1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	9–9 (4-8 Big Ten)
Head coach	Douglas Mills
Assistant coaches	Howie Braun Wally Roettger David M. Bullock (Trainer)
Captain	Lou Boudreau
Home arena	Huff Hall

1937–38 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Purdue	10	–	2		.833			18	–	2		.900
Minnesota	9	–	3		.750			16	–	4		.800
Ohio State	7	–	5		.583			12	–	8		.600
Northwestern	7	–	5		.583			10	–	10		.500
Michigan	6	–	6		.500			12	–	8		.600
Iowa	6	–	6		.500			11	–	9		.550
Wisconsin	5	–	7		.417			10	–	10		.500
Illinois	4	–	8		.333			9	–	9		.500
Indiana	4	–	8		.333			10	–	10		.500
Chicago	2	–	10		.167			6	–	12		.333
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

The 1937-38 season for second year head coach Doug Mills took a major step backward after finishing in a first place tie a year earlier. Mills' Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team dropped to a tie for eighth place in the Big Ten during his sophomore season. This team featured future major league baseball hall of fame shortstop and manager, Lou Boudreau. Even though they returned 6 letterman, the Illini finished the season with a conference record of 4 wins and 8 losses (the worst of Mills' career at Illinois). The team finished the season with an overall record of 9 wins 9 losses. Along with team captain Boudreau, the Illini also featured a starting lineup of Lewis Dehner at the center position, Joe Frank and William Hapac at forward and George Wardley, Tom Nisbit and Colin Handlon at guard.

Roster

1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G 3 Colin Handlon — — So Connersville, Indiana F 6 Harry Lasater Jr. — — So Fairfield, Illinois C 8 Lewis Dehner — — Jr Lincoln, Illinois G 10 Carlos Davies — — So Streator, Illinois F 11 Charles Phillips — — So Ridgway, Illinois G 15 George Wardley — — Jr Gary, Indiana F 17 Joe Frank — — So Urbana, Illinois G 18 Tom Nisbet — — Jr Chicago, Illinois F 19 William Hapac — — So Cicero, Illinois F 21 Lou Boudreau (C) — — Jr Harvey, Illinois F 22 William Bennis — — Sr Freeport, Illinois G 28 Jack Hodges — — Jr Rock Island, Illinois G 27 Orval Spurlin — — So Kinmundy, Illinois F 33 Thomas Bouzeos — — So Chicago, Illinois F 55 Carter Cooley — — Jr Chicago, Illinois	Head coach Douglas Mills (University of Illinois) (2nd year) Assistant coach(es) Wally Roettger (University of Illinois) (3rd year) Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (1st year) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt All-Time Illini Rosters Roster

Source

Schedule

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/7/1937* no, no	Carroll	W 48–25	1–0	Huff Hall (6,500) Champaign, IL
12/11/1937* no, no	at Augustana	W 43–27	2–0	Old Main Gymnasium (5,000) Rock Island, IL
12/15/1937* no, no	Washington (St. Louis)	W 40–36	3–0	Huff Hall (6,800) Champaign, IL
12/18/1937* no, no	at St. John's	W 60–45	4–0	Madison Square Garden (17,000) New York, NY
12/20/1937* no, no	at Temple	L 38–51	4–1	Municipal Auditorium (4,000) Philadelphia, PA
12/28/1937* no, no	Notre Dame	W 33–32	5–1	Huff Hall (8,500) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/4/1938 no, no	at Indiana Rivalry	L 46–51	5–2 (0–1)	IU Fieldhouse (6,000) Bloomington, IN
1/8/1938 no, no	at Michigan	L 37–45	5–3 (0–2)	Yost Field House (-) Ann Arbor, MI
1/10/1938 no, no	Purdue	W 51–43	6–3 (1–2)	Huff Hall (7,100) Champaign, IL
1/15/1938 no, no	University of Chicago	W 50–34	7–3 (2–2)	Huff Hall (7,100) Champaign, IL
1/17/1938 no, no	Minnesota	L 29–41	7–4 (2–3)	Huff Hall (7,100) Champaign, IL
1/22/1938 no, no	at Ohio State	L 26–46	7–5 (2–4)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (7,500) Columbus, OH
2/7/1938 no, no	at Purdue	L 13–23	7–6 (2–5)	Lambert Fieldhouse (5,000) West Lafayette, IN
2/12/1938 no, no	at Minnesota	L 23–28	7–7 (2–6)	Williams Arena (6,800) Minneapolis, MN
2/19/1938 no, no	Ohio State	W 42–34	8–7 (3–6)	Huff Hall (7,000) Champaign, IL
2/21/1938 no, no	at University of Chicago	L 39–43	8–8 (3–7)	Henry Crown Field House (5,000) Chicago, IL
2/28/1938 no, no	Michigan	W 36–32	9–8 (4–7)	Huff Hall (7,000) Champaign, IL
3/4/1938 no, no	Indiana Rivalry	L 35–45	9–9 (4–8)	Huff Hall (7,000) Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Source

Awards and honors

• Lou Boudreau
  • Madison Square Garden 1st team All-American
• Louis Dehner
  • Converse 3rd team All-American