1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1964-65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
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Kentucky Invitational Tournament, Champion
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#16
AP	#Not Ranked
1964-65 record	18-6 (10-4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harry Combes
Assistant coach	Howie Braun
Assistant coach	Jim Wright
MVP	Skip Thoren
Captain	Skip Thoren
Home arena	Assembly Hall

1964–65 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
#1 Michigan	13	–	1		.929			24	–	4		.857
#7 Minnesota	11	–	3		.786			19	–	5		.792
Illinois	10	–	4		.714			18	–	6		.750
Indiana	9	–	5		.643			19	–	5		.792
Iowa	8	–	6		.571			14	–	10		.583
Ohio State	6	–	3		.667			12	–	12		.500
Purdue	5	–	9		.357			12	–	12		.500
Wisconsin	4	–	10		.286			9	–	13		.409
Northwestern	3	–	11		.214			7	–	17		.292
Michigan State	1	–	13		.071			5	–	18		.217
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Head coach Harry Combes Fighting Illini basketball team returned to their winning ways for the 1964-65 season. Even though they were not ranked in the pre-season top 20 of college basketball teams, they peaked at #6 during the course of the season in the Associated Press and finished the season ranked #16 in the coaches poll. During the course of the season, the Illini would play in two mid-season tournaments and participate 24 regular season games, the most since 1908 when they played in 26. The tournaments the Illini would participate in would be the ECAC Quaker City Tournament in Philadelphia and a return trip to the Kentucky Invitational Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky. The highlight of the season would happen in the season opener when the Illini would defeat the previous season's national champion UCLA Bruins by a score of 110-83. The 1965 Bruins would finish with a 28-2 record and their second national championship.

The 1964-65 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer, team "MVP" and captain, Skip Thoren. It also saw the return of team seniors Tal Brody, Bogie Redmon, Bill McKeown as well as Juniors Don Freeman, Jim Vopicka and Larry Hinton to their lineup. It also included sophomores Jim Dawson, Bob Johansen and future Dallas Cowboy, Preston Pearson. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 10 wins and 4 losses, finishing in 3rd place in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 18 wins and 6 losses. The starting lineup included Skip Thoren at the center position, Tal Brody and Jim Dawson at guard and Don Freeman and Bogie Redmon at the forward slots.

Roster

No.	Player	Position	Height	Weight	Class	Hometown	High School
11	Bob Meadows	Guard	5-8	161	Senior	Collinsville, Illinois	Collinsville High School
12	Tal Brody	Guard	6-2	173	Senior	Trenton, New Jersey	Central High School
14	Jerry Mettille	Forward	6-4	179	Sophomore	Morris, Illinois	Morris Community High School
15	Don Freeman	Forward	6-2	179	Junior	Madison, Illinois	Madison High School
21	Bob Johansen	Forward	6-4	185	Sophomore	Geneva, Illinois	Geneva High School
22	Jim Vopicka	Guard	6-1	175	Junior	Brookfield, Illinois	Morton West High School
23	Ron Beeks	Guard	6-1	180	Senior	Princeton, New Jersey	Princeton High School
24	Jim Dawson	Guard	6-0	172	Sophomore	Elmhurst, Illinois	York High School
25	Preston Pearson	Guard	6-1	193	Sophomore	Freeport, Illinois	Freeport High School
30	Deon Flessner	Forward	6-4	193	Sophomore	Fithian, Illinois	Fithian High School
33	Bogie Redmon	Forward	6-5	225	Senior	Collinsville, Illinois	Collinsville High School
34	Bill McKeown	Guard	6-2	185	Senior	Clinton, Illinois	Clinton High School
35	Skip Thoren (captain)	Center	6-8	232	Senior	Rockford, Illinois	Rockford East High School
40	Bob Brown	Forward	6-2	198	Junior	West Frankfort, Illinois	Frankfort Community High School
43	Larry Hinton	Forward	6-2	194	Junior	Shelbyville, Illinois	Shelbyville High School
44	Mike Graville	Forward	6-1	175	Junior	Madison, Illinois	Madison High School
54	Dan Lee	Forward	6-3	175	Junior	Attica, Indiana	Attica High School

• Head Coach: Harry Combes (18th year at Illinois)

