1945–46 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1945–46 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1945–46 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record14–7 (7–5 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPBob Doster
CaptainWalton Kirk
Home arenaHuff Hall
Seasons
1945–46 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Ohio State 10 2   .833 16 5   .762
Indiana 9 3   .750 18 3   .857
Iowa 8 4   .667 14 4   .778
Northwestern 8 4   .667 15 5   .750
Illinois 7 5   .583 14 7   .667
Minnesota 7 5   .583 14 7   .667
Michigan 6 6   .500 12 7   .632
Purdue 4 8   .333 10 11   .476
Wisconsin 1 11   .083 4 17   .190
Chicago 0 12   .000 6 14   .300

Regular season

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The modern era of college basketball unofficially began with the 1945-46 season and the University of Illinois was quick to offer a team that was rebuilding its post-war image to that of a contender. Future hall of fame coaches Johnny Orr and Vic Bubas left the team to join in with the war effort as did Walt Kersulis, a top 5 scorer from the previous season and Consensus First-Team All-American and team captain Walt Kirk. The addition of freshman Bob Doster and Dwight Humphrey to a lineup that included team Jack Burmaster, Robert Rowe and Walter Mroz became formidable opponents to every team they played including a no. 1 ranked DePaul. On December 29, 1945, the Fighting Illini took on George Mikan's Blue Demons, who had lost just eight games in three years, and defeated them by a score of 56-37. In the game Burmaster and Doster each scored 14 points with Mroz adding 11 in the second half. The victory proved that, even without team captain Kirk, who had gone to serve in the armed services, the young team was ready to take on all comers. The 1945 Blue Demons went on to win the 1945 National Invitation Tournament. Additionally, the 1945-46 season would be the finale for the University of Chicago as part of the Big Ten. Illinois would defeat the Maroons two times during the year, 70-28 and 85-24. Due to the departure of Chicago, the Big Ten would become the Big Nine until Michigan State joined the conference in 1950.

Mills used 31 players during the course of the season and had an overall record of 14 wins and 7 losses with a conference mark of 7 and 5, finishing in a fifth place tie in the Big Ten. The team finished with an 11 - 2 record at home and a road record of 3 - 5. Future All-American Dwight "Dike" Eddleman would appear in two games during the course of the season, as well as future North Carolina A&T Aggies, hall-of-fame men's basketball coach, Cal Irvin, would appear in one game.

David "Matt" Bullock

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1946 saw the end of a 34-year career for Illini athletic trainer Matt Bullock. From 1913-47 David “Matt” Bullock saw to it that football and basketball stars like Red Grange, George Halas, Buddy Young, Ray Woods, Chuck Carney, Lou Boudreau, Andy Phillip and other Fighting Illini stayed healthy. During his long career at the University of Illinois, Bullock cared for more than 40,000 athletes.

Roster

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1945–46 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
F 7 Hal Craig 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Fr Decatur High School Decatur, Illinois
G 9 Jimmy Seyler 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Centralia High School Centralia, Illinois
F 10 Jake Staab 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Chillicothe High School Chillicothe, Illinois
F 11 Leo Swinford 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Fr Paris High School Paris, Illinois
G 12 Leo Gedvilas 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Hall High School Spring Valley, Illinois
G 13 Walt Kirk (C) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Mt. Vernon High School Mt. Vernon, Illinois
G 14 Arthur Smiley 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Jr Waterman High School Waterman, Illinois
C 15 Robert Menke 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr Elgin High School Elgin, Illinois
F 16 Robert Doster 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Fr Decatur High School Decatur, Illinois
G 17 Joseph Rodriguez 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 165 lb (75 kg) So Niagara Falls High School Niagara Falls, New York
G 18 Paul Eckert 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr Herrin High School Herrin, Illinois
C 19 Robert Rowe 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Fr Warren High School Warren, Illinois
F 20 Walter Mroz 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 145 lb (66 kg) So Chicago Public Schools Chicago, Illinois
F 22 Dean Meador 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 140 lb (64 kg) Fr Patoka Senior High School Patoka, Illinois
G 23 William Eddleman 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Anna-Jonesboro Community High School Anna, Illinois
F 24 Van Anderson 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr Sullivan Community High School Sullivan, Illinois
G 26 George Leddy 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Fr Chicago Public Schools Chicago, Illinois
F 27 Ray McClure 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 156 lb (71 kg) Fr Galesburg High School Galesburg, Illinois
F 29 Dwight Humphrey 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 138 lb (63 kg) Fr Moline High School Moline, Illinois
C 30 Robert Jones 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Fr Frankfort Community High School West Frankfort, Illinois
C 31 William Edwards 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 176 lb (80 kg) Fr Staunton High School Staunton, Illinois
G 33 Robert Olson 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr St. Elmo Junior-Senior High School St. Elmo, Illinois
G 38 Jack Burmaster 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Elgin High School Elgin, Illinois
F 40 Dwight Eddleman 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Centralia High School Centralia, Illinois
G 41 Jack Pierce 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Pontiac Township High School Pontiac, Illinois
C 48 Fred Green 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Fr Urbana High School Urbana, Illinois
Bob Dannehl
Fr Onarga High School Onarga, Illinois
Cal Irvin
Fr Orange High School East Orange, New Jersey
Tony Esposito
Fr Chicago Public Schools Chicago, Illinois
Russell "Harold" Strange
GS Mount Pleasant High School Mount Pleasant, Michigan
Al Leavitt
Fr Chicago Public Schools Chicago, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

