1952–53 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1952–53 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

1952–53 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 10
APNo. 11
Record18–4 (14-4 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPIrv Bemoras
CaptainJim Bredar
Home arenaHuff Hall
Seasons
1952–53 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 1 Indiana 17 1   .944 23 3   .885
No. 11 Illinois 14 4   .778 18 4   .818
Minnesota 11 7   .611 14 8   .636
Michigan State 11 7   .611 13 9   .591
Wisconsin 10 8   .556 13 9   .591
Iowa 9 9   .500 12 10   .545
Ohio State 7 11   .389 10 12   .455
Northwestern 5 13   .278 6 16   .273
Michigan 3 15   .167 6 16   .273
Purdue 3 15   .167 4 18   .182
Rankings from AP Poll
"1952-53 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

Regular season

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Under the leadership of Harry Combes and coming off consecutive third-place finishes in the NCAA Tournament, the Fighting Illini men's basketball program had become one of the most powerful in the nation. The 1952-53 team returned one of the most dominant players in the NCAA, Johnny Kerr. It also returned United Press honorable mention all-American guards Irv Bemoras and Jim Bredar.

Unfortunately the Illini would lose 4 conference games during the Big Ten season which would give them a second-place finish. Three of the four losses came at the hands of ranked opponents. The starting lineup included captain Jim Bredar and Irving Bemoras at guard, Clive Follmer and Max Hooper 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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1952–53 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 7 Morris Sterneck 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) So Salem High School Salem, Illinois
G 9 Elmer Plew 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) So Paris High School Paris, Illinois
G 16 Jim Wright 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Jr Lawrenceville High School Lawrenceville, Illinois
G 19 James Bredar (C) 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Salem High School Salem, Illinois
C 22 Johnny Kerr 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr Tilden High School Chicago, Illinois
G 24 Ed Makovsky 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So Morton High School Cicero, Illinois
C 25 Robert Peterson 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Sr Elgin High School Wayne, Illinois
G 26 Irving Bemoras 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 188 lb (85 kg) Sr Marshall High School Chicago, Illinois
F 27 Jim Dutcher 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 188 lb (85 kg) So Downers Grove High School Downers Grove, Illinois
F 29 Max Baumgardner 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Sterling High School Sterling, Illinois
F 33 Clive Follmer 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 198 lb (90 kg) Sr Forrest High School Forrest, Illinois
F 47 Max Hooper 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Mt. Vernon High School Mt. Vernon, Illinois
G 48 James Schuldt 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 193 lb (88 kg) Sr 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
12/10/1952*
no, no
Loyola (Chicago) W 71–57  1-0
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
12/15/1952
no, no
Michigan W 96–66  2-0
(1-0)
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
12/20/1952*
no, no
No. 3 Butler W 75–58  3-0
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
12/23/1952
no, no
No. 2 at No. 17 Minnesota L 73–77  3-1
(1-1)
Williams Arena (16,878)
Minneapolis, MN
12/27/1952
no, no
No. 2 Ohio State W 87–62  4-1
(2-1)
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
12/30/1952*
no, no
No. 4 St. Mary's W 94–65  5-1
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
1/5/1953
no, no
No. 4 at Purdue W 87–71  6-1
(3-1)
Lambert Fieldhouse (-)
West Lafayette, IN
1/10/1953
no, no
No. 4 Wisconsin W 71–61  7-1
(4-1)
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
1/12/1953
no, no
No. 4 Northwestern
Rivalry
W 83–58  8-1
(5-1)
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
1/17/1953
no, no
No. 4 at No. 6 Indiana
Rivalry
L 70–74 2OT 8-2
(5-2)
The Fieldhouse (10,000)
Bloomington, IN
1/19/1953
no, no
No. 4 at Michigan State W 76–64  9-2
(6-2)
Jenison Fieldhouse (-)
East Lansing, MI
2/2/1953*
no, no
No. 6 DePauw W 93–50  10-2
Huff Hall (4,002)
Champaign, IL
2/7/1953
no, no
No. 6 at Wisconsin W 65–61  11-2
(7-2)
Wisconsin Field House (13,500)
Madison, WI
2/9/1953
no, no
No. 6 at Michigan W 92–62  12-2
(8-2)
Yost Field House (6,000)
Ann Arbor, MI
2/14/1953
no, no
No. 5 Iowa
Rivalry
W 80–63  13-2
(9-2)
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
2/16/1953
no, no
No. 5 Purdue W 93–67  14-2
(10-2)
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
2/21/1953
no, no
No. 5 at Iowa
Rivalry
L 62–67  14-3
(10-3)
Iowa Field House (14,000)
Iowa City, IA
2/23/1953
no, no
No. 5 Minnesota W 83–82  15-3
(11-3)
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
2/28/1953
no, no
No. 10 No. 2 Indiana
Rivalry
L 79–91  15-4
(11-4)
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
3/2/1953
no, no
No. 10 Michigan State W 66–53  16-4
(12-4)
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
3/7/1953
no, no
No. 10 at Ohio State W 93–74  17-4
(13-4)
Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (5,242)
Columbus, OH
3/9/1953
no, no
No. 10 at Northwestern
Rivalry
W 86–70  18-4
(14-4)
McGaw Memorial Hall (9,700)
Evanston, IL
*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 22 153 80 386
Irv Bemoras 22 119 84 322
Jim Bredar 22 106 50 262
Clive Follmer 22 82 86 250
Max Hooper 21 73 45 191
Bob Peterson 22 53 54 160
Jim Schuldt 19 14 11 39
Jim Wright 17 15 7 37
Max Baumgardner 9 13 10 36
Ed Makovsky 16 9 15 33
Elmer Plew 13 12 6 30
Jim Dutcher 10 7 9 23
Morris Sterneck 9 1 4 6

[4]

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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Player NBA Club
Jim Bredar Ft. Wayne Pistons

[6]

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 1952-53, FightingIllini.com
  3. ^ Schedule
  4. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 31, 2014. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  5. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  6. ^ 1953 NBA Draft Archived 2013-01-05 at the Wayback Machine