1918–19 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1918–19 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
1918–19 record	6–8 (5–7 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ralph Jones
Captain	Burt Ingwersen
Home arena	Kenney Gym

	Conf				Overall
1918–19 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Minnesota	10	–	0	1.000	13	–	0	1.000
Chicago	10	–	2	.833	21	–	6	.778
Northwestern	6	–	4	.600	6	–	6	.500
Michigan	5	–	5	.500	18	–	6	.750
Illinois	5	–	7	.417	6	–	8	.429
Indiana	4	–	6	.400	10	–	7	.588
Iowa	4	–	7	.364	8	–	7	.533
Purdue	4	–	7	.364	6	–	8	.429
Wisconsin	3	–	9	.250	5	–	11	.313
Ohio State	2	–	6	.250	7	–	12	.368

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1918–19 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1918–19 season for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team, was the lowest point for head coach Ralph Jones during his tenure at the University of Illinois. Jones experienced his only losing season as a Big Ten coach, as a matter of fact, this was the only losing season he would have in career spanning nearly 35 years. Jones, who coached the Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team for three seasons prior to coming to Illinois, had never lost more than 6 games during any conference campaign.^[1] The record the Illini would possess at the conclusion of the 1918–19 season would overall be 6 wins, 8 losses with a 6 win 6 loss conference mark. The starting lineup included captain Burt Ingwersen, Benjamin Mittleman and Ralph Fletcher at the forward positions, K.L. Wilson at center, and W.K. Kopp and P.C. Taylor as guards.^[2]

Roster

Player	Position	Class	Hometown
Ralph Fletcher	Right Forward, Left Forward	Sophomore	Champaign, Illinois
Burt Ingwersen	Left Forward, Right Forward	Junior	Urbana, Illinois
John S. Probst	Center	Junior	East Aurora, Illinois
Paul C. Taylor	Right Guard	Junior	New Orleans, Louisiana
Kenneth L. Wilson	Center	Junior	Wilmette, Illinois
William K. Kopp	Left Guard	Sophomore	Beverly Farms, Massachusetts
Benjamin E. Mittleman	Left Forward	Senior
G.C. Buckheit	Right Guard
D.W. Smith	Right Forward
T. Johnson	Right Guard

Head Coach: Ralph Jones (7th year at Illinois)

^[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
January 3, 1919	Great Lakes	26–28	Loss	Urbana, IL	467
January 10, 1919	Millikin University	37–17	Win	Urbana, IL	577
January 18, 1919	Purdue	13–16	loss	Urbana, IL	1,519
January 20, 1919	Ohio State	25–20	Win	Urbana, IL	1,462
January 25, 1919	Wisconsin	25–15	Win	Madison, WI	-
January 27, 1919	Minnesota	17–36	Loss	Minneapolis, MN	-
February 1, 1919	Michigan	27–23	Win	Ann Arbor, MI	-
February 8, 1919	University of Chicago	12–17	Loss	Chicago, IL	-
February 15, 1919	Wisconsin	16–14	Win	Urbana, IL	1,774
February 21, 1919	Purdue	25–18	Win	West Lafayette, IN	-
February 24, 1919	Ohio State	15–32	Loss	Columbus, OH	-
March 1, 1919	University of Chicago	15–17	Loss	Urbana, IL	2,126
March 3, 1919	Minnesota	9–26	Loss	Urbana, IL	1,485
March 10, 1919	Michigan	18–22	Loss	Urbana, IL	1,329

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Kenneth Wilson^[4]	14	28	53	109
Paul Taylor^[5]	12	24	6	54
Ralph Fletcher^[6]	12	23	2	48
Bert Ingwersen^[7]	13	10	0	20
Benjamin Mittleman^[8]	13	8	1	17
D.W. Smith^[9]	7	6	1	13

References

↑ A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.17 ISBN 1-58261-793-7
↑ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
↑
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1918.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1918.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1918.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1918.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1918.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1918.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