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

Roster

Schedule

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Date
time, TV
Opponent Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/1/1945*
no, no
Wright Field L 52–56  0–1
Huff Hall (4,291)
Champaign, IL
12/2/1945*
no, no
St. Louis W 54–46  1–1
Huff Hall (3,766)
Champaign, IL
12/8/1945*
no, no
Naval Training Station Great Lakes W 58–41  2–1
Huff Hall (4,995)
Champaign, IL
12/8/1945*
no, no
Great Lakes Hospital W 51–23  3–1
Huff Hall (4,995)
Champaign, IL
12/11/1945*
no, no
Detroit W 51–34  4–1
Huff Hall (4,475)
Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
12/15/1945
no, no
Ohio State L 46-50  4–2
(0–1)
Huff Hall (5,640)
Champaign, IL
12/18/1945*
no, no
Drake W 64-42  5–2
Huff Hall (5,640)
Champaign, IL
12/20/1945*
no, no
at Nebraska W 62–51  6–2
Nebraska Coliseum (3,000)
Lincoln, NE
12/22/1945
no, no
at Iowa
Rivalry
L 39–41  6–3
(0–2)
Iowa Field House (14,300)
Iowa City, IA
12/29/1945*
no, no
DePaul W 56–37  7–3
Huff Hall (5,079)
Champaign, IL
1/1/1946
no, no
at Wisconsin W 38–31  8–3
(1–2)
Wisconsin Field House (8,000)
Madison, WI
1/5/1946
no, no
at Michigan L 48–49  8–4
(1–3)
Yost Field House (7,000)
Ann Arbor, MI
1/12/1946
no, no
at Ohio State L 35–41  8-5
(1–4)
Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (2,800)
Columbus, OH
1/14/1946
no, no
Northwestern
Rivalry
W 45–38  9–5
(2–4)
Huff Hall (6,310)
Champaign, IL
1/19/1946
no, no
at University of Chicago W 70–28  10–5
(3–4)
Henry Crown Field House (1,500)
Chicago, IL
1/26/1946*
no, no
at Great Lakes L 42–67  10–6
Great Lakes Gymnasium (2,500)
Great Lakes, IL
2/4/1946
no, no
University of Chicago W 85–24  11–6
(4–4)
Huff Hall (3,616)
Champaign, IL
2/9/1946
no, no
Michigan W 49–44  12–6
(5–4)
Huff Hall (7,005)
Champaign, IL
2/16/1946
no, no
at Northwestern
Rivalry
L 43–48  12–7
(5–5)
Chicago Stadium (20,442)
Chicago, IL
2/18/1946
no, no
Wisconsin W 72–53  13–7
(6–5)
Huff Hall (5,992)
Champaign, IL
2/23/1946
no, no
Iowa
Rivalry
W 57–51  14–7
(7–5)
Huff Hall (7,214)
Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Source[1]

Player stats

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Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Points
Bob Doster 20 107 59 273
Jack Burmaster 20 15 4 173
Wallie Mroz 17 53 20 126
Robert Rowe 20 26 16 68
Bob Menke 17 25 17 67
Dwight Humphrey 20 26 16 20
Jimmy Seyler 16 23 17 63
Fred Green 4 16 9 41
Ray McClure 16 17 4 38
Jack Smiley 4 13 8 34
Hal Craig 12 14 6 34
George Leddy 19 5 16 26
Leo Gedvilas 17 9 1 19
Van Anderson 7 9 1 19
Robert Olson 7 5 7 17
William Edwards 8 4 4 12
Dean Meador 6 3 0 6
Dwight Eddleman 2 3 0 6
Bob Dannehl 2 2 1 5
Cal Irvin 1 2 0 4
William Eddleman 3 2 0 4
Jack Pierce 1 2 0 4
Tony Esposito 1 2 0 4
Jake Staab 3 0 2 2
Harold Strange 1 1 0 2
Al Leavitt 3 1 0 2
Paul Eckert 1 0 1 1
Robert Jones 3 0 1 1
Joe Rodriguez 5 0 1 1

[2]

Awards and honors

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References

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  1. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1943–44 pg.81, FightingIllini.com
  2. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on June 25, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  3. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.