1996–97 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1996–97 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1996–97 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Illini Classic, Champion
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
APNo. 19
Record22–10 (11–7 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPKiwane Garris
Captains
Home arenaAssembly Hall
Seasons
1996–97 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Iowa 12 6   .667 22 10   .688
Purdue 12 6   .667 18 12   .600
No. 19 Illinois 11 7   .611 22 10   .688
Wisconsin 11 7   .611 18 10   .643
Indiana 9 9   .500 22 11   .667
Michigan State 9 9   .500 17 12   .586
Ohio State 5 13   .278 10 17   .370
Penn State 3 15   .167 10 17   .370
Northwestern 2 16   .111 7 22   .241
No. 3 Minnesota* 0 2   .000 0 4   .000
Michigan* 0 9   .000 0 11   .000
Rankings from AP Poll
*Michigan: 24 games vacated; including NIT champ. vacated due to sanctions against the program
*Minnesota: 5 NCAA Tournament games vacated due to sanctions against the program[1]
Disputed records: Michigan-(24–11)(9–9); Minnesota-(31–4)(16–2)

Regular season

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On March 21, 1996, a new era in Illinois basketball began when Director of Athletics Ron Guenther introduced Lon Kruger as the University’s 14th men’s basketball coach. Kruger came to Illinois from the University of Florida and carried a list of impressive credentials, including guiding Florida to the Final Four in 1994. In his first year at Illinois, Kruger guided Illinois to a 22-10 record and the second round of the NCAA tournament. Over the course of the season, Illinois defeated five ranked opponents, including No. 7 Minnesota, 96-90, at the Assembly Hall. Illinois also traveled to Bloomington and handed Indiana a 78-74 loss, the first win for Illinois at Assembly Hall in Bloomington since 1990. During the course of the year, Kiwane Garris etched his name in the Illinois record book with one of the best season performances by any Illini player in history. He finished his career second on the all-time scoring list with 1,948 points and set the single-season record for free throws made and attempted. Garris averaged 19.4 points and missed being the Big Ten’s leading scorer by three one-hundredths of a point.

