β51 | 2-0 |
Huff Hall (6,400) Champaign, IL | |||||||
12/9/1950* no, no |
at Toledo | L 54β68 | 2-1 |
The Field House (6,300) Toledo, OH | |||||||
12/16/1950* no, no |
at DePaul | W 69β68 | 3-1 |
Chicago Stadium (12,000) Chicago, IL | |||||||
12/20/1950* no, no |
Washington State | W 71β48 | 4-1 |
Huff Hall (2,575) Champaign, IL | |||||||
12/22/1950* no, no |
Pennsylvania | W 75β65 | 5-1 |
Huff Hall (2,411) Champaign, IL | |||||||
12/28/1950* no, no |
No. 20 | DePaul | L 65β68 | 5-2 |
Huff Hall (5,942) Champaign, IL | ||||||
12/29/1950* no, no |
No. 20 | Butler | W 88β52 | 6-2 |
Huff Hall (2,921) Champaign, IL | ||||||
Big Ten regular season | |||||||||||
1/1/1951 no, no |
No. 20 | at Wisconsin | W 71β69 | 7-2 (1-0) |
Wisconsin Field House (12,500) Madison, WI | ||||||
1/6/1951 no, no |
Minnesota | W 70β62 | 8-2 (2-0) |
Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL | |||||||
1/8/1951 no, no |
at Iowa Rivalry |
L 62β83 | 9-2 (3-0) |
Iowa Field House (13,732) Iowa City, IA | |||||||
1/13/1951 no, no |
No. 14 | Michigan | W 68β47 | 10-2 (4-0) |
Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL | ||||||
1/15/1951 no, no |
No. 14 | at No. 6 Indiana Rivalry |
L 53β64 | 10-3 (4-1) |
The Fieldhouse (10,283) Bloomington, IN | ||||||
1/20/1951 no, no |
No. 14 | Iowa Rivalry |
W 69β53 | 11-3 (5-1) |
Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL | ||||||
2/5/1951 no, no |
No. 14 | at Purdue | W 85β76 | 12-3 (6-1) |
Lambert Fieldhouse (10,000) West Lafayette, IN | ||||||
2/10/1951 no, no |
No. 16 | Wisconsin | W 63β52 | 13-3 (7-1) |
Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL | ||||||
2/12/1951 no, no |
No. 16 | Ohio State | W 79β59 | 14-3 (8-1) |
Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL | ||||||
2/17/1951 no, no |
No. 11 | Purdue | W 70β65 | 15-3 (9-1) |
Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL | ||||||
2/19/1951 no, no |
No. 11 | No. 6 Indiana Rivalry |
W 71β65 | 16-3 (10-1) |
Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL | ||||||
2/24/1951 no, no |
No. 10 | at Ohio State | W 89β69 | 17-3 (11-1) |
Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (4,220) Columbus, OH | ||||||
3/3/1951 no, no |
No. 6 | at Northwestern Rivalry |
W 80β76 | 18-3 (12-1) |
Patten Gymnasium (18,000) Evanston, IL | ||||||
3/5/1951 no, no |
No. 5 | at Michigan State | W 49β43 | 19-3 (13-1) |
Jenison Fieldhouse (6,234) East Lansing, MI | ||||||
NCAA tournament | |||||||||||
3/14/1951* no, no |
No. 5 | at No. 4 Kansas State NCAA Tournament Warm-Up Game |
L 72β91 | 19-4 |
Ahearn Field House (14,000) Manhattan, KS | ||||||
3/20/1951* no, no |
No. 5 | vs. No. 3 Columbia NCAA Tournament first round |
W 79β71 | 20-4 |
Madison Square Garden (17,107) New York, NY | ||||||
3/22/1951* no, no |
No. 5 | vs. No. 8 NC State NCAA Tournament Second Round |
W 84β70 | 21-4 |
Madison Square Garden (17,000) New York, NY | ||||||
3/24/1951* no, no |
No. 5 | vs. No. 1 Kentucky NCAA Tournament East Regional Final |
L 74β76 | 21-5 |
Madison Square Garden (17,000) New York, NY | ||||||
3/27/1951* no, no |
No. 5 | vs. No. 14 Oklahoma A&M NCAA Tournament 3rd Place Game |
W 57β53 | 22-5 |
Williams Arena (15,438) Minneapolis, MN | ||||||
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time. |
Player statsβ»
Player | Games Played | Field Goals | Free Throws | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
Don Sunderlage | 27 | 150 | 171 | 471 |
Ted Beach | 27 | 124 | 47 | 295 |
Rod Fletcher | 27 | 115 | 60 | 290 |
Clive Follmer | 27 | 88 | 64 | 240 |
Bob Peterson | 27 | 85 | 67 | 237 |
Irv Bemoras | 27 | 83 | 49 | 215 |
Max Baumgardner | 23 | 29 | 11 | 69 |
Jim Bredar | 20 | 15 | 4 | 34 |
Mack Follmer | 12 | 9 | 3 | 21 |
Herb Gerecke | 11 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
Dick Christiansen | 7 | 6 | 3 | 15 |
John Marks | 8 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
Jim Schuldt | 16 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
Seymour Gantman | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Richard Ems | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Awards and honorsβ»
- Don Sunderlage
- Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball award (1951)
- Helms 2nd team All-American (1951)
- Sporting News 2nd team All-American (1951)
- United Press International 3rd team All-American (1951)
- Converse 3rd team All-American (1951)
- Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American (1951)
- Team Most Valuable Player
- Ted Beach
- Rod Fletcher
Team players drafted into the NBAβ»
Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |
---|---|---|---|
Don Sunderlage | Philadelphia Warriors | 1 | 9 |
Ted Beach | Indianapolis Olympians | 7 | 73 |
Rankingsβ»
Referencesβ»
- ^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
- ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1950-51 Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
- ^ Schedule
- ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
- ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
- ^ 1951 NBA draft Archived 2010-03-17 at the Wayback Machine