1946–47 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Appearance
1946–47 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball | |
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Conference | Big Ten Conference |
Record | 14–6 (8–4 Big Ten) |
Head coach |
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Assistant coaches |
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MVP | Jack Smiley |
Captain | Selected each game |
Home arena | Huff Hall |
Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wisconsin | 9 | – | 3 | .750 | 16 | – | 6 | .727 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Illinois | 8 | – | 4 | .667 | 14 | – | 6 | .700 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indiana | 8 | – | 4 | .667 | 12 | – | 8 | .600 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Minnesota | 7 | – | 5 | .583 | 14 | – | 7 | .667 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michigan | 6 | – | 6 | .500 | 12 | – | 8 | .600 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Iowa | 5 | – | 7 | .417 | 12 | – | 7 | .632 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ohio State | 5 | – | 7 | .417 | 7 | – | 13 | .350 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Purdue | 4 | – | 8 | .333 | 9 | – | 11 | .450 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Northwestern | 2 | – | 10 | .167 | 7 | – | 13 | .350 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rankings from AP Poll
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The 1946–47 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the
University of Illinois
.
Regular season
The 1946-47 season would be the last year that
Big Ten Conference season, Mills' teams won 88 games while losing only 47. Included in the 88 wins would be back-to-back conference titles in 1942 and 1943 where his teams would go 35-6 overall and 25-2 in the conference. Amazingly, Mills' three championships ('37, '42, '43) in just 11 years, place him just one behind Harry Combes
, his replacement as head coach, for the most conference championships.
An attempt to regroup 'Dike Eddleman was not available to play until January based on the football team playing in the Rose Bowl. Unfortunately, the chemistry was not the same and the team finished in a tie for second in the conference with a record of 8 wins, 4 losses. Overall, the team finished with a 14-6 record. The starting lineup at the beginning of the season included 4 of the 5 Whiz Kids, guards Smiley and Vance, forwards Phillip and Ken Menke and Fred Green at center. However, as January unfolded, Mills would insert Kirk and freshman Bill Erickson into the starting lineup as well.[1]
Roster
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/1946-47_Illinois_Starting_Five.jpg/220px-1946-47_Illinois_Starting_Five.jpg)
1946–47 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source[2]
Schedule
Date time, TV |
Opponent | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state | |||||||
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Non-Conference regular season | |||||||||||
12/6/1946* no, no |
Cornell | W 87–39 | 1–0 |
Champaign, IL
| |||||||
12/11/1946* no, no |
Marquette | W 73–40 | 2–0 |
Huff Hall (7,697) Champaign, IL | |||||||
12/14/1946* no, no |
Pittsburgh | W 58–31 | 3–0 |
Huff Hall (7,855) Champaign, IL | |||||||
12/16/1946* no, no |
vs. Missouri Rivalry |
L 50–55 | 3–1 |
Kansas City, MO
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12/20/1946* no, no |
at California | W 58–41 | 4–1 |
Berkeley, CA
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12/21/1946* no, no |
at California | L 35–53 | 4–2 |
Haas Pavilion (7,000) Berkeley, CA | |||||||
12/28/1946* no, no |
Nebraska | W 72–37 | 5–2 |
Huff Hall (-) Champaign, IL | |||||||
Big Ten regular season | |||||||||||
1/1/1947 no, no |
at Wisconsin | L 47–53 | 5–3 (0–1) |
Madison, WI
| |||||||
1/4/1947* no, no |
University of Mexico
|
W 94–36 | 6–3 |
Huff Hall (7,851) Champaign, IL | |||||||
1/6/1947 no, no |
Minnesota | L 31–34 | 6–4 (0–2) |
Huff Hall (7,875) Champaign, IL | |||||||
1/11/1947 no, no |
Northwestern Rivalry |
W 55–40 | 7–4 (1–2) |
Huff Hall (6,600) Champaign, IL | |||||||
1/13/1947 no, no |
Ohio State | W 61-42 | 8–4 (2–2) |
Huff Hall (7,600) Champaign, IL | |||||||
1/25/1947 no, no |
Wisconsin | W 63–37 | 9-4 (3–2) |
Huff Hall (7,685) Champaign, IL | |||||||
2/1/1947 no, no |
at Ohio State | W 59–58 | 10–4 (4–2) |
Columbus, OH
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2/5/1947 no, no |
at Purdue | L 42–51 | 10–5 (4–3) |
West Lafayette, IN
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2/8/1947* no, no |
Iowa Rivalry |
W 45–36 | 11–5 (5–3) |
Huff Hall (7,879) Champaign, IL | |||||||
2/15/1947 no, no |
Indiana Rivalry |
W 59–50 | 12–5 (6–3) |
Huff Hall (7,874) Champaign, IL | |||||||
2/22/1947 no, no |
at Northwestern Rivalry |
W 52–51 | 13–5 (7–3) |
Chicago, IL
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2/24/1947 no, no |
at Michigan | W 45–36 | 14–5 (8–3) |
Ann Arbor, MI
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3/1/1947 no, no |
at Indiana Rivalry |
L 41–48 | 14–6 (8–4) |
Bloomington, IN
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*Non-conference game. #Rankings from
Central Time . |
Source[3]
Player stats
Player | Games Played | Field Goals | Free Throws | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
Andy Phillip | 20 | 81 | 30 | 192 |
Ken Menke | 20 | 72 | 36 | 180 |
Fred Green | 20 | 72 | 25 | 169 |
Jack Smiley | 20 | 56 | 38 | 150 |
Gene Vance | 20 | 49 | 37 | 135 |
Walt Kirk | 19 | 31 | 22 | 84 |
Bill Erickson | 20 | 27 | 7 | 61 |
Jack Burmaster | 15 | 15 | 4 | 34 |
Bob Doster | 12 | 12 | 7 | 31 |
Dick Foley | 16 | 11 | 4 | 26 |
Bob Lavoy | 11 | 7 | 11 | 25 |
Dwight Eddleman | 10 | 5 | 2 | 12 |
Benton Odum | 2 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
Dwight Humphrey | 11 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
Wally Osterkorn | 8 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
Ron Bontemps | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Burdette Thurlby | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Robert Rowe | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Roy Gatewood | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Awards and honors
- Dwight Eddleman
- Andy Phillip
- Jack Smiley
- Helms 3rd Team All-American (1947)
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1947)
- Team Most Valuable Player [5]
- Gene Vance
References
- ISBN 1-58261-793-7
- ^ Men's Basketball Roster
- ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1943–44 pg.81, FightingIllini.com
- ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
- ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.