1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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1964-65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
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Conference Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches #16
AP #Not Ranked
1964-65 record 18-6 (10-4 Big Ten)
Head coach Harry Combes
Assistant coach Howie Braun
Assistant coach Jim Wright
MVP Skip Thoren
Captain Skip Thoren
Home arena Assembly Hall
Seasons
« 1963–64 1965–66 »
1964–65 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
#1 Michigan 13 1   .929     24 4   .857
#7 Minnesota 11 3   .786     19 5   .792
Illinois 10 4   .714     18 6   .750
Indiana 9 5   .643     19 5   .792
Iowa 8 6   .571     14 10   .583
Ohio State 6 3   .667     12 12   .500
Purdue 5 9   .357     12 12   .500
Wisconsin 4 10   .286     9 13   .409
Northwestern 3 11   .214     7 17   .292
Michigan State 1 13   .071     5 18   .217
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Head coach Harry Combes Fighting Illini basketball team returned to their winning ways for the 1964-65 season. Even though they were not ranked in the pre-season top 20 of college basketball teams, they peaked at #6 during the course of the season in the Associated Press and finished the season ranked #16 in the coaches poll. During the course of the season, the Illini would play in two mid-season tournaments and participate 24 regular season games, the most since 1908 when they played in 26. The tournaments the Illini would participate in would be the ECAC Quaker City Tournament in Philadelphia and a return trip to the Kentucky Invitational Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky. The highlight of the season would happen in the season opener when the Illini would defeat the previous season's national champion UCLA Bruins by a score of 110-83. The 1965 Bruins would finish with a 28-2 record and their second national championship.

The 1964-65 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer, team "MVP" and captain, Skip Thoren. It also saw the return of team seniors Tal Brody, Bogie Redmon, Bill McKeown as well as Juniors Don Freeman, Jim Vopicka and Larry Hinton to their lineup. It also included sophomores Jim Dawson, Bob Johansen and future Dallas Cowboy, Preston Pearson. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 10 wins and 4 losses, finishing in 3rd place in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 18 wins and 6 losses. The starting lineup included Skip Thoren at the center position, Tal Brody and Jim Dawson at guard and Don Freeman and Bogie Redmon at the forward slots.[1]

Roster

No. Player Position Height Weight Class Hometown High School
11 Bob Meadows Guard 5-8 161 Senior Collinsville, Illinois Collinsville High School
12 Tal Brody Guard 6-2 173 Senior Trenton, New Jersey Central High School
14 Jerry Mettille Forward 6-4 179 Sophomore Morris, Illinois Morris Community High School
15 Don Freeman Forward 6-2 179 Junior Madison, Illinois Madison High School
21 Bob Johansen Forward 6-4 185 Sophomore Geneva, Illinois Geneva High School
22 Jim Vopicka Guard 6-1 175 Junior Brookfield, Illinois Morton West High School
23 Ron Beeks Guard 6-1 180 Senior Princeton, New Jersey Princeton High School
24 Jim Dawson Guard 6-0 172 Sophomore Elmhurst, Illinois York High School
25 Preston Pearson Guard 6-1 193 Sophomore Freeport, Illinois Freeport High School
30 Deon Flessner Forward 6-4 193 Sophomore Fithian, Illinois Fithian High School
33 Bogie Redmon Forward 6-5 225 Senior Collinsville, Illinois Collinsville High School
34 Bill McKeown Guard 6-2 185 Senior Clinton, Illinois Clinton High School
35 Skip Thoren (captain) Center 6-8 232 Senior Rockford, Illinois Rockford East High School
40 Bob Brown Forward 6-2 198 Junior West Frankfort, Illinois Frankfort Community High School
43 Larry Hinton Forward 6-2 194 Junior Shelbyville, Illinois Shelbyville High School
44 Mike Graville Forward 6-1 175 Junior Madison, Illinois Madison High School
54 Dan Lee Forward 6-3 175 Junior Attica, Indiana Attica High School

Schedule

Source[3]

