1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Illini Classic, Champion BYU-Hawaii Classic, Champion
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, First Round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#11
AP	#11
1986–87 record	23–8 (13–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson
Assistant coach	Dick Nagy
Assistant coach	Jimmy Collins
Assistant coach	Mark Coomes
MVP	Ken Norman
Captain	Doug Altenberger Ken Norman Tony Wysinger
Home arena	Assembly Hall

	Conf				Overall
1986–87 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#3 Indiana	15	–	3	.833	30	–	4	.882
#7 Purdue	15	–	3	.833	25	–	5	.833
#6 Iowa	14	–	4	.778	30	–	5	.857
#11 Illinois	13	–	5	.722	23	–	8	.742
Michigan	10	–	8	.556	20	–	12	.625
Ohio State	9	–	9	.500	20	–	13	.606
Michigan State	6	–	12	.333	11	–	17	.393
Wisconsin	4	–	14	.222	14	–	17	.452
Minnesota	2	–	16	.111	9	–	19	.321
Northwestern	2	–	16	.111	7	–	21	.250

Rankings from AP Poll)

The 1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1986-87 season saw the addition of an outstanding group of young players to the roster. Guards Steve Bardo, Kendall Gill and Larry Smith joined forward Nick Anderson in a highly touted recruiting class. This group produced another 20-win season (23-8) and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, where Illinois was beaten 68-67 by Austin Peay in arguably the school’s most shocking upset.

This marked the first season in Big Ten Conference basketball history where two teams finished with 30 or more victories.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
10	Tony Wysinger (captain)	Peoria, Illinois	Peoria Central High School	Sr.	Guard
13	Kendall Gill	Matteson, Illinois	Rich Central High School	Fr.	Guard
21	Glynn Blackwell	Highland Park, Michigan	Highland Park Community High School	Jr.	Guard
22	Doug Altenberger (captain)	Peoria, Illinois	Richwoods High School	Sr.	Guard/Forward
25	Nick Anderson	Chicago, Illinois	Simeon High School	Fr.	Guard/Forward
31	Larry Smith	Alton, Illinois	Alton High School	Fr.	Guard
33	Ken Norman (captain)	Chicago, Illinois	Crane High School	Sr.	Forward
35	Stephen Bardo	Carbondale, Illinois	Carbondale Community High School	Fr.	Guard/Forward
40	Olaf Blab	Munich, West Germany	Charleston High School	So.	Center
42	Jim Green	Morton, Illinois	Academy of Our Lady/Spalding Institute	Sr.	Forward
43	Jeff Finke	Casey, Illinois	Casey-Westfield High School	Fr.	Forward
44	Phil Kunz	Carlyle, Illinois	Carlyle High School	Fr.	Forward
45	Lowell Hamilton	Chicago, Illinois	Providence St. Mel High School	So.	Forward
54	Jens Kujawa	Braunschweig, West Germany	Taylorville High School	So.	Center

