1957–58 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1957–58 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1957–58 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record11–11 (5-9 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPDon Ohl
CaptainJohn Paul
Home arenaHuff Hall
Seasons
1957–58 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 12 Indiana 10 4   .714 13 11   .542
No. 17 Michigan State 9 5   .643 16 6   .727
Purdue 9 5   .643 14 8   .636
Northwestern 8 6   .571 13 9   .591
Ohio State 8 6   .571 9 13   .409
Iowa 7 7   .500 13 9   .591
Michigan 6 8   .429 11 11   .500
Illinois 5 9   .357 11 11   .500
Minnesota 5 9   .357 9 12   .429
Wisconsin 3 11   .214 8 14   .364
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

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Starting his second decade as the head coach of the University of Illinois' Fighting Illini basketball team, Harry Combes and his assistant coach and top recruiter, Howie Braun, were beginning to lose some of the top recruits from the state of Illinois. Talented players, such as Tom Hawkins, Charlie Brown, McKinley "Deacon" Davis, Nolden Gentry, John Tidwell and Charles "Chico" Vaughn were lured away to play for other programs during the late 1950s, a trend that would continue for Combes during his second decade.[1]

The 1957-58 team returned several lettermen including the leading scorer Don Ohl and team "captain" John Paul. It also saw the return of Roger Taylor and Ted Caiazza. The team also added sophomores Govoner Vaughn, Mannie Jackson, Al Gosnell, Bruce Bunkenberg and Ed Perry. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 5 wins and 9 losses, finishing in 8th place in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 11 wins and 11 losses. The starting lineup included Govoner Vaughn at the center position, Roger Taylor and Don Ohl at guard and Mannie Jackson and John Paul at the forward slots.[2]

Roster

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1957–58 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 7 Lee Frandsen 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 155 lb (70 kg) So Davenport Central High School Davenport, Iowa
G 9 Jerry Riva 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Clinton High School Clinton, Illinois
G 11 Roger Taylor 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Jr Rich High School Park Forest, Illinois
G 14 Jim Dorris 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Centralia High School Centralia, Illinois
F 15 Bob Schmidt 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Kankakee High School Kankakee, Illinois
G 16 Phil Flanigan 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 150 lb (68 kg) Jr Tuscola High School Tuscola, Illinois
F 20 Bruce Bunkenburg 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Roosevelt High School Chicago, Illinois
C 22 Ed Perry 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Salem High School Salem, Illinois
C 24 Ted Caiazza 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Sr Lyons Township High School LaGrange, Illinois
C 26 John Homeier 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Feitshans High School Springfield, Illinois
G 30 Mannie Jackson 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Edwardsville High School Edwardsville, Illinois
G 32 Lou Landt 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Roosevelt High School Berwyn, Illinois
F 33 Al Gosnell 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Lawrenceville High School Lawrenceville, Illinois
F 34 Larry Breyfogle 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Sr Lawrenceville High School Lawrenceville, Illinois
G 35 Govoner Vaughn 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Edwardsville High School Edwardsville, Illinois
F 40 Tom Adams 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Washington Community High School Washington, Illinois
G 43 John Paul (C) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Sr St. Edward High School Elgin, Illinois
G 44 Don Ohl 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Sr Edwardsville High School Edwardsville, Illinois
C 48 Bob Brown 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 203 lb (92 kg) Jr DuPont High School Wilmington, Delaware
F 51 Tom Haller 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr Lockport Township High School Lockport, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

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

Roster

Schedule

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Source[3]

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state[4]
Non-Conference regular season
12/2/1957*
no, no
Marquette W 100–90  1-0
Huff Hall (5,123)
Champaign, IL
12/7/1957*
no, no
DePaul W 75–70  2-0
Huff Hall (6,263)
Champaign, IL
12/11/1957*
no, no
Butler W 91–75  3-0
Huff Hall (5,809)
Champaign, IL
12/16/1957*
no, no
Colorado W 64–46  4-0
Huff Hall (6,789)
Champaign, IL
12/18/1957*
no, no
No. 14 Rice W 85–82  5-0
Huff Hall (6,847)
Champaign, IL
12/21/1957*
no, no
at Iowa State L 60–68  5-1
Iowa State Armory (-)
Ames, IA
12/28/1957*
no, no
Miami (OH) W 93–75  6-1
Huff Hall (3,902)
Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/4/1958
no, no
at Wisconsin W 64–59  7-1
(1-0)
Wisconsin Field House (4,000)
Madison, WI
1/6/1958
no, no
Iowa
Rivalry
L 68–70  7-2
(1-1)
Huff Hall (5,964)
Champaign, IL
1/11/1958
no, no
No. 17 at Indiana
Rivalry
L 82–89  7-3
(1-2)
The Fieldhouse (10,000)
Bloomington, IN
1/13/1958
no, no
No. 17 Wisconsin L 70–71  7-4
(1-3)
Huff Hall (6,107)
Champaign, IL
1/26/1958*
no, no
vs. Notre Dame L 67–81  7-5
Chicago Stadium (16,212)
Chicago, IL
2/1/1958
no, no
Northwestern
Rivalry
W 102–98  8-5
(2-3)
Huff Hall (4,656)
Champaign, IL
2/3/1958
no, no
at Ohio State L 70–78  8-6
(2-4)
St. John Arena (8,867)
Columbus, OH
2/8/1958
no, no
at Michigan L 81–88  8-7
(2-5)
Yost Field House (8,200)
Ann Arbor, MI
2/10/1958
no, no
Purdue W 99–84  9-7
(3-5)
Huff Hall (6,017)
Champaign, IL
2/15/1958
no, no
at No. 19 Michigan State L 64–70  9-8
(3-6)
Jenison Fieldhouse (7,033)
East Lansing, MI
2/17/1958
no, no
Minnesota W 94–87  10-8
(4-6)
Huff Hall (5,210)
Champaign, IL
2/22/1958
no, no
at Iowa
Rivalry
L 79–83  10-9
(4-7)
Iowa Field House (15,003)
Iowa City, IA
3/1/1958
no, no
Michigan W 88–75  11-9
(5-7)
Huff Hall (6,588)
Champaign, IL
3/3/1958
no, no
Indiana
Rivalry
L 86–96  11-10
(5-8)
Huff Hall (6,757)
Champaign, IL
3/8/1958
no, no
at Northwestern
Rivalry
L 72–88  11-11
(5-9)
McGaw Memorial Hall (8,629)
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
Don Ohl 22 183 65 431
Govoner Vaughn 22 138 51 327
John Paul 21 106 85 297
Roger Taylor 20 97 68 262
Mannie Jackson 22 107 31 245
Al Gosnell 22 30 24 84
Bruce Bunkenburg 18 17 17 51
Ed Perry 19 7 8 22
Lee Frandsen 15 5 3 13
Lou Landt 12 3 2 8
Larry Breyfogle 6 2 2 6
Tom Haller 13 0 0 0

[5]

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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Player NBA Club Round Pick
Don Ohl Philadelphia Warriors 5 5

[7]

Rankings

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References

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  1. ^ Glory Days: Legends of Illinois High School Basketball, by Taylor Bell, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-945-X
  2. ^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
  3. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1957-58, FightingIllini.com
  4. ^ Schedule
  5. ^ Season Stats Archived 2014-03-19 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
  7. ^ 1958 NBA Draft Archived 2013-02-03 at the Wayback Machine