1914–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1914–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

National Champions Big Ten Conference Champions
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1914–15 record	16–0 (12–0 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ralph Jones
Captain	Sven Duner
Home arena	Kenney Gym

	Conf				Overall
1914–15 Western Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Illinois	12	–	0	1.000	16	–	0	1.000
Chicago	9	–	3	.750	20	–	5	.800
Wisconsin	8	–	4	.667	13	–	4	.765
Minnesota	6	–	6	.500	11	–	6	.647
Northwestern	5	–	5	.500	11	–	8	.579
Purdue	4	–	8	.333	5	–	8	.385
Ohio State	3	–	9	.250	7	–	10	.412
Iowa	2	–	6	.250	9	–	8	.529
Indiana	1	–	9	.100	4	–	9	.308

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1914–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Coached by Ralph Jones, the 1914–15 Fighting Illini men's basketball team became the first undefeated Big Ten champion in the history of the school as well as the fourth Big Ten National Champion.^[1] That 1915 season was the third in the eight-year tenure of head coach Ralph Jones and it produced the only unbeaten season in Illini history and the first Big Ten title for the Illinois basketball program. Following the perfect season the Illinois team was named national champions by the Helms Foundation. Jones’ 1915 team scored twice as many points as its opponents and won the conference title by three games over Chicago. The arrival of the Woods brothers in 1914 had a lot to do with the success of this era. Guard Ray Woods was named first-team All-America all three years he competed (1915–17), and brother Ralf, a forward, led the team in scoring in both 1916 and 1917. His consistency at the free throw line led to the establishment of the Ralf Woods Award, which is still given annually to the Fighting Illini player with the best free-throw percentage. The starting lineup included Frank Bane at center, Clyde Alwood and Edward Allan Williford at the forward postitons, captain Sven Duner at guard and brothers Ralf Woods and Ray Woods. Ray Woods was named an All-American during this season.^[2]

Roster

"1914-15 Fighting Illini team"

Player	Position	Class	Hometown
Sven Duner	Left Guard, Right Guard	Senior	Downers Grove, Illinois
Helmuth Kircher	Right Forward, Left Forward	Senior	Kalamazoo, Michigan
Edward Williford	Left Forward, Center	Senior	Binghamton, New York
Ray Woods	Right Guard	Sophomore	Oak Park, Illinois
Ralf Woods	Right Guard	Sophomore	Oak Park, Illinois
Frank Bane	Center	Senior	Pontiac, Illinois
Dudley Crane	Left Guard, Right Guard	Junior	Columbus, Ohio
Clyde Alwood	Right Forward	Sophomore	Clinton, Illinois
Robert W. Hoffman	Right Guard, Left Guard	Senior
D. F. Comstock	Left Guard, Forward, Center	Senior
W. B. Erwin	Left Forward	Senior
John E. Davis	Left Forward, Left Guard	Freshman	Chicago, Illinois
M. O. Jensen	Right Forward
R. A. McDermott

Head Coach: Ralph Jones (3rd year at Illinois)

^[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location
December 8, 1914	Arkansas A.C.	52–6	Win	Urbana, IL
December 12, 1914	Illinois Wesleyan	50–9	Win	Urbana, IL
December 18, 1914	Millikin University	19–16	Win	Urbana, IL
January 2, 1915	Peoria YMCA	27–14	Win	Peoria, IL
January 11, 1915	Indiana	34–13	Win	Urbana, IL
January 16, 1915	Purdue	27–8	Win	Urbana, IL
January 23, 1915	Ohio State	24–17	Win	Urbana, IL
January 26, 1915	Indiana	20–4	Win	Bloomington, IN
February 8, 1915	Wisconsin	39–19	Win	Urbana, IL
February 13, 1915	Wisconsin	19–17	Win	Madison, WI
February 15, 1915	Minnesota	20–10	Win	Minneapolis, MN
February 23, 1915	University of Chicago	20–12	Win	Urbana, IL
February 27, 1915	Purdue	22–15	Win	West Lafayette, IN
March 1, 1915	Ohio State	26–19	Win	Columbus, OH
March 6, 1915	University of Chicago	19–18	Win	Chicago, IL
March 8, 1915	Minnesota	26–11	Win	Urbana, IL

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Edward Williford^[4]	12	31	56	118
Frank Bane^[5]	16	50	1	101
Ralf Woods^[6]	15	35	17	87
Ray Woods^[7]	16	29	0	58
Clyde Alwood^[8]	11	19	0	38
Sven Duner^[9]	16	8	0	16
Dudley Crane^[10]	5	6	0	12

Awards and honors

Ray Woods was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004. Woods was also selected as an All-American for the 1914–15 season.

References

↑ A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.20 ISBN 1-58261-793-7
↑ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
↑ All-Time Illini Rosters
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present)

Rivalries	Missouri

Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek

People	Head coaches NBA draftees Consensus All-Americans

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 1999–00 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

Helms and NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics