1984–85 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1984–85 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Illini Classic, Champion
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#10
AP	#12
1984–85 record	26–9 (12–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson
Assistant coach	Dick Nagy
Assistant coach	Jimmy Collins
Assistant coach	Bob Hull
MVP	Doug Altenberger
Captain	George Montgomery
Home arena	Assembly Hall

	Conf				Overall
1984–85 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#2 Michigan	16	–	2	.889	26	–	4	.867
#12 Illinois	12	–	6	.667	26	–	9	.743
Purdue	11	–	7	.611	20	–	9	.690
Ohio State	11	–	7	.611	20	–	10	.667
Iowa	10	–	8	.556	21	–	11	.656
Michigan State	10	–	8	.556	19	–	10	.655
Indiana	7	–	11	.389	19	–	14	.576
Minnesota	6	–	12	.333	13	–	15	.464
Wisconsin	5	–	13	.278	14	–	14	.500
Northwestern	2	–	16	.111	6	–	22	.214

Rankings from AP Poll)

The 1984–85 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illiniois.

Regular season

The Illini started out the 1984-85 season ranked No. 1 nationally by Basketball Times in its preseason poll. Illinois made a return trip to the NCAA Tournament where the Illini advanced to the Sweet 16.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
4	Scott Haftner	Noblesville, Indiana	Noblesville High School	Fr.	Guard
10	Tony Wysinger	Peoria, Illinois	Peoria Central High School	So.	Guard
21	Glynn Blackwell	Highland Park, Michigan	Highland Park Community High School	Fr.	Guard
22	Doug Altenberger	Peoria, Illinois	Richwoods High School	Jr.	Guard
23	George Montgomery (captain)	Chicago, Illinois	Corliss High School	Sr.	Center
24	Efrem Winters	Chicago, Illinois	King High School	Jr.	Forward
25	Bruce Douglas	Quincy, Illinois	Quincy Senior High School	Jr.	Guard
30	Scott Meents	Kankakee, Illinois	Herscher High School	Jr.	Forward/Center
33	Ken Norman	Chicago, Illinois	Crane High School	So.	Forward
34	Dee Maras	Antioch, Illinois	Antioch Community High School	Sr.	Forward
35	Reggie Woodward	Chicago, Illinois	King High School	Jr.	Guard
40	Olaf Blab	Munich, West Germany	Charleston High School	Fr.	Center
44	Anthony Welch	Grand Rapids, Michigan	Creston High School	Jr.	Forward
54	Jens Kujawa	Braunschweig, West Germany	Taylorville High School	Fr.	Center

