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1963–64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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1963–64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record13-11 (6-8 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPSkip Thoren
CaptainBill Edwards
Home arenaAssembly Hall
Seasons
1963–64 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 2 Michigan 11 – 3   .786 23 – 5   .821
Ohio State 11 – 3   .786 16 – 8   .667
Minnesota 10 – 4   .714 17 – 7   .708
Michigan State 8 – 6   .571 14 – 10   .583
Purdue 8 – 6   .571 12 – 12   .500
Illinois 6 – 8   .429 13 – 11   .542
Northwestern 6 – 8   .429 8 – 13   .381
Indiana 5 – 9   .357 9 – 15   .375
Iowa 3 – 11   .214 8 – 15   .348
Wisconsin 2 – 12   .143 8 – 16   .333
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1963–64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

[edit]

The 1963-64 Fighting Illini basketball team, playing in their first full season in Assembly Hall, dropped back from its previous championship season with a losing finish in the Big Ten and a mediocre overall record. Head coach Harry Combes guided the Illini to a 10-3 record after the first 13 games of the season only to see the team reverse trends and go 3-8 the rest of the way. Once again the Illini played in a mid-season tournament, playing in the Los Angeles Basketball Classic. During the tournament the Illini would face eventual national champion, UCLA.

The 1963-64 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer and team "MVP" Skip Thoren. It also saw the return of team captain Bill Edwards, juniors Tal Brody, Bogie Redmon, Bill McKeown as well as sophomores Don Freeman, Jim Vopicka and Larry Hinton to their lineup. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 6 wins and 8 losses, finishing in a 6th place tie in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 13 wins and 11 losses. The starting lineup included Skip Thoren at the center position, Tal Brody and Jim Vopicka at guard and Don Freeman and Bogie Redmon at the forward slots.[1]

Roster

[edit]
1963–64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
F 10 Larry Bauer 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 207 lb (94 kg) Jr Springfield High School Springfield, Illinois
G 11 Bob Meadows 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) 157 lb (71 kg) Jr Collinsville High School Collinsville, Illinois
G 12 Tal Brody 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Jr Central High School Trenton, New Jersey
F 14 John Love 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Sr Ottawa Township High School Ottawa, Illinois
G 15 Don Freeman 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Madison High School Madison, Illinois
F 20 Mel Blackwell 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 168 lb (76 kg) So Centralia High School Centralia, Illinois
G 22 Jim Vopicka 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) So Morton West High School Brookfield, Illinois
G 23 Ron Beeks 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Princeton High School Princeton, New Jersey
F 30 Jeff Ferguson 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Benton Consolidated High School Benton, Illinois
G 31 Tony Latham 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 163 lb (74 kg) Jr Waukegan High School Waukegan, Illinois
G 32 Bill Edwards (C) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Windsor High School Windsor, Illinois
F 33 Bogie Redmon 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Jr Collinsville High School Collinsville, Illinois
G 34 Bill McKeown 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr Clinton High School Clinton, Illinois
C 35 Skip Thoren 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr Rockford East High School Rockford, Illinois
G/F 40 Bob Brown 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So P. S. Dupont High School Wilmington, DE
F 43 Larry Hinton 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Shelbyville High School Shelbyville, Illinois
F 44 Mike Graville 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) So Madison High School Madison, Illinois
F 53 George Johnson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So York High School Elmhurst, Illinois
F 54 Dan Lee 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Attica High School Attica, Indiana
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster

Schedule

[edit]

Source[2]

Date
time, TV 		Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state[3]
Non-Conference regular season
11/30/1963*
no, no 		at Butler W 59-52  1-0
 Hinkle Fieldhouse (11,400)
Indianapolis, IN
12/4/1963*
no, no 		St. Louis L 78-81  2-0
 Assembly Hall (14,327)
Champaign, IL
12/9/1963*
no, no 		at Oklahoma L 104-105  1-2
 McCasland Field House (3,800)
Norman, OK
12/14/1963*
no, no 		Notre Dame W 79-68  2-2
 Assembly Hall (14,238)
Champaign, IL
12/19/1963*
no, no 		Butler W 74-53  3-2
 Assembly Hall (13,681)
Champaign, IL
12/26/1963*
no, no 		vs. West Virginia
Los Angeles Basketball Classic 		W 92-86  4-2
 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (5,104)
Los Angeles, CA
12/27/1963*
no, no 		vs. Pittsburgh
Los Angeles Basketball Classic 		W 83-76  5-2
 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (14,267)
Los Angeles, CA
12/28/1963*
no, no 		at No. 4 UCLA
Los Angeles Basketball Classic 		L 79-83  5-3
 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (13,060)
Los Angeles, CA
12/31/1963*
no, no 		vs. Notre Dame W 87-78  6-3
 Chicago Stadium (13,571)
Chicago, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/4/1964
no, no 		Michigan State W 87-66  7-3
(1-0) 		Assembly Hall (14,141)
Champaign, IL
1/11/1964
no, no 		at Iowa
Rivalry 		W 87-70  8-3
(2-0) 		Iowa Field House (8,800)
Iowa City, IA
1/25/1964*
no, no 		vs. Arizona State W 97-78  9-3
 Chicago Stadium (19,000)
Chicago, IL
2/1/1964
no, no 		Northwestern
Rivalry 		W 73-71  10-3
(3-0) 		Assembly Hall (10,093)
Champaign, IL
2/3/1964
no, no 		at Indiana
Rivalry 		L 96-104  10-4
(3-1) 		New Fieldhouse (8,002)
Bloomington, IN
2/8/1964
no, no 		No. 2 Michigan L 82-93  10-5
(3-2) 		Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
2/10/1964
no, no 		at Ohio State L 92-110  10-6
(3-3) 		St. John Arena (11,351)
Columbus, OH
2/15/1964
no, no 		at Minnesota L 81-92  10-7
(3-4) 		Williams Arena (12,461)
Minneapolis, MN
2/17/1964
no, no 		at Michigan State L 82-85  10-8
(3-5) 		Jenison Fieldhouse (6,124)
East Lansing, MI
2/22/1964
no, no 		Minnesota W 86-78  11-8
(4-5) 		Assembly Hall (15,676)
Champaign, IL
2/24/1964
no, no 		at Purdue L 90-105  11-9
(4-6) 		Lambert Fieldhouse (8,184)
West Lafayette, IN
2/28/1964
no, no 		at No. 3 Michigan L 83-89  11-10
(4-7) 		Yost Field House (7,875)
Ann Arbor, MI
3/2/1964
no, no 		Ohio State L 74-86  11-11
(4-8) 		Assembly Hall (8,643)
Champaign, IL
3/7/1964
no, no 		Wisconsin W 97-73  12-11
(5-8) 		Assembly Hall (15,826)
Champaign, IL
3/9/1964
no, no 		Iowa
Rivalry 		W 90-67  13-11
(6-8) 		Assembly Hall (13,676)
Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

[edit]
Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Rebounds Points
Skip Thoren[4] 24 187 114 331 488
Tal Brody[5] 24 157 91 97 405
Don Freeman[6] 24 130 81 231 341
Bogie Redmon[7] 24 97 37 148 231
Jim Vopicka[8] 24 56 24 62 136
Bill McKeown[9] 15 46 17 34 109
Larry Hinton[10] 23 36 18 54 90
Bill Edwards[11] 20 32 24 24 88
Mel Blackwell[12] 17 14 14 33 42
Bob Brown[13] 16 14 12 7 40
Larry Bauer[14] 12 11 6 24 28
John Love[15] 16 6 2 17 14
Jeff Ferguson[16] 2 0 4 0 4
Dan Lee 1 0 0 1 0
Bob Meadows 1 0 0 0 0

Awards and honors

[edit]

Team players drafted into the NBA

[edit]
Player NBA Club Round Pick
No Player Selected

[18]

Rankings

[edit]
Main article: 1963–64 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

[edit]
  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 1963-64 Archived 2014-03-10 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  3. ^ Schedule
  4. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  5. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  6. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  7. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  8. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  9. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  10. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  11. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  12. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  13. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  14. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  15. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  16. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  17. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
  18. ^ 1964 NBA Draft Archived 2010-03-17 at the Wayback Machine
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