1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team


The 1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 11
APNo. 11
Record23–8 (13–5 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPKen Norman
Captains
Home arenaAssembly Hall
Seasons
1986–87 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 3 Indiana 15 3   .833 30 4   .882
No. 7 Purdue 15 3   .833 25 5   .833
No. 6 Iowa 14 4   .778 30 5   .857
No. 11 Illinois 13 5   .722 23 8   .742
Michigan 10 8   .556 20 12   .625
Ohio State 9 9   .500 20 13   .606
Michigan State 6 12   .333 11 17   .393
Wisconsin 4 14   .222 14 17   .452
Minnesota 2 16   .111 9 19   .321
Northwestern 2 16   .111 7 21   .250
As of March 30, 1987[1]
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

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The 1986–87 season saw the addition of an outstanding group of young players to the roster. Guards Steve Bardo, Kendall Gill and Larry Smith joined forward Nick Anderson in a highly touted recruiting class. This group produced another 20-win season (23-8) and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, where Illinois was beaten 68-67 by Austin Peay in arguably the school's most shocking upset.

This marked the first season in Big Ten Conference basketball history where two teams finished with 30 or more victories. This season also marks the NCAA's first unified 3-point line of 19 feet 9 inches after 5 years of experimentation.

Roster

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1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 10 Tony Wysinger (C) 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 155 lb (70 kg) Sr Peoria Central High School Peoria, Illinois
G 13 Kendall Gill 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr Rich Central High School Matteson, Illinois
G 21 Glynn Blackwell 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Highland Park Community High School Highland Park, Michigan
G 22 Doug Altenberger (C) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) RS Sr Richwoods High School Peoria, Illinois
G/F 25 Nick Anderson 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Fr Simeon High School Chicago, Illinois
G 31 Larry Smith 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr Alton High School Alton, Illinois
F 32 Kenny Battle   6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr West Aurora High School Aurora, Illinois
F 33 Ken Norman (C) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Sr Crane High School Chicago, Illinois
G 34 Dave Wells 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Freeport High School Freeport, Illinois
G/F 35 Stephen Bardo 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Fr Carbondale Community High School Carbondale, Illinois
C 40 Olaf Blab   7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 235 lb (107 kg) RS So Charleston High School Munich, West Germany
F 42 Jim Green 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Academy of Our Lady/Spalding Institute Morton, Illinois
F 43 Jeff Finke 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Fr Casey-Westfield High School Casey, Illinois
F 44 Phil Kunz 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Fr Carlyle High School Carlyle, Illinois
F 45 Lowell Hamilton 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) So Providence St. Mel High School Chicago, Illinois
F/C 50 Bryan Brickner 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr Scales Mound High School Scales Mound, Illinois
C 54 Jens Kujawa 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 245 lb (111 kg) RS So Taylorville High School Braunschweig, West Germany
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
Non-Conference regular season
11/28/1986*
no, no
No. 14 vs. New Mexico State
BYU-Hawaii Classic
W 67–65  1–0
BYU-Hawaii Campus (450)
Laie, HI
11/29/1986*
no, no
No. 14 vs. Duke
BYU-Hawaii Classic
W 69–62  2–0
BYU-Hawaii Campus (1,887)
Laie, HI
12/4/1986*
no, no
No. 9 Chicago State W 92–78  3–0
Assembly Hall (13,986)
Champaign, Illinois
12/6/1986*
no, no
No. 9 at No. 12 Pittsburgh W 99–97  4–0
Civic Arena (6,689)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
12/8/1986*
no, no
No. 9 Eastern Illinois W 85–51  5–0
Assembly Hall (13,578)
Champaign, Illinois
12/12/1986*
no, no
No. 6 Baylor
Illini Classic
W 92–68  6–0
Assembly Hall (13,922)
Champaign, Illinois
12/13/1986*
no, no
No. 6 Princeton
Illini Classic
W 81–55  7–0
Assembly Hall (14,543)
Champaign, Illinois
12/20/1986*
no, no
No. 5 at No. 4 North Carolina L 77–90  7–1
