1951–52 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1951–52 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1951–52 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 2
APNo. 2
Record22–4 (12–2 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPRod Fletcher
CaptainRod Fletcher
Home arenaHuff Hall
Seasons
1951–52 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 2 Illinois 12 2   .857 22 4   .846
No. 7 Iowa 11 3   .786 19 3   .864
Minnesota 10 4   .714 15 7   .682
Indiana 9 5   .643 16 6   .727
Michigan State 6 8   .429 13 9   .591
Ohio State 6 8   .429 8 14   .364
Wisconsin 5 9   .357 10 12   .455
Michigan 4 10   .286 7 15   .318
Northwestern 4 10   .286 7 15   .318
Purdue 3 11   .214 8 14   .364
Rankings from AP Poll
"1951-52 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"
"1951-52 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

Regular season

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The 1951-52 Fighting Illini men's basketball team had reached a level of national prominence that was only bettered by the 1914-15 national championship team. Head coach Harry Combes had guided his team to a Big Ten championship, a third place finish in the 1952 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and a final AP ranking of No. 2 in the nation. Combes was beginning to build a dynasty in Champaign with 3 Big Ten Championships and 3 third place finishes in the NCAA tournament in his first 5 years at the helm. The 1951-52 season not only brought Illinois another Big Ten title, it also introduced John Kerr, a center from Tilden Tech in Chicago. He began his three-year reign as Illinois’ top scorer with a sophomore-record 357 points. The Illini recorded a 22-4 overall mark and went 12-2 in the conference. Once again, Illinois advanced to the national semifinals and ran into underdog St. John’s. The Redmen fought their way to a 61-59 victory in the NCAA’s first Final Four, in Seattle. Illinois took another third-place award home after beating Santa Clara, 67-64, behind 26 points by Kerr. At the conclusion of the tournament, Kerr and James Bredar were named to the Final Four All-Tournament team. Subsequently, at the conclusion of the season, Rodney Fletcher was named a Consensus 1st team All-American.

The starting lineup for the season included captain Rodney Fletcher, James Bredar and Irving Bemoras at guard, Clive Follmer at the forward slot with Robert Peterson and, future hall of famer Johnny "Red" Kerr at the center position. The team also included former University of Minnesota head coach Jim Dutcher.[1]