Head Coach Lou Henson (10th year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance)
Regular Season
11/18/1984*	#2	vs. #5 Oklahoma (Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic)	W 81-64	1-0	Hall of Fame (7,530)
11/23/1984*	#2	vs. Idaho State (Great Alaska Shootout)	W 66-44	2-0	Sullivan Arena (2,863)
11/24/1984*	#2	vs. Alabama-Birmingham (Great Alaska Shootout)	L 52-59	2-1	Sullivan Arena (4,500)
11/25/1984*	#2	vs. Oregon (Great Alaska Shootout)	W 75-72 ^3ot	3-1	Sullivan Arena (4,500)
11/28/1984*	#7	vs. Chicago State	W 81-63	4-1	Assembly Hall (14,543)
12/1/1984*	#7	vs. #10 Oklahoma	W 73-70	5-1	Assembly Hall (16,671)
12/4/1984*	#7	vs. Cal State-Chico	W 92-47	6-1	Assembly Hall (14,046)
12/6/1984*	#7	vs. Missouri (Braggin' Rights)	W 65-50	7-1	St. Louis Arena (12,946)
12/7/1984*	#7	vs. Columbia (Illini Classic)	W 72-48	8-1	Assembly Hall (14,989)
12/8/1984*	#7	vs. New Mexico State (Illini Classic)	W 93-55	9-1	Assembly Hall (15,789)
12/16/1984*	#6	vs. South Carolina State	W 83-47	10-1	Assembly Hall (14,026)
12/18/1984*	#4	vs. Cincinnati	W 87-65	11-1	Rosemont Horizon (5,910)
12/22/1984*	#4	vs. Loyola (Chicago)	L 62-63	11-2	Rosemont Horizon (15,882)
1/3/1985	#6	@ Minnesota	L 58-60	11-3 (0-1)	Williams Arena (14,532)
1/5/1985	#6	@ Iowa	L 60-64	11-4 (0-2)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,450)
1/10/1985	#15	vs. Michigan	W 64-58 ^ot	12-4 (1-2)	Assembly Hall (13,801)
1/12/1985	#15	vs. #17 Michigan State	W 75-63	13-4 (2-2)	Assembly Hall (16,545)
1/17/1985	#11	@ Wisconsin	W 78-67	14-4 (3-2)	Wisconsin Field House (9,448)
1/19/1985	#11	@ Northwestern	W 55-43	15-4 (4-2)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)
1/23/1985	#6	vs. Ohio State	W 84-66	16-4 (5-2)	Assembly Hall (15,906)
1/27/1985	#6	vs. #13 Indiana	W 52-41	17-4 (6-2)	Assembly Hall (16,764)
1/30/1985	#5	@ Purdue	L 34-54	17-5 (6-3)	Mackey Arena (14,123)
2/3/1985*	#5	@ Houston	W 77-76	18-5	Hofheinz Pavilion (7,000)
2/7/1985	#9	@ Michigan State	L 56-64	18-6 (6-4)	Jenison Fieldhouse (9,691)
2/9/1985	#9	@ #8 Michigan	L 45-57	18-7 (6-5)	Crisler Arena (13,609)
2/14/1985	#17	vs. Northwestern	W 64-42	19-7 (7-5)	Assembly Hall (15,841)
2/16/1985	#17	vs. Wisconsin	W 68-49	20-7 (8-5)	Assembly Hall (16,618)
2/21/1985	#16	@ Indiana	W 66-50	21-7 (9-5)	Assembly Hall (16,823)
2/23/1985	#16	@ Ohio State	L 64-72	21-8 (9-6)	St. John Arena (13,681)
3/2/1985	#18	vs. Purdue	W 86-43	22-8 (10-6)	Assembly Hall (16,648)
3/7/1985	#14	vs. Iowa	W 59-53 ^ot	23-8 (11-6)	Assembly Hall (16,742)
3/9/1985	#14	vs. Minnesota	W 82-56	24-8 (12-6)	Assembly Hall (16,617)
NCAA Tournament
3/15/1985*	#12	vs. Northeastern (NCAA Tournament)	W 76-57	25-8	Omni Coliseum (14,311)
3/17/1985*	#12	vs. #19 Georgia (NCAA Tournament)	W 74-58	26-8	Omni Coliseum (16,723)
3/21/1985*	#12	vs. #6 Georgia Tech (NCAA Tournament)	L 53-61	26-9	Providence Civic Center (11,913)
*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
Anthony Welch^[3]	35	182	51	189	51	9	26	415
Doug Altenberger^[4]	35	162	70	126	67	14	38	394
Efrem Winters^[5]	35	137	76	252	49	32	33	350
Bruce Douglas^[6]	35	118	42	107	200	6	85	278
George Montgomery^[7]	23	86	64	168	39	6	21	236
Ken Norman^[8]	29	86	55	107	26	16	9	227
Scott Meents^[9]	35	84	25	111	87	24	16	193
Tony Wysinger^[10]	35	48	38	32	64	1	16	134

NCAA basketball tournament

East
- Illinois 76, Northeastern 57
- Illinois 74, Georgia 58
Regional Semifinals
- Georgia Tech 61, Illinois 53

^[11]

Awards and honors

Bruce Douglas
- Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Ken Norman
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Doug Altenberger
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[12]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA club
1985	2	39	George Montgomery	Portland Trail Blazers

^[13]

Rankings

Main article: 1984–85 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

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