1965–66 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1965–66 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#Not Ranked
AP	#Not Ranked
1965–66 record	12–12 (8–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harry Combes
Assistant coach	Howie Braun
Assistant coach	Jim Wright
MVP	Don Freeman
Captain	Don Freeman
Home arena	Assembly Hall

	Conf				Overall
1965–66 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#9 Michigan	11	–	3	.786	18	–	8	.692
Michigan State	10	–	4	.714	15	–	7	.682
Iowa	8	–	6	.571	17	–	7	.708
Illinois	8	–	6	.571	12	–	12	.500
Minnesota	7	–	7	.500	14	–	10	.583
Northwestern	7	–	7	.500	12	–	12	.500
Wisconsin	6	–	8	.429	11	–	13	.458
Ohio State	5	–	9	.357	11	–	13	.458
Indiana	4	–	10	.286	8	–	16	.333
Purdue	4	–	10	.286	8	–	16	.333

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1965–66 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Harry Combes entered his 19th season as the head coach of the Fighting Illini. The program was heading in a positive direction with six up-and-coming sophomores joining a varsity team that already included five juniors and five seniors. This balance was demonstrated within the starting lineup which included a rotation of two sophomores, two juniors and two seniors. The starters included, Don Freeman and Rich Jones as forwards, Preston Pearson and Bob Brown as guards, and Ron Dunlap at center.

It was during this season that Freeman would mark his place in Illini history by setting a record for most points in a season (668), while averaging 27.8 points per game. When he finished at Illinois, he had totaled 1449 points and averaged 20.1 points and 10.3 rebounds per game over his three varsity seasons. This offensive output led to Freeman being named a 1st-team All-American by the Helms Foundation, a 2nd-team All-American by Converse and Basketball News, and honorable mention with UPI,

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
10	John Prescott	Lake Forest, Illinois	Lake Forest High School	So.	Forward
11	Benny Louis	Pinckneyville, Illinois	Pinckneyville Community High School	So.	Guard
12	Greg Wright	Glenwood, Illinois	Homewood-Flossmoor High School	So.	Guard
14	Jerry Mettille	Morris, Illinois	Morris Community High School	Jr.	Guard/Forward
15	Don Freeman	Madison, Illinois	Madison High School	Sr.	Forward
20	Rich Crusius	Bloomington, Illinois	Bloomington High School	So.	Forward
21	Bob Johansen	Geneva, Illinois	Geneva High School	Jr.	Forward
24	Jim Dawson	Elmhurst, Illinois	York High School	Jr.	Guard
25	Preston Pearson	Freeport, Illinois	Freeport High School	Jr.	Guard
30	Deon Flessner	Fithian, Illinois	St. Joseph-Ogden High School	Jr.	Forward
33	Rich Jones	Memphis, Tennessee	Lester High School	So.	Forward
35	Ron Dunlap	Chicago, Illinois	Farragut Academy	So.	Center
40	Bob Brown	West Frankfort, Illinois	West Frankfort High School	Sr.	Forward/Guard
43	Larry Hinton	Shelbyville, Illinois	Shelbyville High School	Sr.	Guard
44	Mike Graville	Madison, Illinois	Madison High School	Sr.	Guard
54	Dan Lee	Attica, Indiana	Attica High School	Sr.	Guard

Head Coach Harry Combes (19th year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (Attendance)
12/1/1965*	vs.Butler	W 88-74	1-0	Assembly Hall (9,167)
12/3/1965*	@ BYU	L 98-109	1-1	Marriott Center (11,488)
12/4/1965*	@ #1 UCLA	L 79-97	1-2	Pauley Pavilion (12,365)
12/8/1965*	vs. Kentucky	L 68-86	1-3	Assembly Hall (7,966)
12/11/1965*	vs. West Virginia	W 96-86	2-3	Assembly Hall (6,251)
12/14/1965	@ Wisconsin	W 90-70	3-3 (1-0)	Wisconsin Field House (8,206)
12/18/1965*	vs. Princeton	L 81-84	3-4	Chicago Stadium (6,038)
12/27/1965*	vs. Georgetown (ECAC Holiday Festival)	W 96-94	4-4	Madison Square Garden (8,757)
12/28/1965*	vs. #10 Providence (ECAC Holiday Festival)	L 79-81	4-5	Madison Square Garden (12,239)
12/30/1965*	vs. Army (ECAC Holiday Festival)	L 69-78	4-6	Madison Square Garden (18,499)
1/8/1966	@ Indiana	W 98-84	5-6 (2-0)	Assembly Hall (7,502)
1/11/1966	vs. Wisconsin	W 80-64	6-6 (3-0)	Assembly Hall (6,127)
1/15/1966	@ Purdue	L 87-93	6-7 (3-1)	Mackey Arena (8,936)
1/28/1966*	vs. Notre Dame	W 102-92	7-7	Chicago Stadium (18,183)
2/1/1966	@ #4 Michigan	W 99-93	8-7 (4-1)	Crisler Arena (9,544)
2/5/1966	vs. Ohio State	W 78-77	9-7 (5-1)	Assembly Hall (9,838)
2/7/1966	vs. Northwestern	L 77-80	9-8 (5-2)	Assembly Hall (7,695)
2/12/1966	vs. Indiana	L 77-81	9-9 (5-3)	Assembly Hall (8,175)
2/19/1966	vs. Minnesota	W 100-89	10-9 (6-3)	Assembly Hall (8,643)
2/22/1966	@ Michigan State	L 66-68	10-10 (6-4)	Jenison Fieldhouse (10,484)
2/26/1966	@ Minnesota	L 92-94	10-11 (6-5)	Williams Arena (7,340)
2/28/1966	vs. Purdue	W 98-81	11-11 (7-5)	Assembly Hall (6,207)
3/5/1966	vs. Iowa	W 106-90	12-11 (8-5)	Assembly Hall (9,592)
3/7/1966	@ Northwestern	L 76-84	12-12 (8-6)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (4,800)
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. ( ) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Points
Don Freeman^[3]	24	258	152	285	668
Rich Jones^[4]	24	206	96	265	508
Jim Dawson^[5]	24	163	42	100	368
Deon Flessner^[6]	24	48	38	127	134
Bob Brown^[7]	15	44	24	42	112
Preston Pearson^[8]	22	38	30	68	106
Ron Dunlap^[9]	23	28	32	109	88
Bob Johansen^[10]	20	27	11	37	65
Larry Hinton^[11]	20	12	7	13	31
Benny Louis^[12]	15	4	4	12	12
Jerry Mettile^[13]	6	2	2	2	6

Awards and honors

Don Freeman
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[14]
- 1st team All-American (Helms)
- 2nd team All-American (Converse)
- 2nd team All-American (Basketball News)
- Honorable Mention All-American (UPI)
Rich Jones
- Honorable Mention All-American (Converse)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
3	9	Don Freeman	Philadelphia 76ers

^[15]

References

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