1943–44 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1943–44 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1943–44 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record11–9 (5–7 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPStan Patrick
CaptainSelected each game
Home arenaHuff Hall
Seasons
1943–44 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Ohio State 10 2   .833 14 7   .667
Iowa 9 3   .750 14 4   .778
Wisconsin 9 3   .750 12 9   .571
Northwestern 8 4   .667 12 7   .632
Purdue 8 4   .667 11 10   .524
Illinois 5 7   .417 11 9   .550
Michigan 5 7   .417 8 10   .444
Minnesota 2 10   .167 7 14   .333
Indiana 2 10   .167 7 15   .318
Chicago 0 8   .000 1 19   .050

Regular season

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March 1, 1943, changed the future of Fighting Illini men's basketball when the team was broken up due to all five starters from back-to-back Big Ten Conference championships heading to active duty in the armed forces. The group who left, known as the Whiz Kids, consisted of 21-year-old All-America forward Andy Phillip and 20-year-olds Ken Menke, Gene Vance, Jack Smiley and Art Mathisen. Phillip went on to become a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Four of the five, minus Mathisen, returned to Illinois and tried to recapture the glory for one more season in 1946–47 after the war ended, but the chemistry had changed as well as their talent. Illinois went 14–6.

The 1943–44 season, however, was a struggle for head coach Doug Mills, as it was the second worst season of his career. The overall record was 11 wins and 9 losses with a conference mark of 5 and 7. The team finished with a 6 - 4 record at home and a .500 record on the road at 5 - 5. The Illini returned only one player from the 1942-43 season, Gordon Horton, who wasn't even a starter, which meant the entire lineup was made up of rookie/unproven players. The starting lineup consisted of Walton Kirk, Howard Judson, Ray DeMoulin, Bob Morton, Don Delaney and Gordon Gillespie.

Roster

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1943–44 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown
F 4 Ray DeMoulin
Fr Mulberry Grove, Illinois
C 5 Gordon Gillespie
Fr Chicago, Illinois
G 6 Stan Patrick
Sr Chicago, Illinois
C 7 Don Delaney
So Sacramento, California
G/F 8 Howard Judson
Fr Hebron, Illinois
G 9 Walt Kirk
So Mt. Vernon, Illinois
G 10 Gordon Hortin
Jr Evansville, Indiana
F 11 Jake Staab
So Chillicothe, Illinois
G 12 Jim Seyler
So Champaign, Illinois
G/F 13 Bob Morton
Fr Elgin, Illinois
G 14 Richard Foley
Fr Paris, Illinois
F 15 William Eddleman
So Anna, Illinois
C 16 Kermit Knetsch
So Paw Paw, Illinois
C 17 John Larson
So Sioux City, Iowa
F 18 Lou Possehl
Sr Chicago, Illinois
G 19 Leo Gedvillas
So Spring Valley, Illinois
F 20 Bob White
So Rockford, Illinois
C 21 Morris Dolan
So Trenton, Missouri
G 22 Lee Stickler
So Alton, Illinois
G 23 Raymond Fregan
So Brookfield, Illinois
G 24 Donald Sudkamp
Fr Champaign, 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
12/4/1943*
no, no
Alumni W 53–35  1–0
Huff Hall (3,041)
Champaign, IL
12/7/1943*
no, no
Detroit W 56–25  2–0
Huff Hall (2,011)
Champaign, IL
12/11/1943*
no, no
at Great Lakes L 44–52  2–1
Chicago Stadium (12,000)
Chicago, IL
12/18/1943*
no, no
at Missouri
Rivalry
W 39–29  3–1
Brewer Fieldhouse (-)
Columbia, MO
12/20/1943*
no, no
Kentucky W 43–41  4–1
Huff Hall (2,719)
Champaign, IL
12/29/1943*
no, no
Great Lakes W 64–51  5–1
Huff Hall (4,429)
Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/3/1944
no, no
at Wisconsin W 45–43  6–1
(1–0)
Wisconsin Field House (-)
Madison, WI
1/7/1944
no, no
Wisconsin L 38–43  6–2
(1–1)
Huff Hall (4,660)
Champaign, IL
1/8/1944
no, no
at Michigan L 45–52  6–3
(1–2)
Yost Field House (-)
Ann Arbor, MI
1/15/1944
no, no
at University of Chicago W 69–32  7–3
(2–2)
Henry Crown Field House (300)
Chicago, IL
1/21/1944
no, no
at Iowa
Rivalry
L 51–62  7–4
(2–3)
Iowa Field House (-)
Iowa City, IA
1/22/1944
no, no
at Iowa
Rivalry
L 44–53  7-5
(2–4)
Iowa Field House (-)
Iowa City, IA
2/7/1944*
no, no
at Kentucky L 40–51  7–6
Alumni Gymnasium (2,900)
Lexington, KY
2/11/1944
no, no
Northwestern
Rivalry
L 29–42  7–7
(2–5)
Huff Hall (2,834)
Champaign, IL
2/12/1944*
no, no
at DePaul W 45–33  8–7
DePaul Auditorium (-)
Chicago, IL
2/18/1944
no, no
Ohio State L 41–52  8–8
(2–6)
Huff Hall (2,577)
Champaign, IL
2/19/1944
no, no
Ohio State L 53–54  8–9
(2–7)
Huff Hall (2,717)
Champaign, IL
2/25/1944
no, no
at Northwestern
Rivalry
W 50–47  9–9
(3–7)
Patten Gymnasium (-)
Evanston, IL
3/3/1944
no, no
Minnesota W 50–32  10–9
(4–7)
Huff Hall (2,420)
Champaign, IL
3/3/1944
no, no
Minnesota W 53–27  11–9
(5–7)
Huff Hall (2,717)
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
Stan Patrick 20 97 46 240
Walt Kirk 20 84 55 223
Howard Judson 20 74 12 160
Gordon Gillespie 20 20 26 55
Jimmy Seyler 20 18 13 49
Dick Foley 6 20 8 48
Don Delaney 11 18 6 42
Jake Staab 12 14 12 40
Robert Morton 16 13 3 29
Ray DeMoulin 12 11 1 23
Gordon Hortin 11 4 2 10
Kermit Knetsch 6 4 1 9
Lou Possehl 7 3 2 8
Jack Larson 6 2 1 5
Donald Sudkamp 3 2 0 4
Bob White 4 1 1 3
Leo Gedvilas 1 1 0 2
Lee Stickler 2 0 0 0
Raymond Fregan 1 0 0 0
Maurice Dolan 1 0 0 0
Carl Bontemps 1 0 0 0

[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 April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  3. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.