1931–32 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1931–32 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1931–32 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	11–6 (7-5 Big Ten)
Head coach	J. Craig Ruby (10th season);
Assistant coaches	John P. Sabo (4th season); Jerome J. Jordan (1st season);
Captain	Elbert Kamp
Home arena	Huff Hall
	Seasons ← 1930–31 1932–33 →

1931–32 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Purdue	11	–	1	.917	17	–	1	.944
Minnesota	9	–	3	.750	15	–	3	.833
Northwestern	9	–	3	.750	13	–	5	.722
Michigan	8	–	4	.667	11	–	6	.647
Illinois	7	–	5	.583	11	–	6	.647
Ohio State	5	–	7	.417	9	–	9	.500
Indiana	4	–	8	.333	8	–	10	.444
Wisconsin	3	–	9	.250	8	–	10	.444
Iowa	3	–	9	.250	5	–	12	.294
Chicago	1	–	11	.083	2	–	15	.118

The 1931–32 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1931-32 season was head coach Craig Ruby's 10th at the University of Illinois. Ruby had 8 returning lettermen from a team that had finished in fourth place in the Big Ten the year before. The team went through a nearly perfect non-conference season, losing only 1 game, however, the Fighting Illini showed no improvement in conference play by finishing with a record of 7 wins and 5 losses. The team finished the season with an overall record of 11 wins 6 losses. The starting lineup included captain Elbert Kamp and Boyd Owen at guard, Robert Kamp and Robert Bartholomew as forwards and Caslon Bennett at center.^[1]

Roster

1931–32 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	4	Hudson Hellmich	—	—	So	Webster Groves, Missouri
F	5	Elbert Kamp (C)	—	—	Sr	Mt. Carmel, Illinois
G	6	Robert Kamp	—	—	Sr	Mt. Carmel, Illinois
F	7	Coslon Bennett	—	—	Jr	Marshall, Illinois
G	8	Boyd Owen	—	—	Jr	South Bend, Indiana
F	9	Robert Y. Bartholomew	—	—	Sr	Peoria, Illinois
C	10	Sidney Port	—	—	So	Chicago, Illinois
F	12	Salway "Fibby" Fierberg	—	—	So	Benton, Illinois
C	14	Vernon Moore	—	—	Jr	Martinsville, Illinois
G	15	Norval Hodges	—	—	So	Flora, Illinois
G	17	George S. Fencl	—	—	Sr	Cicero, Illinois
C	18	Alfred J. Kamm	—	—	So	Lakewood, Washington
G	19	Albert C. Kamm	—	—	So	Lakewood, Washington
G	22	William Theobald	—	—	Jr	Du Quoin, Illinois
F	23	Fred Fencl	—	—	So	Cicero, Illinois
F	24	Paul Carson	—	—	So	Fairbury, Illinois
G	26	John William Lehwald	—	—	So	Chicago, Illinois
F	28	Thomas Myers Plunk	—	—	Jr	Mansfield, Illinois

Head coach

Craig Ruby (University of Missouri) (10th year)

Assistant coach(es)

John Sabo (University of Illinois) (4th year)
Jerome J. Jordan (University of Illinois) (1st year)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/12/1931* no, no	St. Louis University	W 31–17	1-0	Huff Hall (5,000) Champaign, IL
12/18/1931* no, no	at Miami (OH)	W 35–19	2-0	Withrow Court (3,500) Oxford, Ohio
12/20/1931* no, no	Butler	L 17-22	2-1	Huff Hall (5,000) Champaign, IL
1/1/1932* no, no	Cornell	W 44–23	3-1	Huff Hall (4,000) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/4/1932 no, no	Ohio State	L 28–29	3-2 (0-1)	Huff Hall (6,500) Champaign, IL
1/9/1932 no, no	Purdue	W 28–21	4-2 (1-1)	Huff Hall (7,000) Champaign, IL
1/11/1932 no, no	at Indiana Rivalry	W 30–22	5-2 (2-1)	IU Field House (5,000) Bloomington, IN
1/18/1932 no, no	at Michigan	L 16–28	5-3 (2-2)	Yost Field House (5,000) Ann Arbor, MI
1/23/1932 no, no	University of Chicago	W 30–20	6-3 (3-2)	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
2/9/1932* no, no	Bradley	W 28–17	7-3 (3-2)	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
2/13/1932 no, no	at Ohio State	L 26–29	7-4 (3-3)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (5,000) Columbus, OH
2/15/1932 no, no	Minnesota	W 23–15	8-4 (4-3)	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
2/20/1932 no, no	Michigan	W 29–23	9-4 (5-3)	Huff Hall (6,500) Champaign, IL
2/27/1932 no, no	at Minnesota	L 26–27	9-5 (5-4)	Williams Arena (5,000) Minneapolis, MN
2/29/1932 no, no	at Purdue	L 19–34	9-6 (5-5)	Memorial Gymnasium (-) West Lafayette, IN
3/5/1932 no, no	at University of Chicago	W 41–20	10-6 (6-5)	Henry Crown Field House (-) Chicago, IL
3/7/1932 no, no	Indiana Rivalry	W 33–32	11-6 (7-5)	Huff Hall (5,000) Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Source^[2]

Awards and honors

References

^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1931-32 pg.79, FightingIllini.com

[1] Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7

[2] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1931-32 pg.79, FightingIllini.com

[1]

[2]

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)
Rivalries	Indiana Iowa Missouri Northwestern
Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics