1958–59 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1958–59 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1958–59 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	12–10 (7-7 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harry Combes (12th season);
Assistant coaches	Howie Braun (22nd season); Jim Wright (1st season);
MVP	Roger Taylor
Captain	Roger Taylor
Home arena	Huff Hall
	Seasons ← 1957–58 1959–60 →

1958–59 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 7 Michigan State	12	–	2	.857	19	–	4	.826
Northwestern	8	–	6	.571	15	–	7	.682
Michigan	8	–	6	.571	15	–	7	.682
Purdue	8	–	6	.571	15	–	7	.682
Illinois	7	–	7	.500	12	–	10	.545
Indiana	7	–	7	.500	11	–	11	.500
Ohio State	7	–	7	.500	11	–	11	.500
Iowa	7	–	7	.500	10	–	12	.455
Minnesota	5	–	9	.357	8	–	14	.364
Wisconsin	1	–	13	.071	3	–	19	.136

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1958–59 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

University of Illinois' head coach, Harry Combes and his Fighting Illini basketball team once again led the Big Ten in wins for a decade with a 165-64 record in the 1950s. The Illini’s winning percentage, .721, ranked 11th nationally. Additionally, the Associated Press began its basketball poll in 1949 with United Press International adding its poll in 1951 and from 1951-56 the Illini finished the season ranked in the Top 20 nationally every year. Illinois’ highest final ranking in the 1950s was second in both polls in 1952.

The 1958-59 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer, team "captain" and team "MVP" Roger Taylor. It also saw the return of Mannie Jackson, Govoner Vaughn, Bruce Bunkenberg, Al Gosnell, Lou Landt and Ed Perry. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 7 wins and 7 losses, finishing tied for 5th place in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 12 wins and 10 losses. During the season, the Illini would play Kentucky, the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, at a Freedom Hall in Louisville. The outcome of this game would be a 75-76 loss. The starting lineup included John Wessels at the center position, Roger Taylor and Mannie Jackson at guard and Govoner Vaughn, Ed Perry and Al Gosnell at the forward slots.^[1]

Roster

1958–59 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
C	10	John Wessels	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	So	Rockford West High School	Rockford, Illinois
G	11	Roger Taylor (C)	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Sr	Rich High School	Park Forest, Illinois
G	12	Lee Frandsen	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	Jr	Davenport Central High School	Davenport, Iowa
G	14	Jim Dorris	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	Centralia High School	Centralia, Illinois
F	15	Bob Schmidt	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Jr	Kankakee High School	Kankakee, Illinois
F	20	Bruce Bunkenburg	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Jr	Roosevelt High School	Chicago, Illinois
F	22	Ed Perry	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Jr	Salem High School	Salem, Illinois
F	24	Ken Charlcraft	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	192 lb (87 kg)	So	Maroa-Forsyth High School	Maroa, Illinois
C	25	John Homeier	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	Feitshans High School	Springfield, Illinois
G	30	Mannie Jackson	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Jr	Edwardsville High School	Edwardsville, Illinois
G	32	Lou Landt	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Jr	Roosevelt High School	Berwyn, Illinois
F	33	Al Gosnell	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Jr	Lawrenceville High School	Lawrenceville, Illinois
F	34	Roger DeVries	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	So	Forreston High School	Forreston, Illinois
F	35	Govoner Vaughn	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	Edwardsville High School	Edwardsville, Illinois
F	40	Tom Adams	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	Washington Community High School	Washington, Illinois
G	41	John Easterbrook	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	150 lb (68 kg)	So	Champaign Central High School	Champaign, Illinois
G	42	Phil Flanigan	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	140 lb (64 kg)	Sr	Tuscola High School	Tuscola, Illinois
G	44	Bill Larson	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Sr	Rochelle Township High School	Rochelle, Illinois
G	51	Bill Mohlenbrock	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	178 lb (81 kg)	So	Murphysboro High School	Murphysboro, Illinois
C	52	Vern Altemeyer	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	So	Scottsburg Senior High School	Scottsburg, Indiana

Head coach

Harry Combes (University of Illinois) (12th year)

Assistant coach(es)

Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (22nd year)
Jim Wright (University of Illinois) (1st year)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state^[3]
Non-Conference regular season
12/1/1958* no, no		Butler	W 103–79	1-0	Huff Hall (6,057) Champaign, IL
12/6/1958* no, no		at Marquette	L 53–69	1-1	Marquette Gymnasium (9,280) Milwaukee, WI
12/13/1958* no, no		College of Pacific	W 85–67	2-1	Huff Hall (6,257) Champaign, IL
12/15/1958* no, no		Iowa State	W 68–46	3-1	Huff Hall (6,328) Champaign, IL
12/20/1958* no, no		New York University	W 83–78	4-1	Huff Hall (3,401) Champaign, IL
12/23/1958* no, no		Stanford	W 71–62	5-1	Huff Hall (3,203) Champaign, IL
12/30/1958* no, no		vs. No. 1 Kentucky	L 75–76	5-2	Freedom Hall (18,274) Louisville, KY
Big Ten regular season
1/3/1959 no, no		Ohio State	W 81–80	6-2 (1-0)	Huff Hall (3,454) Champaign, IL
1/5/1959 no, no		at Wisconsin	W 77–51	7-2 (2-0)	Wisconsin Field House (3,618) Madison, WI
1/10/1959 no, no	No. 20	No. 5 Michigan State	L 96–97	7-3 (2-1)	Huff Hall (6,649) Champaign, IL
1/12/1959 no, no	No. 20	Iowa Rivalry	W 103–97	8-3 (3-1)	Huff Hall (6,887) Champaign, IL
1/24/1959* no, no		vs. Notre Dame	L 75–85	8-4	Chicago Stadium (-) Chicago, IL
1/26/1959 no, no		at Minnesota	L 70–81	8-5 (3-2)	Williams Arena (7,965) Minneapolis, MN
1/31/1959 no, no	No. 18	at Purdue	L 81–102	8-6 (3-3)	Lambert Fieldhouse (10,000) West Lafayette, IN
2/2/1959 no, no	No. 18	Michigan	L 85–87	8-7 (3-4)	Huff Hall (6,901) Champaign, IL
2/7/1959 no, no		at Northwestern Rivalry	L 79–88	8-8 (3-5)	McGaw Memorial Hall (9,045) Evanston, IL
2/9/1959 no, no		at Indiana Rivalry	W 89–83	9-8 (4-5)	The Fieldhouse (9,500) Bloomington, IN
2/16/1959 no, no		Wisconsin	W 93–54	10-8 (5-5)	Huff Hall (6,067) Champaign, IL
2/21/1959 no, no		No. 19 Indiana Rivalry	W 100–98	11-8 (6-5)	Huff Hall (6,712) Champaign, IL
2/28/1959 no, no		at Iowa Rivalry	W 72–70	12-8 (7-5)	Iowa Field House (15,125) Iowa City, IA
3/2/1959 no, no		at Michigan	L 95-101	12-9 (6-7)	Yost Field House (4,500) Ann Arbor, MI
3/7/1959 no, no		Northwestern Rivalry	L 81–84	12-10 (7-7)	Huff Hall (6,376) Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Points
Roger Taylor	21	158	60	68	376
John Wessels	22	126	75	205	327
Mannie Jackson	22	137	25	89	299
Govoner Vaughn	21	110	43	170	263
Al Gosnell	22	59	49	108	167
Ed Perry	22	46	22	93	114
Vern Altemeyer	21	34	25	80	93
Lou Landt	19	36	11	34	83
Bruce Bunkenburg	13	17	12	41	46
Lee Frandsen	15	12	2	14	26
John Easterbrook	12	4	5	3	13
Tom Adams	6	2	0	2	4
Jim Dorris	5	1	2	6	4
Bob Schmidt	3	0	0	2	0
Bill Mohlenbrock	4	0	0	0	0
John Homeier	2	0	0	1	0

^[4]

Awards and honors

Roger Taylor
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[5]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick
Roger Taylor	Syracuse Nationals	5	5

^[6]

Rankings

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 1958-59, FightingIllini.com
^ Schedule
^ Season Stats Archived 2013-11-02 at the Wayback Machine
^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
^ 1959 NBA Draft Archived 2010-03-18 at the Wayback Machine

[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 1958-59, FightingIllini.com

[3] Schedule

[4] Season Stats Archived 2013-11-02 at the Wayback Machine

[5] "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 28, 2013.

[6] 1959 NBA Draft Archived 2010-03-18 at the Wayback Machine

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

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