Roster

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1951–52 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 9 Elmer Plew 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Fr Paris High School Paris, Illinois
F 11 Jim Dutcher 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr Downers Grove High School Downers Grove, Illinois
G 16 Jim Wright 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 160 lb (73 kg) So Lawrenceville High School Lawrenceville, Illinois
G 19 James Bredar 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 167 lb (76 kg) Jr Salem High School Salem, Illinois
C 22 Johnny Kerr 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So Tilden High School Chicago, Illinois
F 24 Ed Makovsky 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 194 lb (88 kg) So Morton High School Cicero, Illinois
C 25 Robert Peterson 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Jr Elgin High School Wayne, Illinois
G 26 Irving Bemoras 6 ft 3.5 in (1.92 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr Marshall High School Chicago, Illinois
C 27 Mack Follmer 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Forrest High School Forrest, Illinois
F 29 Max Baumgardner 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Sterling High School Sterling, Illinois
F 33 Clive Follmer 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Jr Forrest High School Forrest, Illinois
G 34 Seymour Gantman 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Sr Marshall High School Chicago, Illinois
G 35 Ren Alde 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Pana High School Pana, Illinois
G 37 Rod Fletcher (C) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 194 lb (88 kg) Sr Champaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois
G 38 Herb Gerecke 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Pekin High School Pekin, Illinois
F 41 Max Hooper 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Mt. Vernon High School Mt. Vernon, Illinois
G 44 Walt Moore 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Fr Mt. Vernon High School Mt. Vernon, Illinois
G 47 Dick Christiansen 6 ft 3.5 in (1.92 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr New Trier High School Winnetka, Illinois
G 48 James Schuldt 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 193 lb (88 kg) Jr Dundee Community High School Dundee, 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[3]
Non-Conference regular season
12/4/1951*
no, no
at Butler W 68–57  1-0
Hinkle Fieldhouse (3,043)
Indianapolis, IN
12/12/1951*
no, no
No. 3 Loyola (Chicago) W 74–66  2-0
Huff Hall (-)
Champaign, IL
12/13/1951*
no, no
No. 3 Oklahoma W 69-51  3-0
Huff Hall (6,505)
Champaign, IL
12/20/1951*
no, no
No. 3 North Carolina W 86–66  4-0
Huff Hall (2,899)
Champaign, IL
12/22/1951*
no, no
No. 3 DePaul W 70–61  5-0
Huff Hall (-)
Champaign, IL
12/28/1951*
no, no
No. 2 No. 16 UCLA W 73–67  6-0
Huff Hall (2,411)
Champaign, IL
12/31/1951*
no, no
No. 2 Marquette W 68–57  7-0
Marquette Gymnasium (-)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Big Ten regular season
1/5/1952
no, no
No. 2 at Minnesota W 52–43  8-0
(1-0)
Williams Arena (17,862)
Minneapolis, MN
1/7/1952
no, no
No. 2 Wisconsin W 53–49  9-0
(2-0)
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
1/12/1952
no, no
No. 2 at Michigan W 67–51  10-0
(3-0)
Yost Field House (6,300)
Ann Arbor, MI
1/14/1952
no, no
No. 2 No. 4 Indiana
Rivalry
W 78–66  11-0
(4-0)
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
1/26/1952*
no, no
No. 1 at DePaul L 65–69  11-1
Alumni Hall (-)
Chicago, IL
1/28/1952
no, no
No. 1 at Purdue W 84–57  12-1
(5-0)
Lambert Fieldhouse (-)
West Lafayette, IN
2/2/1952
no, no
No. 3 at Ohio State W 66–62  13-1
(6-0)
Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (8,265)
Columbus, OH
2/9/1952
no, no
No. 3 at No. 9 Iowa
Rivalry
L 68–73  13-2
(6-1)
Iowa Field House (-)
Iowa City, IA
2/11/1952
no, no
No. 3 Michigan State W 84–62  14-2
(7-1)
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
2/16/1952
no, no
No. 6 Ohio State W 80–53  15-2
(8-1)
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
2/18/1952
no, no
No. 6 at No. 20 Indiana
Rivalry
W 77–70  16-2
(9-1)
The Fieldhouse (10,556)
Bloomington, IN
2/23/1952
no, no
No. 5 No. 4 Iowa
Rivalry
W 78–62  17-2
(10-1)
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
3/1/1952
no, no
No. 2 Purdue W 82–71  18-2
(11-1)
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
3/5/1952
no, no
No. 2 Northwestern
Rivalry
W 95–74  19-2
(12-1))
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
3/8/1952
no, no
No. 2 at Wisconsin L 48–58  19-3
(12-2)
Wisconsin Field House (13,000)
Madison, WI
NCAA tournament
3/21/1952*
no, no
No. 2 vs. No. 11 Dayton
NCAA Tournament Mideast Regional first round
W 80–61  20-3
Chicago Stadium (-)
Chicago, IL
3/22/1952*
no, no
No. 2 vs. No. 4 Duquesne
NCAA Tournament First Round Mideast Regional Final
W 74–68  21-3
Chicago Stadium (-)
Chicago, IL
3/25/1952*
no, no
No. 2 vs. No. 10 St. Johns
NCAA Tournament National Semifinals
L 59–61  21-4
Hec Edmundson Pavilion (-)
Seattle, WA
3/26/1952*
no, no
No. 2 vs. Santa Clara
NCAA Tournament National Third Place Game
W 67–64  22-4
Hec Edmundson Pavilion (-)
Seattle, WA
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

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Player stats

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Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Points
John Kerr 26 143 71 357
Rod Fletcher 26 105 80 290
Irv Bemoras 26 108 69 285
Jim Bredar 26 104 52 260
Bob Peterson 26 87 77 251
Clive Follmer 20 73 91 237
Max Hooper 20 29 11 69
Herb Gerecke 20 21 17 59
Jim Wright 12 5 2 12
Dick Christiansen 10 5 1 11
Ed Makovsky 9 1 5 7
Jim Schuldt 7 1 4 6
Max Baumgardner 7 3 0 6
Jim Dutcher 5 2 2 6
Walt Moore 4 2 1 5
Mack Follmer 9 0 4 4

[5]

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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Player NBA Club
Rod Fletcher Minneapolis Lakers

[7]

Rankings

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References

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  1. ^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
  2. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1951-52 Archived 2014-03-31 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  3. ^ Schedule
  4. ^ RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More
  5. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 31, 2014. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  6. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  7. ^ 1952 NBA draft Archived 2010-01-17 at the Wayback Machine