Schedule

Source

Date Time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
12/4/1964* no, no	#NR	vs. #1 UCLA	W 110-83	1-0	Assembly Hall (11,873) Champaign, IL
12/5/1964* no, no	#NR	@ St. Louis	L 64-79	1-1	Kiel Auditorium (9,230) St. Louis, MO
12/8/1964* no, no	#NR	vs. Bowling Green	W 100-62	2-1	Assembly Hall (9,889) Champaign, IL
12/12/1964* no, no	#NR	vs. Washington (St. Louis)	W 103-59	3-1	Assembly Hall (9,027) Champaign, IL
12/15/1964 no, no	#NR	@ Wisconsin	W 70-56	4-1 (1-0)	Wisconsin Field House (9,538) Madison, WI
12/18/1964* no, no	#NR	vs. Dayton Kentucky Invitational Tournament	W 104-86	5-1	Memorial Coliseum (11,800) Lexington, KY
12/19/1964* no, no	#NR	@ #8 Kentucky Kentucky Invitational Tournament	W 91-86	6-1	Memorial Coliseum (11,800) Lexington, KY
12/26/1964* no, no	#7	vs. NYU ECAC Quaker City Tournament	W 102-79	7-1	Palestra (9,500) Philadelphia, PA
12/28/1964* no, no	#7	vs. St. Joseph's ECAC Quaker City Tournament	L 71-75	7-2	Palestra (9,500) Philadelphia, PA
12/29/1964* no, no	#6	vs. Villanova ECAC Quaker City Tournament	W 74-65	8-2	Palestra (9,500) Philadelphia, PA
1/4/1965 no, no	#6	vs. #2 Indiana	W 88-81	9-2 (2-0)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
1/9/1965 no, no	#NR	@ #3 Michigan	L 83-89	9-3 (2-1)	Yost Ice Arena (7,600) Ann Arbor, MI
1/16/1965 no, no	#NR	vs. Minnesota	W 75-72	10-3 (3-1)	Assembly Hall (10,789) Champaign, IL
1/30/1965* no, no	#NR	vs. Notre Dame	W 101-87	11-3	Chicago Stadium (16,746) Chicago, IL
2/6/1965 no, no	#NR	vs. Purdue	W 121-93	12-3 (4-1)	Assembly Hall (8,828) Champaign, IL
2/8/1965 no, no	#NR	@ Ohio State	W 86-71	13-3 (5-1)	St. John Arena (7,626) Columbus, OH
2/13/1965 no, no	#10	@ Minnesota	L 90-105	13-4 (5-2)	Williams Arena (8,184) Minneapolis, MN
2/16/1965 no, no	#NR	vs. Ohio State	W 95-72	14-4 (6-2)	Assembly Hall (8,751) Champaign, IL
2/20/1965 no, no	#NR	@ Michigan State	W 100-89	15-4 (7-2)	Jenison Fieldhouse (8,643) East Lansing, MI
2/23/1965 no, no	#NR	vs. Iowa	W 97-80	16-4 (8-2)	Assembly Hall (13,387) Champaign, IL
2/27/1965 no, no	#NR	vs. #1 Michigan	L 79-80	16-5 (8-3)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
3/2/1965 no, no	#NR	vs. Northwestern	W 93-70	17-5 (9-3)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (5,500) Evanston, IL
3/6/1965 no, no	#NR	@ Iowa	L 84-94	17-6 (9-4)	Iowa Field House (10,500) Iowa City, IA
3/9/1965 no, no	#NR	vs. Michigan State	W 121-89	18-6 (10-4)	Assembly Hall (10,456) 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	24	219	95	349	533
Tal Brody	24	183	95	108	463
Don Freeman	24	178	84	226	440
Bogie Redmon	24	155	55	192	365
Bill McKeown	9	41	17	39	99
Jim Dawson	22	38	11	41	87
Jim Vopicka	23	34	19	61	87
Bob Johansen	19	56	22	34	56
Larry Hinton	18	36	14	17	36
Preston Pearson	17	16	4	18	16
Deon Flessner	13	4	5	14	13
Bob Brown	13	2	6	8	10
Jerry Mettile	9	3	2	8	8

Awards and honors

• Bogie Redmon
  • Converse Honorable Mention All-American
• Tal Brody
  • Helms 1st Team All-American
  • Converse 2nd Team All-American
  • Sporting News 2nd Team All-American
• Duane "Skip" Thoren
  • Helms 1st Team All-American
  • Converse 2nd Team All-American
  • Associated Press 2nd Team All-American
  • United Press 3rd Team All-American
  • Basketball News 3rd Team All-American
  • National Association of Basketball Coaches 3rd Team All-American
  • Team Most Valuable Player

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick
Tal Brody	Baltimore Bullets	2	4
Skip Thoren	Baltimore Bullets	4	4
Bogie Redmon	Baltimore Bullets	10	2
Roger Taylor	Baltimore Bullets	17	1

Rankings

Main article: 1964–65 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings