1955–56 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1955–56 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1955–56 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 8
APNo. 10
Record18–4 (11-3 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coachHowie Braun (19th season)
MVPBruce Brothers
CaptainPaul Judson
Home arenaHuff Hall
Seasons
1955–56 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 4 Iowa 13 1   .929 20 6   .769
No. 10 Illinois 11 3   .786 18 4   .818
Ohio State 9 5   .643 16 6   .727
Purdue 9 5   .643 16 6   .727
Michigan State 7 7   .500 13 9   .591
Indiana 6 8   .429 13 9   .591
Minnesota 6 8   .429 11 11   .500
Michigan 4 10   .286 9 13   .409
Wisconsin 4 10   .286 6 16   .273
Northwestern 1 13   .071 2 20   .091
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

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Harry Combes, for the ninth consecutive year at Illinois, directed a team that would finish no worse than third place in the Big Ten. His 164 wins and 44 losses overall with a 94 and 30 record in the conference gave Combes three "Final Four" finishes as well as three conference championships. Combes' team, recruited by assistant coach Howie Braun, was exclusively recruited from the state of Illinois.

The 1955-56 team had talented lettermen return including the leading scorers George Bon Salle and team "captain" Paul Judson. It also saw the return of Bruce Brothers, Bill Ridley, Bill Altenberger, Hiles Stout, and future Illini head coach, Harv Schmidt. The team also added future NBA all-star Don Ohl as a sophomore. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 11 wins and 3 losses, finishing in 2nd place in the Big Ten. Unfortunately the Illini would lose four total games with two of the four coming in the final three days of the season. The Illini's final Associated Press ranking placed them at "#7", however; they maintained a "#2" national ranking for the final month of the regular season. The starting lineup included George Bon Salle at the center position, Bill Ridley and Paul Judson at guard and Harv Schmidt, Bruce Brothers and Don Ohl at the forward slots.[1]

Roster

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1955–56 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
F 8 Jim Chengary 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Bowen High School Chicago, Illinois
F 10 Hiles Stout 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Central High School Peoria, Illinois
G 11 Bill Ridley 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Sr Taylorville High School Taylorville, Illinois
G 20 Bill Altenberger 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 179 lb (81 kg) Jr Senior High School East St. Louis, Illinois
C 22 George Bon Salle 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr Loyola Academy Chicago, Illinois
C 24 Ted Caiazza 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 235 lb (107 kg) So Lyons Township High School LaGrange, Illinois
G 30 Phil Judson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Sr Alden-Hebron High School Hebron, Illinois
F 32 Bruce Brothers 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Quincy Senior High School Quincy, Illinois
F 33 Harvard Schmidt 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Kankakee High School Kankakee, Illinois
G 34 Paul Judson (C) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 172 lb (78 kg) Sr Alden-Hebron High School Hebron, Illinois
F 35 Larry Breyfogle 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 165 lb (75 kg) So Lawrenceville High School Lawrenceville, Illinois
G 43 John Paul 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So St. Edward High School Elgin, Illinois
G 44 Don Ohl 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Edwardsville High School Edwardsville, 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
12/6/1955*
no, no
No. 8 Butler W 107–75  1-0
Huff Hall (4,535)
Champaign, IL
12/10/1955*
no, no
No. 8 at Missouri
Rivalry
L 73–74  1-1
Brewer Fieldhouse (5,800)
Columbia, MO
12/13/1955*
no, no
at Notre Dame W 103–93  2-1
Notre Dame Fieldhouse (4,300)
Notre Dame, IN
12/17/1955*
no, no
Washington (St. Louis) W 75–74  3-1
Huff Hall (4,444)
Champaign, IL
12/19/1955*
no, no
DePaul W 97–79  4-1
Huff Hall (4,747)
Champaign, IL
12/23/1955*
no, no
No. 17 Oklahoma W 82–58  5-1
Huff Hall (3,390)
Champaign, IL
12/29/1955*
no, no
No. 9 Drake W 102–66  6-1
Huff Hall (3,713)
Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/2/1956
no, no
No. 9 No. 16 Michigan State W 73–65  7-1
(1-0)
Huff Hall (5,192)
Champaign, IL
1/9/1956
no, no
No. 6 Wisconsin W 96–77  8-1
(2-0)
Huff Hall (6,069)
Champaign, IL
1/14/1956
no, no
No. 8 at No. 12 Indiana
Rivalry
W 96–72  9-1
(3-0)
The Fieldhouse (10,056)
Bloomington, IN
1/16/1956
no, no
No. 8 at Purdue W 92–76  10-1
(4-0)
Lambert Fieldhouse (9,500)
West Lafayette, IN
1/28/1956*
no, no
No. 5 at DePaul W 80–66  11-1
Chicago Stadium (15,254)
Chicago, IL
1/30/1956
no, no
No. 5 at Minnesota W 95–84  12-1
(5-0)
Williams Arena (9,805)
Minneapolis, MN
2/6/1956
no, no
No. 6 Indiana
Rivalry
W 92–89  13-1
(6-0)
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
2/11/1956
no, no
No. 6 Ohio State W 111–64  14-1
(7-0)
Huff Hall (6,154)
Champaign, IL
2/13/1956
no, no
No. 6 Michigan W 89–66  15-1
(8-0))
Huff Hall (6,135)
Champaign, IL
2/18/1956
no, no
No. 3 at Michigan State W 96–76  16-1
(9-0)
Jenison Fieldhouse (9,094)
East Lansing, MI
2/20/1956
no, no
No. 3 Purdue W 102–77  17-1
(10-0)
Huff Hall (6,135)
Champaign, IL
2/25/1956
no, no
No. 2 at Ohio State L 84–87  17-2
(10-1)
Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (8,539)
Columbus, OH
2/27/1956
no, no
No. 2 Minnesota W 97–81  18-2
(11-1)
Huff Hall (5,765)
Champaign, IL
3/3/1956
no, no
No. 2 at No. 10 Iowa
Rivalry
L 72–96  18-3
(11-2)
Iowa Field House (15,200)
Iowa City, IA
3/5/1956
no, no
No. 2 at Northwestern
Rivalry
L 82–83  18-4
(11-3)
McGaw Memorial Hall (8,500)
Evanston, 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 Points
George BonSalle 22 156 118 430
Paul Judson 22 160 84 404
Bill Ridley 21 109 104 322
Harv Schmidt 22 113 69 295
Bruce Brothers 22 51 58 160
Don Ohl 22 57 33 147
Hiles Stout 22 35 42 112
Bill Altenberger 18 19 15 53
Ted Caiazza 5 8 4 20
Phil Judson 6 7 4 18
Jim Chengary 9 7 0 14
Larry Breyfogle 9 5 1 11
John Paul 12 5 0 10

[4]

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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Player NBA Club Round Pick
Paul Judson Syracuse Nationals 2 13

[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 1955-56, FightingIllini.com
  3. ^ Schedule
  4. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 19, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  5. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  6. ^ 1956 NBA Draft Archived 2013-02-03 at the Wayback Machine