Head Coach Lou Henson (12th year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance)
Regular Season
11/28/1986*	#14	vs. New Mexico State (BYU-Hawaii Classic)	W 67-65	1-0	BYU-Hawaii Campus (450)
11/29/1986*	#14	vs. Duke (BYU-Hawaii Classic)	W 69-62	2-0	BYU-Hawaii Campus (1,887)
12/4/1986*	#9	vs. Chicago State	W 92-78	3-0	Assembly Hall (13,986)
12/6/1986*	#9	@ #12 Pittsburgh	W 99-97	4-0	Civic Arena (6,689)
12/8/1986*	#9	vs. Eastern Illinois	W 85-51	5-0	Assembly Hall (13,578)
12/12/1986*	#6	vs. Baylor (Illini Classic)	W 92-68	6-0	Assembly Hall (13,922)
12/13/1986*	#6	vs. Princeton (Illini Classic)	W 81-55	7-0	Assembly Hall (14,543)
12/20/1986*	#5	@ #4 North Carolina	L 77-90	7-1	Dean Smith Center (21,444)
12/23/1986*	#9	vs. Missouri (Braggin' Rights)	W 92-74	8-1	St. Louis Arena (16,500)
12/27/1986*	#9	vs. Loyola (Chicago)	L 82-83	8-2	Alumni Gym (9,017)
1/3/1987	#16	vs. Michigan	W 95-84	9-2 (1-0)	Assembly Hall (16,468)
1/5/1987	#16	vs. Michigan State	W 79-72	10-2 (2-0)	Assembly Hall (13,672)
1/8/1987	#12	@ Wisconsin	W 68-66	11-2 (3-0)	Wisconsin Field House (8,054)
1/10/1987	#12	@ Northwestern	W 76-69	12-2 (4-0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)
1/14/1987	#8	vs. #2 Iowa	L 88-91 ^ot	12-3 (4-1)	Assembly Hall (16,666)
1/17/1987	#8	vs. Minnesota	W 80-58	13-3 (5-1)	Assembly Hall (13,814)
1/22/1987	#9	@ #5 Purdue	L 86-87 ^ot	13-4 (5-2)	Mackey Arena (14,123)
1/24/1987*	#9	vs. Arizona	W 82-63	14-4	Assembly Hall (15,884)
1/28/1987	#12	@ #4 Indiana	L 66-69	14-5 (5-3)	Assembly Hall (17,249)
1/31/1987*	#12	vs. Colorado	W 69-65	15-5	Assembly Hall (14,596)
2/2/1987	#12	@ Ohio State	W 93-70	16-5 (6-3)	St. John Arena (14,075)
2/5/1987	#14	vs. Northwestern	W 72-43	17-5 (7-3)	Assembly Hall (14,095)
2/7/1987	#14	vs. Wisconsin	W 99-74	18-5 (8-3)	Assembly Hall (16,682)
2/12/1987	#11	@ Minnesota	W 79-67	19-5 (9-3)	Williams Arena (11,183)
2/14/1987	#11	@ #4 Iowa	L 61-66	19-6 (9-4)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500)
2/23/1987	#14	vs. #6 Purdue	L 75-76 ^ot	19-7 (9-5)	Assembly Hall (16,667)
2/25/1987	#14	vs. Ohio State	W 93-70	20-7 (10-5)	Assembly Hall (14,075)
3/1/1987	#14	vs. #3 Indiana	W 69-67	21-7 (11-5)	Assembly Hall (16,793)
3/4/1987	#12	@ Michigan	W 89-75	22-7 (12-5)	Crisler Arena (13,145)
3/7/1987	#12	@ Michigan State	W 77-64	23-7 (13-5)	Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004)
NCAA Tournament
3/12/1987*	#11	vs. Austin Peay (NCAA Tournament)	L 67-68	23-8	BJCC (-)
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. ( ) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Three Pointers	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Ken Norman^[3]	31	256	1	128	303	68	48	37	641
Doug Altenberger^[4]	30	139	76	55	138	91	6	41	409
Tony Wysinger^[5]	30	128	28	54	56	192	2	40	338
Lowell Hamilton^[6]	31	149	0	36	121	28	31	24	334
Glynn Blackwell^[7]	31	120	6	61	106	64	4	31	307
Jens Kujawa^[8]	31	53	0	35	109	22	14	14	141
Stephen Bardo^[9]	31	42	1	34	92	85	15	23	119
Kendall Gill^[10]	31	40	0	34	42	27	8	39	114

NCAA basketball tournament

Southeast Regional
- Austin Peay 68, Illinois 67

^[11]

Awards and honors

Ken Norman
- Associated Press 2nd team All-American
- United States Basketball Writers Association 2nd team All-American
- National Association of Basketball Coaches 3rd team All-American
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[12]
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)

Kendall Gill
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	19	Ken Norman	Los Angeles Clippers
6	125	Doug Altenberger	Chicago Bulls

^[13]

Rankings

Main article: 1986–87 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