1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	14–6 (7-5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Douglas Mills (4th season);
Assistant coaches	Howie Braun (3rd season); Wally Roettger (5th season); Ralph Fletcher (1st season);
Captain	William Hapac
Home arena	Huff Hall
	Seasons ← 1938–39 1940–41 →

1939–40 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Purdue	10	–	2	.833	16	–	4	.800
Indiana	9	–	3	.750	20	–	3	.870
Ohio State	8	–	4	.667	13	–	7	.650
Illinois	7	–	5	.583	14	–	6	.700
Northwestern	7	–	5	.583	13	–	7	.650
Michigan	6	–	6	.500	13	–	7	.650
Minnesota	5	–	7	.417	12	–	8	.600
Iowa	4	–	8	.333	9	–	12	.429
Wisconsin	3	–	9	.250	5	–	15	.250
Chicago	1	–	11	.083	5	–	15	.250

The 1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Doug Mills entered his fourth year as the head coach of the Fighting Illini with high hopes as well as a player with national prominence. William "Bill" Hapac was the program's first consensus first-team All-American as recognized by the NCAA. During the 1939-40 season, he became the first-ever recipient of the University of Illinois Athlete of the Year award. Hapac set the Big Ten single-game scoring record on February 10, 1940, with 34 points vs. Minnesota, a point total unheard of at that time. In addition to his success on the hardwood, Hapac also was a three-year letterwinner for the Illini baseball team. During the season, the Illini won 10 of their 11 home games only losing to conference rival Purdue in the last game of the season. Unfortunately for the Illini they finished with a 4-5 record on the road to finish in a fourth place tie overall in conference action. Mills' team featured 9 returning letterman including team captain William Hapac. The Illini also featured a starting lineup of John Drish at the center position and Harold Shapiro, Joe Frank, and William Hapac at forward and Victor Wukovits and future major league baseball player Walter Evers at the guard spot.^[1]

Roster

1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	3	Colin Handlon	—	—	Sr	Connersville, Indiana
G	4	Henry Sachs	—	—	So	Chicago, Illinois
F	5	Walter Evers	—	—	So	Collinsville, Illinois
C	6	Robert O'Neill	—	—	Jr	Pitman, New Jersey
G	8	Harry Lasater	—	—	Jr	Fairfield, Illinois
C	9	J. Frederick Townshend	—	—	So
F	10	Norman Cusick	—	—	So	Chicago Heights, Illinois
G	12	Robert Richmond	—	—	Jr	Johnston City, Illinois
C	13	Victor Wukovits	—	—	So	Mishawaka, Indiana
G	14	Howard Cronk	—	—	Jr	Anderson, Indiana
F	15	Rex Sherman	—	—	So	Pekin, Illinois
G	16	William Hocking	—	—	So	Evanston, Illinois
F	17	Joe Frank	—	—	Sr	Urbana, Illinois
G	18	Kenneth Brown	—	—	Fr	Catlin, Illinois
F	19	William Hapac (C)	—	—	Sr	Cicero, Illinois
G	20	Harold Shapiro	—	—	Jr	Chicago, Illinois
F	21	John Drish	—	—	Jr	Evanston, Illinois
F	22	Scott Gill	—	—	So
F	24	David Miller	—	—	So	Taylorville, Illinois
F	28	Leonard Sharp	—	—	So	Kewanee, Illinois
F	29	Howard Cronk	—	—	So
F	30	Paul Milosevich	—	—	So	Zeigler, Illinois

Head coach

Douglas Mills (University of Illinois) (4th year)

Assistant coach(es)

Wally Roettger (University of Illinois) (5th year)
Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (3rd year)
Ralph Fletcher (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
12/6/1939* no, no	Monmouth (IL)	W 37–19	1–0	Huff Hall (4,346) Champaign, IL
12/6/1939* no, no	Wabash	W 60–21	2–0	Huff Hall (4,346) Champaign, IL
12/15/1939* no, no	Carleton	W 46–15	3–0	Huff Hall (4,164) Champaign, IL
12/18/1939* no, no	Princeton	W 41–25	4–0	Huff Hall (4,346) Champaign, IL
12/27/1939* no, no	Notre Dame	W 42–29	5–0	Huff Hall (3,747) Champaign, IL
12/29/1939* no, no	at Drake	W 35-34	6–0	Drake Fieldhouse (-) Des Moines, IA
1/1/1940 no, no	at Butler	W 37–18	7–0	Hinkle Fieldhouse (4,000) Indianapolis, IN
Big Ten regular season
1/6/1940 no, no	at Indiana Rivalry	L 36–38	7–1 (0–1)	Wildermuth Intramural Center (6,000) Bloomington, IN
1/8/1940 no, no	University of Chicago	W 34–33	8–1 (1–1)	Huff Hall (5,200) Champaign, IL
1/13/1940 no, no	at Ohio State	L 31–37	8–2 (1–2)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (4,046) Columbus, OH
1/15/1940 no, no	at Michigan	W 48–43	9–2 (2–2)	Yost Fieldhouse (4,500) Ann Arbor, MI
2/3/1940* no, no	at Notre Dame	L 40–58	9-3	Notre Dame Fieldhouse (5,500) Notre Dame, IN
2/10/1940 no, no	Minnesota	W 60–31	10–3 (3–2)	Huff Hall (5,402) Champaign, IL
2/12/1940 no, no	Northwestern Rivalry	W 35–33	11–3 (4–2)	Huff Hall (5,400) Champaign, IL
2/17/1940 no, no	at Purdue	L 27–33	11–4 (4–3)	Lambert Fieldhouse (8,800) West Lafayette, IN
2/19/1940 no, no	Wisconsin	W 37-35	12–4 (5–3)	Huff Hall (5,400) Champaign, IL
2/24/1940 no, no	Michigan	W 51–28	13–4 (6–3)	Huff Hall (5,692) Champaign, IL
2/26/1940 no, no	at University of Chicago	W 42–40	14–4 (7–3)	Henry Crown Field House (3,500) Chicago, IL
3/2/1940 no, no	at Iowa Rivalry	L 47–62	14–5 (7–4)	Iowa Field House (7,000) Iowa City, IA
3/4/1940 no, no	Purdue	L 31–34	14–6 (7–5)	Huff Hall (7,172) Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Source^[2]

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
William Hapac	18	95	54	244
Walter Evers	17	40	33	113
Victor Wukovits	19	32	28	92
Colin Handlon	19	23	23	69
Joe Frank	19	25	10	60
John Drish	18	20	7	47
Harold Shapiro	15	17	5	39
William Hocking	13	13	9	35
Henry Sachs	18	15	2	32
Robert Richmond	10	10	9	29
Robert O'Neill	10	10	6	26
Howard Cronk	10	3	2	8
Rex Sherman	4	3	0	6
Paul Milosevich	1	1	1	3
Scott Gill	1	1	1	3
Frederick Townshend	4	1	1	3
Norman Cusick	1	1	0	2
Kenneth Brown	1	1	0	2
Edward Evers	5	0	2	2
Harry Lasater	5	1	0	2
Leonard Sharp	1	0	1	1

^[3]

Awards and honors

William Hapac
- Helms 1st team All-American (Consensus)
- Converse 1st team All-American

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 1939–40 pg.79, FightingIllini.com
^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2014.

[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 1939–40 pg.79, FightingIllini.com

[3] "Season Stats". Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2014.

[1]

[2]

[3]

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