1979–80 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1979–80 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Illini Classic, Champion Rainbow Classic, Champion^[1]
National Invitation Tournament, Third Place
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#Not ranked
AP	#Not ranked
1979–80 record	22–13 (8–10 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson
Assistant coach	Tony Yates
Assistant coach	Dick Nagy
Assistant coach	Larry Lubin
MVP	Eddie Johnson
Captain	Levi Cobb
Home arena	Assembly Hall

	Conf				Overall
1979–80 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#7 Indiana	13	–	5	.722	21	–	8	.724
#10 Ohio State	12	–	6	.667	21	–	8	.724
#20 Purdue	11	–	7	.611	23	–	10	.697
Iowa	10	–	8	.556	23	–	10	.697
Minnesota	10	–	8	.556	21	–	11	.656
Illinois	8	–	10	.444	22	–	13	.629
Michigan	8	–	10	.444	17	–	13	.567
Wisconsin	7	–	11	.389	15	–	14	.517
Michigan State	6	–	12	.333	12	–	15	.444
Northwestern	5	–	13	.278	10	–	17	.370

Rankings from AP Poll)

The 1979–80 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

For the 1979-80 season, head coach Lou Henson returned everyone from a team that finished with 19 wins. The team gave the head coach his first of 11, 20-win seasons at Illinois. That year, Illinois made its first postseason appearance since 1963, finishing third in the NIT. During the course of the season, the Illini would defeat eventual NCAA Tournament Champion, Louisville

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
10	Reno Gray	Chicago, Illinois	Hales Franciscan High School	Sr.	Guard
12	Kevin Westervelt	Peoria, Illinois	Richwoods High School	Sr.	Guard
13	James Griffin	Grandview, Texas	Dunbar High School	So.	Center
20	Kevin Bontemps	Morton, Illinois	Morton High School	Fr.	Guard
21	Quinn Richardson	Robbins, Illinois	Eisenhower High School	Fr.	Guard
22	Perry Range	South Beloit, Illinois	South Beloit High School	So.	Guard
30	Rob Judson	Zion, Illinois	Zion-Benton High School	Sr.	Guard
31	Neil Bresnahan (co-captain)	Oak Park, Illinois	Fenwick High School	Sr.	Forward
32	Levi Cobb (co-captain)	Chicago, Illinois	Morgan Park High School	Sr.	Forward
33	Eddie Johnson	Chicago, Illinois	Westinghouse High School	Jr.	Forward
42	Mark Smith	Peoria, Illinois	Richwoods High School	Jr.	Forward
43	Bryan Leonard	Belleville, Illinois	Belleville High School-East	So.	Forward
44	Derek Holcomb	Peoria, Illinois	Richwoods High School	Jr.	Center

Head Coach Lou Henson (5th year at Illinois)^[2]

Schedule

Source^[3]

Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (Attendance)
Regular Season
11/30/1979*	BYU (#15)	W 86-76	1-0	Marriott Center (23,042)
12/4/1979*	Missouri (Show-Me Classic)	L 66-67 ^OT	1-1	Assembly Hall (14,004)
12/6/1979*	Kent State	W 74-65	2-1	Assembly Hall (13,090)
12/8/1979*	Long Beach State	W 77-60	3-1	Assembly Hall (14,075)
12/10/1979*	TCU	W 79-64	4-1	Daniel–Meyer Coliseum (4,110)
12/11/1979*	Missouri-St. Louis	W 91-65	5-1	Assembly Hall (13,021)
12/14/1979*	Kentucky State (Illini Classic)	W 94-65	6-1	Assembly Hall (14,363)
12/15/1979*	Illinois State (Illini Classic)	W 47-40	7-1	Assembly Hall (16,257)
12/22/1979*	Marquette	L 78-80	7-2	Assembly Hall (12,618)
12/28/1979*	Army (Rainbow Classic)	W 75-48	8-2	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-)
12/29/1979*	Louisville (#12) (Rainbow Classic)	W 77-64	9-2	{{{site_stadium}}} (-)
12/30/1979*	Hawaii (Rainbow Classic)	W 94-82	10-2	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-)
1/3/1980	Iowa (#10)	L 71-72	10-3 (0-1)	Assembly Hall (10,839)
1/5/1980	Northwestern	W 81-71	11-3 (1-1)	Assembly Hall (9,174)
1/10/1980	Purdue (#10)	L 66-74	11-4 (1-2)	Mackey Arena (12,982)
1/12/1980	Minnesota	L 75-79	11-5 (1-3)	Williams Arena (15,381)
1/17/1980	Michigan	W 80-69	12-5 (2-3)	Assembly Hall (14,746)
1/19/1980	Wisconsin	W 69-64	13-5 (3-3)	Wisconsin Field House (10,386)
1/24/1980	Ohio State (#4)	L 76-79	13-6 (3-4)	Assembly Hall (16,383)
1/26/1980	Michigan State	W 74-65	14-6 (4-4)	Assembly Hall (16,490)
1/31/1980	Indiana (#18)	W 54-60	14-7 (4-5)	Assembly Hall (16,723)
2/2/1980	Michigan State	L 59-68	14-8 (4-6)	Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004)
2/7/1980	Wisconsin	W 67-50	15-8 (5-6)	Assembly Hall (13,873)
2/9/1980	Indiana (#20)	W 89-68	16-8 (6-6)	Assembly Hall (16,614)
2/14/1980	Michigan	L 76-78	16-9 (6-7)	Crisler Center (9,738)
2/16/1980	Ohio State (#9)	L 57-71	16-10 (6-8)	St. John Arena (13,591)
2/21/1980	Minnesota	W 60-58 ^OT	17-10 (7-8)	Assembly Hall (14,592)
2/23/1980	Purdue (#15)	L 69-72	17-11 (7-9)	Assembly Hall (16,647)
2/28/1980	Northwestern	W 90-66	18-11 (8-9)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (5,426)
3/1/1980	Iowa	L 71-75	18-12 (8-10)	Iowa Field House (13,365)
National Invitational Tournament
3/5/1980*	Loyola Chicago (National Invitational Tournament)	W 105-87	19-12	Assembly Hall (13,326)
3/10/1980*	Illinois State (National Invitation Tournament)	W 75-65	20-12	Assembly Hall (16,193)
3/13/1980*	Murray State (National Invitational Tournament)	W 65-63	21-12	Assembly Hall (15,070)
3/17/1980*	Minnesota (National Invitational Tournament)	L 63-65	21-13	Madison Square Garden (11,223)
3/19/1980*	UNLV (National Invitational Tournament)	W 84-74	22-13	Madison Square Garden (-)
*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	Blocks	Steals	Points
Eddie Johnson^[4]	35	266	78	310	71	7	13	610
Mark Smith^[5]	35	187	161	214	95	11	35	535
Reno Gray^[6]	35	131	57	47	109	2	39	319
James Griffin^[7]	35	119	36	154	25	39	18	274
Perry Range^[8]	35	90	63	85	64	2	36	243
Derek Holcomb^[9]	31	72	36	164	44	46	15	180
Neil Bresnahan^[10]	35	67	27	121	64	11	14	161
Rob Judson^[11]	31	59	32	44	47	0	15	150

National Invitation Tournament

First Round
- Illinois 105, Loyola 87
Second Round
- Illinois 75, Illinois State 65
Quarterfinal
- Illinois 65, Murray State 63
Semifinal
- Minnesota 65, Illinois 63
Third Place Game
- Illinois 84, UNLV 74

^[12]

Awards and honors

Eddie Johnson
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
- Team Most Valuable Player^[13]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
6	117	Neil Bresnahan	Golden State Warriors

^[14]

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