Date
Time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (Attendance)
City, State
12/4/1964*
no, no
#NR vs. #1 UCLA W 110-83  1-0
Assembly Hall (11,873)
Champaign, IL
12/5/1964*
no, no
#NR @ St. Louis L 64-79  1-1
Kiel Auditorium (9,230)
St. Louis, MO
12/8/1964*
no, no
#NR vs. Bowling Green W 100-62  2-1
Assembly Hall (9,889)
Champaign, IL
12/12/1964*
no, no
#NR vs. Washington (St. Louis) W 103-59  3-1
Assembly Hall (9,027)
Champaign, IL
12/15/1964
no, no
#NR @ Wisconsin W 70-56  4-1 (1-0)
Wisconsin Field House (9,538)
Madison, WI
12/18/1964*
no, no
#NR vs. Dayton
Kentucky Invitational Tournament
W 104-86  5-1
Memorial Coliseum (11,800)
Lexington, KY
12/19/1964*
no, no
#NR @ #8 Kentucky
Kentucky Invitational Tournament
W 91-86  6-1
Memorial Coliseum (11,800)
Lexington, KY
12/26/1964*
no, no
#7 vs. NYU
ECAC Quaker City Tournament
W 102-79  7-1
Palestra (9,500)
Philadelphia, PA
12/28/1964*
no, no
#7 vs. St. Joseph's
ECAC Quaker City Tournament
L 71-75  7-2
Palestra (9,500)
Philadelphia, PA
12/29/1964*
no, no
#6 vs. Villanova
ECAC Quaker City Tournament
W 74-65  8-2
Palestra (9,500)
Philadelphia, PA
1/4/1965
no, no
#6 vs. #2 Indiana W 88-81  9-2 (2-0)
Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
1/9/1965
no, no
#NR @ #3 Michigan L 83-89  9-3 (2-1)
Yost Ice Arena (7,600)
Ann Arbor, MI
1/16/1965
no, no
#NR vs. Minnesota W 75-72  10-3 (3-1)
Assembly Hall (10,789)
Champaign, IL
1/30/1965*
no, no
#NR vs. Notre Dame W 101-87  11-3
Chicago Stadium (16,746)
Chicago, IL
2/6/1965
no, no
#NR vs. Purdue W 121-93  12-3 (4-1)
Assembly Hall (8,828)
Champaign, IL
2/8/1965
no, no
#NR @ Ohio State W 86-71  13-3 (5-1)
St. John Arena (7,626)
Columbus, OH
2/13/1965
no, no
#10 @ Minnesota L 90-105  13-4 (5-2)
Williams Arena (8,184)
Minneapolis, MN
2/16/1965
no, no
#NR vs. Ohio State W 95-72  14-4 (6-2)
Assembly Hall (8,751)
Champaign, IL
2/20/1965
no, no
#NR @ Michigan State W 100-89  15-4 (7-2)
Jenison Fieldhouse (8,643)
East Lansing, MI
2/23/1965
no, no
#NR vs. Iowa W 97-80  16-4 (8-2)
Assembly Hall (13,387)
Champaign, IL
2/27/1965
no, no
#NR vs. #1 Michigan L 79-80  16-5 (8-3)
Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
3/2/1965
no, no
#NR vs. Northwestern W 93-70  17-5 (9-3)
Welsh-Ryan Arena (5,500)
Evanston, IL
3/6/1965
no, no
#NR @ Iowa L 84-94  17-6 (9-4)
Iowa Field House (10,500)
Iowa City, IA
3/9/1965
no, no
#NR vs. Michigan State W 121-89  18-6 (10-4)
Assembly Hall (10,456)
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
Skip Thoren[4] 24 219 95 349 533
Tal Brody[5] 24 183 95 108 463
Don Freeman[6] 24 178 84 226 440
Bogie Redmon[7] 24 155 55 192 365
Bill McKeown[8] 9 41 17 39 99
Jim Dawson[9] 22 38 11 41 87
Jim Vopicka[10] 23 34 19 61 87
Bob Johansen[11] 19 56 22 34 56
Larry Hinton[12] 18 36 14 17 36
Preston Pearson[13] 17 16 4 18 16
Deon Flessner[14] 13 4 5 14 13
Bob Brown[15] 13 2 6 8 10
Jerry Mettile[16] 9 3 2 8 8

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player NBA Club Round Pick
Tal Brody Baltimore Bullets 2 4
Skip Thoren Baltimore Bullets 4 4
Bogie Redmon Baltimore Bullets 10 2
Roger Taylor Baltimore Bullets 17 1

[18]

Rankings

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References