1974–75 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1974–75 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#Not ranked
AP	#Not ranked
1974–75 record	8–18 (4–14 Big Ten)
Head coach	Gene Bartow
Assistant coach	Tony Yates
Assistant coach	Leroy Hunt
MVP	Rick Schmidt
Captain	Rick Schmidt
Home arena	Assembly Hall

	Conf				Overall
1974–75 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#3 Indiana	18	–	0	1.000	31	–	1	.969
#19 Michigan	12	–	6	.667	19	–	8	.704
Minnesota	11	–	7	.611	18	–	8	.692
Purdue	11	–	7	.611	17	–	11	.607
Michigan State	10	–	8	.556	17	–	9	.654
Ohio State	8	–	10	.444	14	–	14	.500
Iowa	7	–	11	.389	10	–	16	.385
Wisconsin	5	–	13	.278	8	–	18	.308
Illinois	4	–	14	.222	8	–	18	.308
Northwestern	4	–	14	.222	6	–	20	.231

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1974–75 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Illinois finished ninth in the Big Ten going went 8-18 overall. Gene Bartow took over the team as head coach. Brought to Illinois to continue the magical rebuilding jobs he had undertaken at Valparaiso and Memphis State, Gene Bartow was counted on by Athletic Director Cecil Coleman to restore the successful level of play fans had become accustomed to in the past few decades. However, Bartow’s stay in Champaign was short-lived, lasting only one year. The lure away from Illinois was a strong one for Bartow; he was hired away by UCLA to replace legendary Bruin coach John Wooden.

This marked the first time that a Big Ten school would finish with a record of 30 or more wins.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
10	Nate Williams	Chicago, Illinois	Crane High School	Jr.	Guard
11	Dave Roberts	Broadview, Illinois	Proviso East High School	Sr.	Guard
15	Tom Carmichael	Rochelle, Illinois	Rochelle Township High School	Sr.	Forward/Center
20	Dennis Graff	Gibson City, Illinois	Gibson City High School	Jr.	Guard
22	Howie Johnson	Marshall, Illinois	Marshall High School	So.	Guard
24	Tom Gerhardt	Chicago, Illinois	De La Salle High School	So.	Forward
32	Rick Schmidt	Royal, Illinois	St. Joseph-Ogden High School	Sr.	Forward
33	Otho Tucker	Paris, Illinois	Paris High School	Sr.	Guard
34	Rick Leighty	Lawrenceville, Illinois	Lawrenceville High School	Fr.	Forward
40	Rich Adams	Cincinnati, Ohio	Colerain High School	Fr.	Forward
41	Dave Smith	Clarendon Hills, Illinois	Hinsdale Central High School	Jr.	Forward/Center
42	Tim Bushell	Lincoln, Illinois	Lincoln Community High School	So.	Forward/Guard
43	Brad Farnham	Paris, Illinois	Paris High School	So..	Forward
44	Audie Matthews	Chicago Heights, Illinois	Bloom High School	Fr.	Forward/Guard
53	Bill Rucks	Waukegan, Illinois	Waukegan High School	Jr.	Forward
54	Mike Washington	Chicago Heights, Illinois	Morgan Park High School	Jr.	Forward

Head Coach Gene Bartow (1st year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (Attendance)
12/3/1974*	vs. Valparaiso	W 69-58	1 - 0	Assembly Hall (5,990)
12/7/1974*	vs. DePauw	W 96-53	2 - 0	Assembly Hall (6,912)
12/9/1974*	@ Iowa State	W 77-71	3 - 0	Hilton Coliseum (7,500)
12/13/1974*	vs. #17 Arizona (Fiesta Bowl Classic)	L 66-78	3 - 1	McKale Center (11,574)
12/14/1974*	vs. Arizona State (Fiesta Bowl Classic)	L 69-91	3 - 2	Wells Fargo Arena (8,136)
12/27/1974*	vs. Stanford (Lobo Invitational Tournament)	L 76-89	3 - 3	The Pit (14,163)
12/28/1974*	vs. Army (Lobo Invitational Tournament)	W 79-70	4 - 3	The Pit (14,831)
1/2/1975	vs. #17 Michigan	L 84-86 ^2OT	4 - 4 ( 0 - 1 )	Assembly Hall (6,608)
1/4/1975	@ Iowa	L 70-95	4 - 5 ( 0 - 2 )	Iowa Field House (9,800)
1/6/1975	@ Minnesota	L 47-75	4 - 6 ( 0 - 3 )	Williams Arena (17,573)
1/11/1975	vs. Northwestern	W 64-60	5 - 6 ( 1 - 3 )	Assembly Hall (6,009)
1/13/1975	vs. Wisconsin	W 72-56	6 - 6 ( 2 - 3 )	Assembly Hall (6,117)
1/18/1975	vs. Purdue	L 67-86	6 - 7 ( 2 - 4 )	Assembly Hall (9,493)
1/23/1975*	vs. Tulane	L 69-81	6 - 8	Assembly Hall (7,107)
1/25/1975	@ Ohio State	W 66-62	7 - 8 ( 3 - 4 )	St. John Arena (8,778)
1/27/1975	@ #1 Indiana	L 57-73	7 - 9 ( 3 - 5 )	Assembly Hall (17,581)
2/1/1975	vs. Michigan State	L 60-75	7 - 10 ( 3 - 6 )	Assembly Hall (8,327)
2/3/1975	vs. Minnesota	L 50-56	7 - 11 ( 3 - 7 )	Assembly Hall (7,720)
2/8/1975	@ Northwestern	L 47-51	7 - 12 ( 3 - 8 )	Welsh-Ryan Arena (4,007)
2/10/1975	@ Wisconsin	L 70-76	7 - 13 ( 3 - 9 )	Wisconsin Field House (4,492)
2/15/1975	@ Purdue	L 91-114	7 - 14 ( 3 - 10 )	Mackey Arena (13,936)
2/22/1975	vs. Ohio State	W 83-78 ^OT	8 - 14 ( 4 - 10 )	Assembly Hall (9,192)
2/24/1975	vs. #1 Indiana	L 89-112	8 - 15 ( 4 - 11 )	Assembly Hall (14,127)
3/1/1975	@ Michigan State	L 82-96	8 - 16 ( 4 - 12 )	Jenison Fieldhouse (4,851)
3/3/1975	@ Michigan	L 75-77	8 - 17 ( 4 - 13 )	Crisler Center (6,309)
3/8/1975	vs. Iowa	L 70-73	8 - 18 ( 4 - 14 )	Assembly Hall (9,171)
*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	Assists	Points
Rick Schmidt^[3]	26	190	144	139	73	524
Otho Tucker^[4]	24	114	54	78	72	282
Nate Williams^[5]	24	107	42	55	71	256
Mike Washington^[6]	26	84	38	126	27	206
Rich Adams^[7]	26	50	33	107	19	133
Tom Carmichael^[8]	26	54	23	127	31	131
Audi Matthews^[9]	26	41	18	87	19	100

Awards and honors

Rick Schmidt
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[10]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
6	91	Rick Schmidt	New Orleans Jazz

^[11]

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