1968–69 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1968–69 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1968–69 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
APNo. 20
Record19–5 (9–5 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPDave Scholz
CaptainDave Scholz
Home arenaAssembly Hall
Seasons
1968–69 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 6 Purdue 13 1   .929 23 5   .821
No. 20 Illinois 9 5   .643 19 5   .792
Ohio State 9 5   .643 17 7   .708
Michigan 7 7   .500 13 11   .542
Northwestern 6 8   .429 14 10   .583
Minnesota 6 8   .429 12 12   .500
Michigan State 6 8   .429 11 12   .478
Iowa 5 9   .357 12 12   .500
Wisconsin 5 9   .357 11 13   .458
Indiana 4 10   .286 9 15   .375
Rankings from AP Poll[1]

Regular season

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In only his second season as the Head coach of the Fighting Illini, Harv Schmidt guided his basketball team to a high-point of an Associated Press ranking of number 4 by the beginning of January, 1969. Schmidt and his Illini won their first ten games of the season with the single biggest win occurring December 21, 1968, as they stopped the Houston Cougars' 60 game home winning streak, 97–84. After the win, the Illini, just two days short of two years after the original "Slush Fund" announcement, appeared to be back in their prime. During the season the Illini defeated a total of 4 top 20 teams, including a tenth ranked Ohio State in February. Like so many years before, the Illini's only losses came at the hands of the competition provided by the other teams within the Big Ten Conference. The team completed the season with only 5 losses, all coming within the league. The final totals were 19 wins overall with 9 of those wins coming within the conference. The team was led in scoring for the season by Dave Scholz, Greg Jackson, Mike Price and Jodie Harrison. Scholz would finish his senior season by being named 1st team All-American by the Helms Foundation, 3rd team All-American by the Associated Press and to the Converse honorable mention All-American team. The Fighting Illini would go on to finish the season with a 19-5 overall record and tied for 2nd place in the conference with a 9–5 record.

The 1968-69 team's starting lineup included Scholz and Fred Miller at the forward spots, Price and Harrison as guards and Jackson at center.

Roster

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1968–69 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 10 Rick Howat 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 160 lb (73 kg) So Downers Grove North High School Downers Grove, Illinois
G 11 Bob Windmiller 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Ossian High School Ossian, Indiana
F 14 Fred Miller 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Pekin High School Pekin, Illinois
G/F 15 Mike Price 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Jr Arsenal Technical High School Indianapolis, Indiana
F 20 Brad Richardson 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) So East Richland High School Olney, Illinois
F 30 Randy Crews 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Jr Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School Kankakee, Illinois
C 31 Greg Jackson 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 255 lb (116 kg) So St. Philip High School Chicago, Illinois
G 32 Les Busboom 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr St. Joseph-Ogden High School Royal, Illinois
G 33 Jodie Harrison 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Streator High School Streator, Illinois
G/F 34 Denny Pace 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Sr Collinsville High School Collinsville, Illinois
F/C 40 Dave Scholz (C) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Sr Stephen Decatur High School Decatur, Illinois
G 43 Bob Shapland 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Central High School Champaign, Illinois
G 44 Ron Armbrust 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Lincoln High School Lincoln, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

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

Roster

Schedule

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Source[2]

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/2/1968*
no, no
Butler W 105-66  1-0
Assembly Hall (11,833)
Champaign, IL
12/6/1968*
no, no
at Creighton W 69-66  2-0
Omaha Civic Auditorium (9,240)
Omaha, NE
12/9/1968*
no, no
North Dakota W 83-51  3-0
Assembly Hall (11,795)
Champaign, IL
12/14/1968*
no, no
Iowa State W 75-48  4-0
Assembly Hall (10,051)
Champaign, IL
12/17/1968*
no, no
Ohio W 95-82  5-0
Assembly Hall (10,031)
Champaign, IL
12/19/1968*
no, no
Tulane W 105-71  6-0
Assembly Hall (10,252)
Champaign, IL
12/21/1968*
no, no
at No. 20 Houston W 97-84  7-0
Hofheinz Pavilion (5,200)
Houston, TX
12/27/1968*
no, no
No. 12 vs. Creighton
Hurricane Classic
W 90-77  8-0
Miami Beach Convention Center (2,093)
Miami, FL
12/28/1968*
no, no
No. 12 at Miami (FL)
Hurricane Classic
W 86-76  9-0
Miami Beach Convention Center (2,486)
Miami, FL
Big Ten regular season
1/4/1969
no, no
No. 8 Minnesota W 80-58  10-0
(1-0)
Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
1/7/1969
no, no
No. 4 at Purdue L 84-98  10-1
(1-1)
Mackey Arena (14,123)
West Lafayette, IN
1/11/1969
no, no
No. 4 at No. 12 Northwestern
Rivalry
W 82-77 OT 11-1
(2-1)
McGaw Memorial Hall (8,388)
Evanston, IL
1/25/1969*
no, no
No. 8 vs. No. 15 Notre Dame L 83-86  12-1
Chicago Stadium (18,000)
Chicago, IL
1/28/1969
no, no
No. 7 at No. 12 Ohio State L 67-76  12-2
(2-2)
St. John Arena (13,374)
Columbus, OH
2/1/1969
no, no
No. 7 Wisconsin W 86-73  13-2
(3-2)
Assembly Hall (15,740)
Champaign, IL
2/8/1969
no, no
No. 10 Iowa
Rivalry
W 98-69  14-2
(4-2)
Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
2/11/1969
no, no
No. 10 at Michigan L 87-92  14-3
(4-3)
Crisler Arena (8,113)
Ann Arbor, MI
2/15/1969
no, no
No. 10 at Michigan State L 70-75  14-4
(4-4)
Jenison Fieldhouse (7,020)
East Lansing, MI
2/18/1969
no, no
No. 19 No. 10 Ohio State W 73-57  15-4
(5-4)
Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
2/23/1969
no, no
No. 19 Michigan W 100-92  16-4
(6-4)
Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
2/25/1969
no, no
No. 15 at Iowa
Rivalry
L 53-74  16-5
(6-5)
Iowa Field House (13,700)
Iowa City, IA
3/1/1969
no, no
No. 15 at Indiana
Rivalry
W 77-64  17-5
(7-5)
New Fieldhouse (5,425)
Bloomington, IN
3/4/1969
no, no
No. 20 Michigan State W 71-57  18-5
(8-5)
Assembly Hall (14,912)
Champaign, IL
3/8/1969
no, no
No. 20 Northwestern
Rivalry
W 78-68  19-5
(9-5)
Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

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Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Rebounds Points
Dave Scholz[3] 24 181 97 209 459
Greg Jackson[4] 24 163 68 200 394
Mike Price[5] 24 120 58 163 298
Jodie Harrison[6] 24 87 80 96 254
Fred Miller[7] 22 44 55 64 254
Denny Pace[8] 24 56 27 86 139
Randy Crews[9] 24 43 46 82 132
Rick Howat[10] 22 34 10 14 78
Bob Windmiller[11] 15 23 10 14 56
Les Busboom 10 5 6 11 16
Bob Shapland 8 3 0 3 6
Brad Richardson 8 1 3 10 5

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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Player NBA Club Round Pick
Steve Kuberski* Boston Celtics 4 9
Dave Scholz Philadelphia 76ers 4 13
Rich Jones* Phoenix Suns 5 1
Jodie Harrison Baltimore Bullets 15 6

[13]

*Kuberski transferred to Bradley to finish his eligibility due to the "Slush-Fund" scandal of 1966.
*Jones transferred to Memphis State to finish his eligibility due to the "Slush-Fund" scandal of 1966.

Rankings

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References

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  1. ^ sports-reference.com 1968-69 Big Ten Conference Season Summary
  2. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1968-69 Archived 2013-12-30 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  3. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  4. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  5. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  6. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  7. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  8. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  9. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  10. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  11. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  12. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  13. ^ 1969 NBA Draft Archived 2010-03-18 at the Wayback Machine