1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
1920–21 record	11–7 (7–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Frank Winters
Captain	Charles Vail
Home arena	Kenney Gym

	Conf				Overall
1920–21 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Michigan	8	–	4	.667	18	–	4	.818
Wisconsin	8	–	4	.667	13	–	4	.765
Purdue	8	–	4	.667	13	–	7	.650
Minnesota	7	–	5	.583	10	–	5	.667
Illinois	7	–	5	.583	11	–	7	.611
Indiana	6	–	5	.545	15	–	6	.714
Iowa	6	–	5	.545	9	–	9	.500
Chicago	6	–	6	.500	14	–	6	.700
Ohio State	2	–	10	.167	4	–	13	.235
Northwestern	1	–	11	.083	2	–	12	.143

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1920–21 season began a new era for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team. New head coach Frank Winters was coming to the University of Illinois after 5 very successful years as head coach of Rockford Central High School in Rockford, Illinois. During his tenure in Rockford, he guided his Rabs teams to three round of 16 finishes, one quarterfinals finish and one team finished their season as state champions. Unfortunately, Winters inherited a team whose best player, Chuck Carney, had just severely injured his knee in the last football game. Nonetheless, the team went on to an overall record of 11–7.^[1] The Big Ten record for the Illini, at the conclusion of the 1920–21 season would be seven wins five losses and a tie for fourth place. The starting lineup included All-American Chuck Carney, Lawrence Walquist, and Norton Hellstrom at forward, Henry Reitsch at center, and Charles Vail, John Sabo and Walter Collins as guards.^[2]

Team

No.	Player	Position	Class	Hometown
1	Chuck Carney	Forward	Junior	Evanston, Illinois
2	Walter Collins	Guard	Junior
3	John Sabo	Guard	Junior	Toledo, Ohio
4	Henry Reitsch	Center	Sophomore	Rockford, Illinois
5	Leland "Slim" Stillwell	Center	Junior
6	Otto H. Vogel	Guard	Sophomore	Iowa City, Iowa
7	Roland H. Popken	Forward	Freshman	Oak Park, Illinois
8	Norton Hellstrom	Forward	Sophomore	Ft. Pierce, Florida
9	Glenn E. Potter	Forward	Freshman	Yuba City, California
10	Hubert Tabor	Guard	Junior	Belleville, Illinois
11	C.M. White	Forward	Sophomore
12	H.C. Neville	Forward	Sophomore
13	J.W. Hansen	Guard	Sophomore
14	C.R. Danielson	Forward	Sophomore
15	Charles Vail (captain)	Guard	Junior	Chicago, Illinois
16	Lawrence Walquist	Forward	Junior	Chicago, Illinois
17	Julian Mee	Forward	Senior	Chicago, Illinois

Head Coach: Frank Winters (1st year at Illinois)

^[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
December 8, 1920	Millikin University	24–29	Loss	Urbana, IL	2,994
December 20, 1920	Illinois Normal	32–21	Win	Normal, IL	-
January 1, 1921	Nebraska	25–30	Loss	Urbana, IL	441
January 3, 1921	Nebraska	26–24	Win	Urbana, IL	3,044
January 10, 1921	Illinois Normal	42–17	Win	Urbana, IL	2,759
January 14, 1921	Millikin University	26–20	Win	Decatur, IL	-
January 18, 1921	University of Chicago	33–29	Win	Urbana, IL	4,233
January 22, 1921	Wisconsin	18–23	Loss	Madison, WI	-
January 24, 1921	Minnesota	23–22	Win	Minneapolis, MN	-
February 5, 1921	Purdue	39–26	Win	West Lafayette, IN	-
February 7, 1921	Ohio State	46–11	Win	Urbana, IL	4,272
February 12, 1921	Minnesota	24–20	Win	Urbana, IL	4,272
February 19, 1921	Wisconsin	17–9	Win	Urbana, IL	4,283
February 22, 1921	Purdue	19–29	Loss	Urbana, IL	4,283
February 26, 1921	Michigan	18–24	Loss	Ann Arbor, MI	-
February 28, 1921	Ohio State	35–32	Win	Columbus, OH	-
March 5, 1921	University of Chicago	26–29	Loss	Chicago, IL	3,260
March 7, 1921	Michigan	26–28	Loss	Urbana, IL	4,294

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Henry Reitsch^[4]	18	55	0	110
Charles Vail^[5]	18	22	59	103
Julian Mee^[6]	15	24	26	74
Lawrence Walquist^[7]	18	36	1	73
Norton Hellstrom^[8]	13	25	4	54
Charles Carney^[9]	8	19	0	38
Walter Collins^[10]	14	12	0	24
John Sabo^[11]	14	6	0	12

Awards and honors

Chuck Carney was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004. Carney was also selected as the Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year for his play during the 1921–22 season.

References

↑ A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.18 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-1920.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1920.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1920.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1920.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1920.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1920.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1920.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1920.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