Roster

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1996–97 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
F 00 Victor Chukwudebe 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Fr Lanphier High School Springfield, Illinois
C 4 Fess Hawkins   6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 277 lb (126 kg) Fr Dollarway High School/Northwestern University Pine Bluff, Arkansas
G 5 Halim Abdullah 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 155 lb (70 kg) Jr St. Anthony High School Jersey City, New Jersey
G 10 Jelani Boline 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Whitney Young High School Chicago, Illinois
G 12 Jeff Reichardt 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Schaumburg High School Schaumburg, Illinois
G 21 Matt Heldman 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Jr Libertyville High School Libertyville, Illinois
G 22 Kiwane Garris (C) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Westinghouse High School Chicago, Illinois
G 25 Bryant Notree 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Simeon High School Chicago, Illinois
G 31 David Freeman 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Champaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois
F 32 Jarrod Gee 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Jr St. Martin de Porres High School Chicago, Illinois
G 33 Kevin Turner 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Jr Simeon High School Chicago, Illinois
F 34 Brian Johnson 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) RS Jr Maine West High School Des Plaines, Illinois
F 40 Jerry Hester     6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Sr Manual High School Peoria, Illinois
F 42 Herb Caldwell (C) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Sr Jacksonville High School Jacksonville, Illinois
F 45 Chris Gandy (C) 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 205 lb (93 kg) RS Sr Bradley-Bourbonnais High School Kankakee, 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
Non-Conference regular season
11/22/1996*
no, no
at Illinois-Chicago W 68-63  1-0
UIC Pavilion (8,715)
Chicago, IL
11/25/1996*
no, no
Delaware State W 92-51  2-0
Assembly Hall (10,993)
Champaign, IL
11/29/1996*
no, no
vs. TCU
Big Island Invitational
W 73-67  3-0
Afook-Chinen Auditorium (1,000)
Hilo, HI
11/30/1996*
no, no
vs. Louisville
Big Island Invitational
L 60-70  3-1
Afook-Chinen Auditorium (1,000)
Hilo, HI
12/1/1996*
no, no
vs. Virginia Tech
Big Island Invitational
W 92-68  4-1
Afook-Chinen Auditorium (1,000)
Hilo, HI
12/3/1996*
no, no
at California L 88-89 2ot 4-2
Harmon Gym (6,578)
Berkeley, CA
12/6/1996*
no, no
Columbia
Illini Classic
W 84-59  5-2
Assembly Hall (11,847)
Champaign, IL
12/7/1996*
no, no
Tennessee State
Illini Classic
W 86-73  6-2
Assembly Hall (12,160)
Champaign, IL
12/11/1996*
no, no
No. 12 Chicago State W 94-57  7-2
Assembly Hall (8,757)
Champaign, IL
12/14/1996*
no, no
Coppin State W 91-55  8-2
Assembly Hall (14,269)
Champaign, IL
12/21/1996*
no, no
vs. No. 24 UCLA W 79-63  9-2
United Center (15,331)
Chicago, IL
12/28/1996*
no, no
vs. Missouri
Braggin' Rights
W 85-69  10-2
Scottrade Center (22,371)
St. Louis, MO
Big Ten regular season
1/2/1997
no, no
No. 24 Purdue L 69-75  10-3
(0-1)
Assembly Hall (15,364)
Champaign, IL
1/4/1997
no, no
No. 24 at Ohio State W 72-64  11-3
(1-1)
St. John Arena (10,503)
Columbus, OH
1/9/1996
no, no
No. 25 at No. 16 Michigan L 74-88  11-4
(1-2)
Crisler Arena (13,265)
Ann Arbor, MI
1/11/1997
no, no
No. 25 Penn State W 85-70  12-4
(2-2)
Assembly Hall (14,251)
Champaign, IL
1/14/1997
no, no
No. 7 Minnesota W 96-90  13-4
(3-2)
Assembly Hall (12,326)
Champaign, IL
1/22/1997
no, no
at Michigan State W 66-63  14-4
(4-2)
Breslin Student Events Center (12,975)
East Lansing, MI
1/25/1997
no, no
Wisconsin L 56-73  14-5
(4-3)
Assembly Hall (15,448)
Champaign, IL
1/29/1997
no, no
at Iowa
Rivalry
L 65-82  14-6
(4-4)
Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500)
Iowa City, IA
2/2/1997
no, no
at No. 17 Indiana
Rivalry
W 78-74  15-6
(5-4)
Assembly Hall (17,341)
Bloomington, IN
2/5/1997
no, no
Northwestern
Rivalry
W 70-58  16-6
(6-4)
Assembly Hall (12,430)
Champaign, IL
2/9/1997
no, no
No. 25 Iowa
Rivalry
W 66-51  17-6
(7-4)
Assembly Hall (16,450)
Champaign, IL
2/12/1997
no, no
No. 20 at Wisconsin L 45-62  17-7
(7-5)
Wisconsin Field House (11,500)
Madison, WI
2/15/1997
no, no
No. 20 Michigan State W 79-68  18-7
(8-5)
Assembly Hall (16,450)
Champaign, IL
2/22/1997
no, no
No. 23 at No. 2 Minnesota L 66-67  18-8
(8-6)
Williams Arena (14,554)
Minneapolis, MN
2/25/1997
no, no
No. 21 at Penn State W 87-65  19-8
(9-6)
Bryce Jordan Center (12,697)
University Park, PA
3/2/1997
no, no
No. 21 No. 24 Michigan W 70-51  20-8
(10-6)
Assembly Hall (16,450)
Champaign, IL
3/5/1997
no, no
No. 15 Ohio State W 90-83  21-8
(11-6)
St. John Arena (13,702)
Columbus, OH
3/8/1997
no, no
No. 15 at Purdue L 69-77  21-9
(11-7)
Mackey Arena (14,123)
West Lafayette, IN
NCAA tournament
3/14/1997*
no, no
(6 S) No. 19 vs. (11 S) Southern California
First Round
W 90-77  22-9
Charlotte Coliseum (11,206)
Charlotte, NC
3/16/1997*
no, no
(6 S) No. 19 vs. (14 S) UT Chattanooga
Second Round
L 63-75  22-10
Charlotte Coliseum (14,864)
Charlotte, NC
*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 2 pt. Field Goals 3 pt. Field Goals Free Throws Rebounds Assists Blocks Steals Points
Kiwane Garris[3] 32 95 76 204 113 180 2 52 622
Chris Gandy[4] 32 120 14 69 181 18 21 28 352
Kevin Turner[5] 32 58 62 21 75 66 1 32 323
Matt Heldman[6] 32 42 64 47 110 66 1 41 322
Bryant Notree[7] 32 82 10 58 118 42 1 22 252
Jarrod Gee[8] 32 86 0 23 123 21 10 14 195
Brian Johnson[9] 32 58 1 53 121 64 14 20 172
Victor Chukwudebe[10] 32 37 0 12 69 5 12 12 86
Jerry Hester 5 20 6 13 28 13 0 4 71
Halim Abdullah 26 5 5 8 6 25 0 16 33
Herb Caldwell 17 2 0 5 9 1 0 0 9
David Freeman 17 4 0 0 7 5 1 4 8
Jelani Boline 15 0 0 1 7 9 0 4 1
Jeff Reichardt 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0

NCAA basketball tournament

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  • Southeast regional
    • Illinois 90, Southern Cal 77
    • Tennessee-Chattanooga 75, Illinois 63

[11]

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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Player NBA Club Round Pick

[13]

Rankings

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References

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  1. ^ "Forfeits and Vacated Games". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
  2. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1996-97, FightingIllini.com
  3. ^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  4. ^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  5. ^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  6. ^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  7. ^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  8. ^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  9. ^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  10. ^ "Season Stats pg. 124" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  11. ^ 1997 NCAA Tournament
  12. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  13. ^ 1997 NBA draft Archived 2008-03-31 at the Wayback Machine