Dean Smith Center (21,444)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
12/23/1986*
no, no
No. 9 vs. Missouri
Braggin' Rights
W 92–74  8–1
St. Louis Arena (16,500)
St. Louis, Missouri
12/27/1986*
no, no
No. 9 at Loyola (Chicago) L 82–83  8–2
Alumni Gym (9,017)
Chicago, Illinois
Big Ten regular season
1/3/1987
no, no
No. 16 Michigan W 95–84  9–2
(1–0)
Assembly Hall (16,468)
Champaign, Illinois
1/5/1987
no, no
No. 16 Michigan State W 79–72  10–2
(2–0)
Assembly Hall (13,672)
Champaign, Illinois
1/8/1987
no, no
No. 12 at Wisconsin W 68–66  11–2
(3–0)
Wisconsin Field House (8,054)
Madison, Wisconsin
1/10/1987
no, no
No. 12 at Northwestern
Rivalry
W 76–69  12–2
(4–0)
Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)
Evanston, Illinois
1/14/1987
no, no
No. 8 No. 2 Iowa
Rivalry
L 88–91 OT 12–3
(4–1)
Assembly Hall (16,666)
Champaign, Illinois
1/17/1987
no, no
No. 8 Minnesota W 80–58  13–3
(5–1)
Assembly Hall (13,814)
Champaign, Illinois
1/22/1987
no, no
No. 9 at No. 5 Purdue L 86–87 OT 13–4
(5–2)
Mackey Arena (14,123)
West Lafayette, Indiana
1/24/1987*
no, no
No. 9 Arizona W 82–63  14–4
Assembly Hall (15,884)
Champaign, Illinois
1/28/1987
no, no
No. 12 at No. 4 Indiana
Rivalry
L 66–69  14–5
(5–3)
Assembly Hall (17,249)
Bloomington, Indiana
1/31/1987*
no, no
No. 12 Colorado W 69–65  15–5
Assembly Hall (14,596)
Champaign, Illinois
2/2/1987
no, no
No. 12 at Ohio State W 93–70  16–5
(6–3)
St. John Arena (14,075)
Columbus, Ohio
2/5/1987
no, no
No. 14 Northwestern
Rivalry
W 72–43  17–5
(7–3)
Assembly Hall (14,095)
Champaign, Illinois
2/7/1987
no, no
No. 14 Wisconsin W 99–74  18–5
(8–3)
Assembly Hall (16,682)
Champaign, Illinois
2/12/1987
no, no
No. 11 at Minnesota W 79–67  19–5
(9–3)
Williams Arena (11,183)
Minneapolis, Minnesota
2/14/1987
no, no
No. 11 at No. 4 Iowa
Rivalry
L 61–66  19–6
(9–4)
Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500)
Iowa City, IA
2/23/1987
no, no
No. 14 No. 6 Purdue L 75–76 OT 19–7
(9–5)
Assembly Hall (16,667)
Champaign, Illinois
2/25/1987
no, no
No. 14 Ohio State W 93–70  20–7
(10–5)
Assembly Hall (14,075)
Champaign, Illinois
3/1/1987
no, no
No. 14 No. 3 Indiana
Rivalry
W 69–67  21–7
(11–5)
Assembly Hall (16,793)
Champaign, Illinois
3/4/1987
no, no
No. 12 at Michigan W 89–75  22–7
(12–5)
Crisler Arena (13,145)
Ann Arbor, Michigan
3/7/1987
no, no
No. 12 at Michigan State W 77–64  23–7
(13–5)
Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004)
East Lansing, Michigan
NCAA Tournament
3/12/1987*
no, no
(3 SE) No. 11 vs. (14 SE) Austin Peay
First Round
L 67–68  23–8
Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex (-)
Birmingham, Alabama
*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 Minutes Played 2 pt. Field Goals 3 pt. Field Goals Free Throws Rebounds Assists Blocks Steals Points
Ken Norman[3] 31 1112 255 1 128 303 68 48 37 641
Doug Altenberger[4] 30 996 63 76 55 138 91 6 41 409
Tony Wysinger[5] 30 948 100 28 54 56 192 2 40 338
Lowell Hamilton[6] 31 729 149 0 36 121 28 31 24 334
Glynn Blackwell[7] 31 679 114 6 61 106 64 4 31 307
Jens Kujawa[8] 31 499 53 0 35 109 22 14 14 141
Stephen Bardo[9] 31 630 41 1 34 92 85 15 23 119
Kendall Gill[10] 31 345 40 0 34 42 27 8 39 114
Larry Smith 20 108 12 0 14 13 16 2 6 38
Phil Kunz 23 161 13 0 10 30 3 11 4 36
Olaf Blab 8 15 2 0 2 5 0 2 0 4
Jeff Finke 6 25 1 0 2 5 1 0 1 4
Jim Green 12 16 1 0 1 3 0 1 0 3
Bryan Brickner 2 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
Dave Wells 4 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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Player NBA Club Round Pick
Ken Norman Los Angeles Clippers 1 19
Doug Altenberger Chicago Bulls 6 125

[12]

Rankings

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References

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  1. ^ "1986-87 Big Ten Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  2. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1986-87 Archived February 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  3. ^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  4. ^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  5. ^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  6. ^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  7. ^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  8. ^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  9. ^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  10. ^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  11. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  12. ^ 1987 NBA Draft Archived 2011-05-20 at the Wayback Machine