1930–31 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1930–31 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
1930–31 record	12–5 (7-5 Big Ten)
Head coach	J. Craig Ruby
Captain	Charles Harper
Home arena	Huff Hall

	Conf				Overall
1930–31 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Northwestern	11	–	1	.917	16	–	1	.941
Michigan	8	–	4	.667	13	–	4	.765
Minnesota	8	–	4	.667	13	–	4	.765
Purdue	8	–	4	.667	12	–	5	.706
Illinois	7	–	5	.583	12	–	5	.706
Indiana	5	–	7	.417	9	–	8	.529
Chicago	4	–	8	.333	8	–	9	.471
Wisconsin	4	–	8	.333	8	–	9	.471
Ohio State	3	–	9	.250	4	–	13	.235
Iowa	2	–	10	.167	5	–	12	.294

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1930–31 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1930-31 season was head coach Craig Ruby's 9th at the University of Illinois, establishing the first time in the history of Illinois basketball that a head coach remained longer than 8 years. Ruby had 10 returning lettermen from a team that had finished in a fifth place tie in the Big Ten the year before. Even though they did not lose any non-conference games, the Fighting Illini showed no improvement in conference play by finishing with a record of 7 wins and 5 losses, however; the team improved to an overall record of 12 wins 5 losses. The starting lineup included captain Charles Harper, George Fencl and Elbert Kamp at forward, Elbridge May at center with Boyd Owen and Robert Kamp at the guard spots.^[1]

Team

No.	Player	Position	Height	Weight	Class	Hometown
3	Charles Harper (captain)	Forward	5'11"	163	Senior	Chandlerville, Illinois
4	Robert Kamp	Guard	5'10"	150	Junior	Mt. Carmel, Illinois
5	Elbert Kamp	Forward	5'11"	150	Junior	Mt. Carmel, Illinois
6	Elbridge Horace May	Center	6'4"	180	Senior	Chicago, Illinois
8	Boyd Owen	Guard	6'2"	179	Sophomore	South Bend, Indiana
9	Herbert R. Hill	Forward	5'8"	145	Senior	Elgin, Illinois
10	Caslon Bennett	Center	6'3"	185	Sophomore	Marshall, Illinois
11	Vernon Moore	Center	6'1"	165	Sophomore	Martinsville, Illinois
12	Robert Y. Bartholomew	Forward	5'11"	155	Junior	Peoria, Illinois
14	William Hagerman	Center	6'1"	154	Sophomore	Champaign, Illinois
15	William Theobald	Guard	5'11"	155	Sophomore	Duquoin, Illinois
17	Paul Chervinko	Forward	5'7"	155	Sophomore	Witt, Illinois
18	Norval Hodges	Guard	6'2"	176	Sophomore	Flora, Illinois
19	Harold Thornburg	Center	6'1"	172	Senior	Watseka, Illinois
20	Charles Canfield	Guard	5'11"	165	Sophomore	Maywood, Illinois
21	George S. Fencl	Guard	5'8"	159	Junior	Cicero, Illinois
22	David Smith	Guard	5'10"	157	Sophomore	Chicago, Illinois
23	William Fuzak	Forward	6'0"	160	Senior	Urbana, Illinois
24	Charles Goldstein	Forward	5'10"	160	Sophomore	Chicago, Illinois
25	Marvin L. Hadam	Forward	5'9"	150	Senior	Chicago, Illinois
26	Homer Adams	Guard	5'11"	150	Junior	Pontiac, Illinois
27	John Hadley	Guard	6'0"	160	Sophomore	Frankfort, Indiana
28	Ralph W. Downing	Guard	5'10"	150	Junior	Mount Pulaski, Illinois
29	Henry Howard	Guard	6'0"	170	Sophomore	Sheffield, Illinois
30	Maurice Weintraub	Forward	5'6"	148	Sophomore	Chicago, Illinois
31	H.B. Scharback	Forward	5'10"	163	Junior	Hobart, Indiana
32	Thomas Plunk	Forward	5'8"	160	Sophomore	Mansfield, Illinois

Head Coach: Craig Ruby (9th year at Illinois)

^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
December 8, 1930	DePauw	27–15	Win	Champaign, IL	3,625
December 13, 1930	Carleton College	23–11	Win	Champaign, IL	4,879
December 19, 1930	Miami	40–17	Win	Champaign, IL	1,500
December 22, 1930	Wabash	28–13	Win	Champaign, IL	2,473
January 1, 1931	Bradley	28–17	Win	Peoria, IL	3,000
January 5, 1931	Wisconsin	9–12	Loss	Champaign, IL	6,696
January 10, 1931	Purdue	15–30	Loss	West Lafayette, IN	-
January 12, 1931	Northwestern	27–29	Loss	Champaign, IL	7,092
January 17, 1931	Indiana	34–35	Loss	Champaign, IL	6,807
January 24, 1931	Wisconsin	20–30	Loss	Madison, WI	-
February 10, 1931	Purdue	26–22	Win	Champaign	6,873
February 14, 1931	Iowa	26–23	Win	Iowa City, IA	3,600
February 16, 1931	Northwestern	35–28	Win	Evanston, IL	5,000
February 21, 1931	University of Chicago	45–22	Win	Champaign, IL	6,228
February 23, 1931	Indiana	39–25	Win	Bloomington, IN	4,200
February 28, 1931	Iowa	31–13	Win	Champaign, IL	6,267
March 2, 1931	University of Chicago	36–30	Win	Chicago, IL	1,900

Bold Italic connotes conference game

References

↑ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
↑ All-Time Illini Rosters

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