1979–80 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1979–80 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Illini Classic, Champion
Rainbow Classic, Champion[1]
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
1979–80 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
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

Schedule

Source[3]

Date
Time, TV
Opponent Result Record Site (Attendance)
City, State
Regular Season
11/30/1979*
no, no
BYU (#15) W 86-76  1-0
Marriott Center (23,042)
Provo, UT
12/4/1979*
no, no
Missouri
Show-Me Classic
L 66-67 OT 1-1
Assembly Hall (14,004)
Champaign, IL
12/6/1979*
no, no
Kent State W 74-65  2-1
Assembly Hall (13,090)
Champaign, IL
12/8/1979*
no, no
Long Beach State W 77-60  3-1
Assembly Hall (14,075)
Champaign, IL
12/10/1979*
no, no
TCU W 79-64  4-1
Daniel–Meyer Coliseum (4,110)
Fort Worth, TX
12/11/1979*
no, no
Missouri-St. Louis W 91-65  5-1
Assembly Hall (13,021)
Champaign, IL
12/14/1979*
no, no
Kentucky State
Illini Classic
W 94-65  6-1
Assembly Hall (14,363)
Champaign, IL
12/15/1979*
no, no
Illinois State
Illini Classic
W 47-40  7-1
Assembly Hall (16,257)
Champaign, IL
12/22/1979*
no, no
Marquette L 78-80  7-2
Assembly Hall (12,618)
Champaign, IL
12/28/1979*
no, no
Army
Rainbow Classic
W 75-48  8-2
Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-)
Honolulu, HI
12/29/1979*
no, no
Louisville (#12)
Rainbow Classic
W 77-64  9-2
Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-)
Honolulu, HI
12/30/1979*
no, no
Hawaii
Rainbow Classic
W 94-82  10-2
Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-)
Honolulu, HI
1/3/1980
no, no
Iowa (#10) L 71-72  10-3 (0-1)
Assembly Hall (10,839)
Champaign, IL
1/5/1980
no, no
Northwestern W 81-71  11-3 (1-1)
Assembly Hall (9,174)
Champaign, IL
1/10/1980
no, no
Purdue (#10) L 66-74  11-4 (1-2)
Mackey Arena (12,982)
West Lafayette, IN
1/12/1980
no, no
Minnesota L 75-79  11-5 (1-3)
Williams Arena (15,381)
Minneapolis, MN
1/17/1980
no, no
Michigan W 80-69  12-5 (2-3)
Assembly Hall (14,746)
Champaign, IL
1/19/1980
no, no
Wisconsin W 69-64  13-5 (3-3)
Wisconsin Field House (10,386)
Madison, WI
1/24/1980
no, no
Ohio State (#4) L 76-79  13-6 (3-4)
Assembly Hall (16,383)
Champaign, IL
1/26/1980
no, no
Michigan State W 74-65  14-6 (4-4)
Assembly Hall (16,490)
Champaign, IL
1/31/1980
no, no
Indiana (#18) W 54-60  14-7 (4-5)
Assembly Hall (16,723)
Bloomington, IN
2/2/1980
no, no
Michigan State L 59-68  14-8 (4-6)
Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004)
East Lansing, MI
2/7/1980
no, no
Wisconsin W 67-50  15-8 (5-6)
Assembly Hall (13,873)
Champaign, IL
2/9/1980
no, no
Indiana (#20) W 89-68  16-8 (6-6)
Assembly Hall (16,614)
Champaign, IL
2/14/1980
no, no
Michigan L 76-78  16-9 (6-7)
Crisler Center (9,738)
Ann Arbor, MI
2/16/1980
no, no
Ohio State (#9) L 57-71  16-10 (6-8)
St. John Arena (13,591)
Columbus, OH
2/21/1980
no, no
Minnesota W 60-58 OT 17-10 (7-8)
Assembly Hall (14,592)
Champaign, IL
2/23/1980
no, no
Purdue (#15) L 69-72  17-11 (7-9)
Assembly Hall (16,647)
Champaign, IL
2/28/1980
no, no
Northwestern W 90-66  18-11 (8-9)
Welsh-Ryan Arena (5,426)
Evanston, IL
3/1/1980
no, no
Iowa L 71-75  18-12 (8-10)
Iowa Field House (13,365)
Iowa City, IA
National Invitational Tournament
3/5/1980*
no, no
Loyola Chicago
National Invitational Tournament
W 105-87  19-12
Assembly Hall (13,326)
Champaign, IL
3/10/1980*
no, no
Illinois State
National Invitation Tournament
W 75-65  20-12
Assembly Hall (16,193)
Champaign, IL
3/13/1980*
no, no
Murray State
National Invitational Tournament
W 65-63  21-12
Assembly Hall (15,070)
Champaign, IL
3/17/1980*
no, no
Minnesota
National Invitational Tournament
L 63-65  21-13
Madison Square Garden (11,223)
New York, NY
3/19/1980*
no, no
UNLV
National Invitational Tournament
W 84-74  22-13
Madison Square Garden (-)
New York, NY
*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]352667831071713610
Mark Smith[5]35187161214951135535
Reno Gray[6]351315747109239319
James Griffin[7] 3511936154253918274
Perry Range[8]3590638564236243
Derek Holcomb[9] 317236164444615180
Neil Bresnahan[10] 356727121641114161
Rob Judson[11] 3159324447015150

National Invitation Tournament

[12]

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round Pick Player NBA Club
6 117 Neil BresnahanGolden State Warriors

[14]

References

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