1963–64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team American college basketball season
The 1963–64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.
Regular season
The 1963-64 Fighting Illini basketball team, playing in their first full season in Assembly Hall , dropped back from its previous championship season with a losing finish in the Big Ten and a mediocre overall record. Head coach Harry Combes guided the Illini to a 10-3 record after the first 13 games of the season only to see the team reverse trends and go 3-8 the rest of the way. Once again the Illini played in a mid-season tournament, playing in the Los Angeles Basketball Classic . During the tournament the Illini would face eventual national champion, UCLA .
The 1963-64 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer and team "MVP" Skip Thoren . It also saw the return of team captain Bill Edwards , juniors Tal Brody , Bogie Redmon, Bill McKeown as well as sophomores Don Freeman , Jim Vopicka and Larry Hinton to their lineup. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 6 wins and 8 losses, finishing in a 6th place tie in the Big Ten . They would finish with an overall record of 13 wins and 11 losses. The starting lineup included Skip Thoren at the center position, Tal Brody and Jim Vopicka at guard and Don Freeman and Bogie Redmon at the forward slots.[ 1]
Roster
1963–64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players
Coaches
Pos.
#
Name
Height
Weight
Year
Previous school
Hometown
F 10
Larry Bauer 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 207 lb (94 kg)
Jr Springfield High School
Springfield, Illinois
G 11
Bob Meadows 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) 157 lb (71 kg)
Jr Collinsville High School
Collinsville, Illinois
G 12
Tal Brody 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg)
Jr Central High School
Trenton, New Jersey
F 14
John Love 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg)
Sr Ottawa Township High School
Ottawa, Illinois
G 15
Don Freeman 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg)
So Madison High School
Madison, Illinois
F 20
Mel Blackwell 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 168 lb (76 kg)
So Centralia High School
Centralia, Illinois
G 22
Jim Vopicka 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg)
So Morton West High School
Brookfield, Illinois
G 23
Ron Beeks 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg)
Jr Princeton High School
Princeton, New Jersey
F 30
Jeff Ferguson 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg)
Sr Benton Consolidated High School
Benton, Illinois
G 31
Tony Latham 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 163 lb (74 kg)
Jr Waukegan High School
Waukegan, Illinois
G 32
Bill Edwards (C)
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg)
Sr Windsor High School
Windsor, Illinois
F 33
Bogie Redmon 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 225 lb (102 kg)
Jr Collinsville High School
Collinsville, Illinois
G 34
Bill McKeown 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg)
Jr Clinton High School
Clinton, Illinois
C 35
Skip Thoren 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg)
Jr Rockford East High School
Rockford, Illinois
G/F 40
Bob Brown 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg)
So P. S. Dupont High School
Wilmington, DE
F 43
Larry Hinton 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg)
So Shelbyville High School
Shelbyville, Illinois
F 44
Mike Graville 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg)
So Madison High School
Madison, Illinois
F 53
George Johnson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg)
So York High School
Elmhurst, Illinois
F 54
Dan Lee 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg)
So Attica High School
Attica, Indiana
Head coach Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain(S) Suspended(I) Ineligible(W) Walk-on Roster
Schedule
Source[ 2]
Date
Rank#
Opponent#
Result
Record
Site (attendance) [ 3]
Non-Conference regular season
11/30/1963 *no, no
at Butler
W 59-52 1-0
Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
12/4/1963 *no, no
St. Louis L 78-81 2-0
Assembly Hall Champaign, IL
12/9/1963 *no, no
at Oklahoma
L 104-105 1-2
McCasland Field House Norman, OK
12/14/1963 *no, no
Notre Dame W 79-68 2-2
Assembly Hall (14,238)Champaign, IL
12/19/1963 *no, no
Butler W 74-53 3-2
Assembly Hall (13,681)Champaign, IL
12/26/1963 *no, no
vs. West Virginia Los Angeles Basketball Classic W 92-86 4-2
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena Los Angeles, CA
12/27/1963 *no, no
vs. Pittsburgh Los Angeles Basketball Classic W 83-76 5-2
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (14,267)Los Angeles, CA
12/28/1963 *no, no
at No. 4 UCLA Los Angeles Basketball Classic L 79-83 5-3
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (13,060)Los Angeles, CA
12/31/1963 *no, no
vs. Notre Dame
W 87-78 6-3
Chicago Stadium Chicago, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/4/1964 no, no
Michigan State W 87-66 7-3
Assembly Hall (14,141)Champaign, IL
1/11/1964 no, no
at Iowa Rivalry W 87-70 8-3
Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
1/25/1964 *no, no
vs. Arizona State
W 97-78 9-3
Chicago Stadium (19,000)Chicago, IL
2/1/1964 no, no
Northwestern Rivalry W 73-71 10-3
Assembly Hall (10,093)Champaign, IL
2/3/1964 no, no
at Indiana Rivalry L 96-104 10-4
New Fieldhouse Bloomington, IN
2/8/1964 no, no
No. 2 Michigan
L 82-93 10-5
Assembly Hall (16,128)Champaign, IL
2/10/1964 no, no
at Ohio State
L 92-110 10-6
St. John Arena Columbus, OH
2/15/1964 no, no
at Minnesota
L 81-92 10-7
Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
2/17/1964 no, no
at Michigan State
L 82-85 10-8
Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
2/22/1964 no, no
Minnesota W 86-78 11-8
Assembly Hall (15,676)Champaign, IL
2/24/1964 no, no
at Purdue
L 90-105 11-9
Lambert Fieldhouse West Lafayette, IN
2/28/1964 no, no
at No. 3 Michigan
L 83-89 11-10
Yost Field House Ann Arbor, MI
3/2/1964 no, no
Ohio State L 74-86 11-11
Assembly Hall (8,643)Champaign, IL
3/7/1964 no, no
Wisconsin W 97-73 12-11
Assembly Hall (15,826)Champaign, IL
3/9/1964 no, no
Iowa Rivalry W 90-67 13-11
Assembly Hall (13,676)Champaign, IL
*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
Points
Skip Thoren[ 4]
24
187
114
331
488
Tal Brody[ 5]
24
157
91
97
405
Don Freeman[ 6]
24
130
81
231
341
Bogie Redmon[ 7]
24
97
37
148
231
Jim Vopicka[ 8]
24
56
24
62
136
Bill McKeown[ 9]
15
46
17
34
109
Larry Hinton[ 10]
23
36
18
54
90
Bill Edwards[ 11]
20
32
24
24
88
Mel Blackwell[ 12]
17
14
14
33
42
Bob Brown[ 13]
16
14
12
7
40
Larry Bauer[ 14]
12
11
6
24
28
John Love[ 15]
16
6
2
17
14
Jeff Ferguson[ 16]
2
0
4
0
4
Dan Lee
1
0
0
1
0
Bob Meadows
1
0
0
0
0
Awards and honors
Team players drafted into the NBA
Player
NBA Club
Round
Pick
No Player Selected
[ 18]
Rankings
References
^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette , Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1963-64 Archived 2014-03-10 at the Wayback Machine , FightingIllini.com^ Schedule ^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014 .^ "List of MVPs" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2013 .^ 1964 NBA Draft Archived 2010-03-17 at the Wayback Machine
Venues Rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics
