1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
1939–40 record	14–6 (7-5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Douglas Mills
Assistant coach	Howie Braun
Assistant coach	Wally Roettger
Assistant coach	Ralph Fletcher David M. Bullock (Trainer)^[1]
Captain	William Hapac
Home arena	Huff Hall

1939–40 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Purdue	10	–	2	.833	16	–	4	.800
Indiana	9	–	3	.750	20	–	3	.870
Ohio State	8	–	4	.667	13	–	7	.650
Illinois	7	–	5	.583	14	–	6	.700
Northwestern	7	–	5	.583	13	–	7	.650
Michigan	6	–	6	.500	13	–	7	.650
Minnesota	5	–	7	.417	12	–	8	.600
Iowa	4	–	8	.333	9	–	12	.429
Wisconsin	3	–	9	.250	5	–	15	.250
Chicago	1	–	11	.083	5	–	15	.250

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Doug Mills entered his fourth year as the head coach of the Fighting Illini with high hopes as well as a player with national prominence. William "Bill" Hapac was the program's first consensus first-team All-American as recognized by the NCAA. During the 1939-40 season, he became the first-ever recipient of the University of Illinois Athlete of the Year award. Hapac set the Big Ten single-game scoring record on February 10, 1940, with 34 points vs. Minnesota, a point total unheard of at that time. In addition to his success on the hardwood, Hapac also was a three-year letterwinner for the Illini baseball team. During the season, the Illini won 10 of their 11 home games only losing to conference rival Purdue on the last game of the season. Unfortunately for the Illini they finished with a 4-5 record on the road to finish in a fourth place tie overall in conference action. Mills' team featured 9 returning letterman including team captain William Hapac. The Illini also featured a starting lineup of John Drish at the center position and Harold Shapiro, Joe Frank, and William Hapac at forward and Victor Wukovits and future major league baseball player Walter Evers at the guard spot.^[2]

Team

No.	Player	Position	Class	Hometown
3	Colin Handlon	Guard	Senior	Connersville, Indiana
4	Henry Sachs	Guard	Sophomore	Chicago, Illinois
5	Walter Evers	Forward	Sophomore	Collinsville, Illinois
6	Robert O'Neill	Center	Junior	Pitman, New Jersey
8	Harry Lasater	Guard	Junior	Fairfield, Illinois
9	J. Frederick Townshend	Center	Sophomore
10	Norman Cusick	Forward	Sophomore	Chicago Heights, Illinois
12	Robert Richmond	Guard	Junior	Johnston City, IL
13	Victor Wukovits	Center	Sophomore	Mishawaka, Indiana
14	Howard Cronk	Guard	Junior	Anderson, Indiana
15	Rex Sherman	Forward	Sophomore	Pekin, Illinois
16	William Hocking	Guard	Sophomore	Evanston, Illinois
17	Joe Frank	Forward	Senior	Urbana, Illinois
18	Kenneth Brown	Guard	Freshman	Catlin, Illinois
19	William Hapac (captain)	Forward	Senior	Cicero, Illinois
20	Harold Shapiro	Guard	Junior	Chicago, Illinois
21	John Drish	Forward	Junior	Evanston, Illinois
22	Scott Gill	Forward	Sophomore
24	David Miller	Forward	Sophomore	Taylorville, Illinois
28	Leonard Sharp	Forward	Sophomore	Kewanee, Illinois
29	Darold Staley	Forward	Sophomore
30	Paul Milosevich	Forward	Sophomore	Zeigler, Illinois

Head Coach: Douglas Mills (4th year at Illinois)

^[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
December 6, 1939	Monmouth (IL)	37–19	Win	Champaign, IL	4,346
December 6, 1939	Wabash	60–21	Win	Champaign, IL	4,346
December 15, 1939	Carleton	46–15	Win	Champaign, IL	4,164
December 18, 1939	Princeton	41–25	Win	Champaign, IL	4,346
December 27, 1939	Notre Dame	42–29	Win	Champaign, IL	3,747
December 29, 1939	Drake	35-34	Win	Des Moines, IA	-
January 1, 1940	Butler	37–18	Win	Indianapolis, IN	4,000
January 6, 1940	Indiana	36–38	Loss	Bloomington, IN	6,000
January 8, 1940	University of Chicago	34–33	Win	Champaign, IL	5,200
January 13, 1940	Ohio State	31–37	Loss	Columbus, OH	4,046
January 15, 1940	Michigan	48–43	Win	Ann Arbor, MI	4,500
February 3, 1940	Notre Dame	40–58	Loss	Notre Dame, IN	5,500
February 10, 1934	Minnesota	60–31	Win	Champaign, IL	5,402
February 12, 1940	Northwestern	35–33	Win	Champaign, IL	5,400
February 17, 1940	Purdue	27–33	Loss	West Lafayette, IN	8,800
February 19, 1940	Wisconsin	37-35	Win	Champaign, IL	5,400
February 24, 1940	Michigan	51–28	Win	Champaign, IL	5,692
February 26, 1940	University of Chicago	42–40	Win	Chicago, IL	3,500
March 2, 1940	Iowa	47–62	Loss	Iowa City, IA	7,000
March 4, 1940	Purdue	31–34	Loss	Champaign, IL	7,172

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
William Hapac	18	95	54	244
Walter Evers	17	40	33	113
Victor Wukovits	19	32	28	92
Colin Handlon	19	23	23	69
Joe Frank	19	25	10	60
John Drish	18	20	7	47
Harold Shapiro	15	17	5	39
William Hocking	13	13	9	35
Henry Sachs	18	15	2	32
Robert Richmond	10	10	9	29
Robert O'Neill	10	10	6	26
Howard Cronk	10	3	2	8
Rex Sherman	4	3	0	6
Paul Milosevich	1	1	1	3
Scott Gill	1	1	1	3
Frederick Townshend	4	1	1	3
Norman Cusick	1	1	0	2
Kenneth Brown	1	1	0	2
Edward Evers	5	0	2	2
Harry Lasater	5	1	0	2
Leonard Sharp	1	0	1	1

^[4]

Awards and honors

William Hapac
- Helms 1st team All-American (Consensus)
- Converse 1st team All-American

References

↑ National Athletic Trainer Association
↑ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
↑ All-Time Illini Rosters
↑ Season Stats

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)
Rivalries	Indiana 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 2016–17 2017–18
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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