1938–39 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1938–39 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
1938–39 record	14–5 (8-4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Douglas Mills
Assistant coach	Howie Braun
Assistant coach	Wally Roettger
Captain	Tom Nisbet
Home arena	Huff Hall

	Conf				Overall
1938–39 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Ohio State	10	–	2	.833	16	–	7	.696
Indiana	9	–	3	.750	17	–	3	.850
Illinois	8	–	4	.667	14	–	5	.737
Minnesota	7	–	5	.583	14	–	6	.700
Purdue	6	–	6	.500	12	–	7	.632
Northwestern	5	–	7	.417	7	–	13	.350
Michigan	4	–	8	.333	11	–	9	.550
Wisconsin	4	–	8	.333	10	–	10	.500
Chicago	4	–	8	.333	9	–	11	.450
Iowa	3	–	9	.250	8	–	11	.421

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1938–39 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1938-39 season was year number three for head coach Doug Mills. Overall the team regrouped from a miserable eighth place finish in the Big Ten a year earlier by winning 9 of their 10 home games only losing to conference rival Indiana. Unfortunately for the Fighting Illini they finished with a 5-5 record on the road to finish in third place overall in conference action. Mills' Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team featured only 5 returning letterman. Along with team captain Tom Nisbit, the Illini also featured a starting lineup of Lewis Dehner at the center position, John Drish, Joe Frank and William Hapac at forward and George Wardley, and Colin Handlon at guard.^[1]

Team

No.	Player	Position	Class	Hometown
3	Colin Handlon	Guard	Junior	Connersville, Indiana
4	Henry Sachs	Guard	Freshman	Chicago, Illinois
6	Robert O'Neill	Center	Sophomore	Pitman, New Jersey
8	Lewis Dehner	Center	Senior	Lincoln, Illinois
9	Edsel Hart	Forward	Sophomore
10	James Phillips	Guard	Sophomore	Oak Park, Illinois
11	Darold Staley	Guard	Sophomore
12	Robert Richmond	Guard	Sophomore
15	George Wardley	Guard	Senior	Gary, Indiana
17	Joe Frank	Forward	Junior	Urbana, Illinois
18	Tom Nisbet (captain)	Guard	Senior	Chicago, Illinois
19	William Hapac	Forward	Junior	Cicero, Illinois
20	Harold Shapiro	Guard	Sophomore	Chicago, Illinois
21	John Drish	Forward	Sophomore	Evanston, Illinois
26	Ivan Johnson	Forward	Sophomore
27	Howard Cronk	Forward	Sophomore	Anderson, Indiana
28	Norman Cusick	Forward	Sophomore

Head Coach: Douglas Mills (3rd year at Illinois)

^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
December 10, 1938	Washington (St. Louis)	49–31	Win	Champaign, IL	5,000
December 17, 1938	North Dakota	61–33	Win	Champaign, IL	4,000
December 21, 1938	Connecticut State	49–33	Win	Champaign, IL	4,763
December 27, 1938	Manhattan	60–41	Win	New York, NY	17,000
December 29, 1938	Villanova	28–22	Win	Philadelphia, PA	9,000
January 3, 1939	Cornell	35-34	Win	Champaign, IL	8,500
January 7, 1939	Michigan	30–20	Win	Champaign, IL	6,553
January 9, 1939	Indiana	28–29	Loss	Champaign, IL	6,706
January 14, 1939	University of Chicago	43–33	Win	Chicago, IL	3,500
January 16, 1939	Ohio State	45–31	Win	Champaign, IL	6,846
January 21, 1939	Wisconsin	37-34	Win	Madison, WI	11,200
January 23, 1939	Minnesota	33–35	Loss	Minneapolis, MN	16,500
February 3, 1939	Notre Dame	24–38	Loss	Notre Dame, IN	5,500
February 6, 1939	Iowa	34–26	Win	Champaign, IL	6,000
February 11, 1939	Purdue	30–34	Loss	West Lafayette, IN	5,000
February 13, 1939	Michigan	35–28	Win	Ann Arbor, MI	4,000
February 20, 1939	Purdue	35–28	Win	Champaign, IL	6,900
February 25, 1939	Northwestern	34–36	Loss	Evanston, IL	5,000
February 27, 1939	University of Chicago	49–26	Win	Champaign, IL	6,500

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Awards and honors

Louis Dehner
- Madison Square Garden 1st team All-American
- Converse 3rd team All-American

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