1914–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1914–15 Kenney Gym
Seasons ← 1913–14 1915–16  →

1914–15 Western Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Illinois	12	–	0		1.000			16	–	0		1.000
Chicago	9	–	3		.750			20	–	5		.800
Wisconsin	8	–	4		.667			13	–	4		.765
Minnesota	6	–	6		.500			11	–	6		.647
Northwestern	5	–	5		.500			11	–	8		.579
Purdue	4	–	8		.333			5	–	8		.385
Ohio State	3	–	9		.250			7	–	10		.412
Iowa	2	–	6		.250			9	–	8		.529
Indiana	1	–	9		.100			4	–	9		.308
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1914–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the

.

Regular season

Coached by

That 1915 season was the third in the eight-year tenure of head coach Ralph Jones and it produced the only unbeaten season in Illini history and the first Big Ten title for the Illinois basketball program. The Illinois team was retroactively named national champions by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.^[2] Jones’ 1915 team scored twice as many points as its opponents and won the conference title by three games over Chicago. The arrival of the Woods brothers in 1914 had a lot to do with the success of this era. Guard Ray Woods was named first-team All-America all three years he competed (1915–17), and twin brother Ralf, a forward, led the team in scoring in both 1916 and 1917. His consistency at the free throw line led to the establishment of the

Roster

1914–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G Sven Duner (C) — — Sr Downers Grove, Illinois F Helmuth Kircher — — Sr Kalamazoo, Michigan C Edward Williford — — Sr Binghamton, New York G Ray Woods — — So Oak Park, Illinois G Ralf Woods — — So Oak Park, Illinois C Frank M. Bane — — Sr Pontiac, Illinois G Dudley Crane — — Jr Columbus, Ohio F Clyde Alwood — — So Clinton, Illinois G Robert William Hoffman — — Sr Detroit, Michigan C Daniel Franklin Comstock — — Sr Evanston, Illinois F Walter Boynton Erwin — — Sr Chicago, Illinois G/F John E. Davis — — Fr Chicago, Illinois F Milton Owen Jensen — — Sr Kansas City, Missouri F Raymond Adam McDermott — — So Batavia, Illinois	Head coach Ralph Jones (Indianapolis YMCA Training School) (3rd year) Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt All-Time Illini Rosters Roster

Source^[4]

Schedule

Source^[5]

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/8/1914* no, no	Arkansas A.C.	W 52–6	1-0	Urbana, IL
12/12/1914* no, no	Illinois Wesleyan	W 50–9	2-0	Kenney Gym  Urbana, IL
12/18/1914* no, no	Millikin University	W 19–16	3-0	Kenney Gym  Urbana, IL
1/2/1915* no, no	at Peoria YMCA	W 27–14	4-0	Peoria YMCA  Peoria, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/11/1915 no, no	Indiana Rivalry	W 34–13	5-0 (1-0)	Kenney Gym  Urbana, IL
1/16/1915 no, no	Purdue	W 27–8	6-0 (2-0)	Kenney Gym  Urbana, IL
1/23/1915 no, no	Ohio State	W 24–17	7-0 (3-0)	Kenney Gym  Urbana, IL
1/26/1915 no, no	at Indiana Rivalry	W 20–4	8-0 (4-0)	Bloomington, IN
2/8/1915 no, no	Wisconsin	W 39–19	9-0 (5-0)	Kenney Gym  Urbana, IL
2/13/1915 no, no	at Wisconsin	W 19–17	10-0 (6-0)	Madison, WI
2/15/1915 no, no	at Minnesota	W 20–10	11-0 (7-0)	Minneapolis, MN
2/23/1915 no, no	University of Chicago	W 20–12	12-0 (8-0)	Kenney Gym  Urbana, IL
2/27/1915 no, no	at Purdue	W 22–15	13-0 (9-0)	West Lafayette, IN
3/1/1915 no, no	at Ohio State	W 26–19	14-0 (10-0)	Columbus, OH
3/6/1915 no, no	at University of Chicago	W 19–18	15-0 (11-0)	Chicago, IL
3/8/1915 no, no	Minnesota	W 26-11	16-0 (12-0)	Kenney Gym  Urbana, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from Central Time .

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Edward Williford[6]	12	31	56	118
Frank Bane[7]	16	50	1	101
Ralf Woods[8]	15	35	17	87
Ray Woods[9]	16	29	0	58
Clyde Alwood[10]	11	19	0	38
Sven Duner[11]	16	8	0	16
Dudley Crane[12]	5	6	0	12

Awards and honors

Ray Woods was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004. Woods was also selected as an All-American for the 1914–15 season.

References