1918–19 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1918–19 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1918–19 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record6–8 (5–7 Big Ten)
Head coach
CaptainBurt Ingwersen
Home arenaKenney Gym
Seasons
1918–19 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Minnesota 10 0   1.000 13 0   1.000
Chicago 10 2   .833 21 6   .778
Northwestern 6 4   .600 6 6   .500
Michigan 5 5   .500 18 6   .750
Illinois 5 7   .417 6 8   .429
Indiana 4 6   .400 10 7   .588
Iowa 4 7   .364 8 7   .533
Purdue 4 7   .364 6 8   .429
Wisconsin 3 9   .250 5 11   .313
Ohio State 2 6   .250 7 12   .368
"1918-19 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

Regular season

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The 1918–19 season for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team, was the lowest point for head coach Ralph Jones during his tenure at the University of Illinois. Jones experienced his only losing season as a Big Ten coach, as a matter of fact, this was the only losing season he would have in career spanning nearly 35 years. Jones, who coached the Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team for three seasons prior to coming to Illinois, had never lost more than 6 games during any conference campaign.[1] The record the Illini would possess at the conclusion of the 1918–19 season would overall be 6 wins, 8 losses with a 6 win 6 loss conference mark. The starting lineup included captain Burt Ingwersen, Benjamin Mittleman and Ralph Fletcher at the forward positions, K.L. Wilson at center, and W.K. Kopp and P.C. Taylor as guards.[2]

Roster

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1918–19 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown
F Ralph Fletcher
So Champaign, Illinois
F Burt Ingwersen (C)
Jr Urbana, Illinois
C John S. Probst
Jr East Aurora, Illinois
C Paul C. Taylor
Jr New Orleans, Louisiana
C Kenneth L. Wilson
Jr Wilmette, Illinois
G William K. Kopp
So Beverly Farms, Massachusetts
F Benjamin F. Mittleman
Sr East Farmingdale, New York
G George Buchheit
So Beardstown, Illinois
F Daniel Willard Smith
Fr Bellflower, Illinois
F Thomas Johnson
So Homer, Illinois
Head coach
  • Ralph Jones (Indianapolis YMCA Training School) (7th year)
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster

Schedule

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Source[3]

Date
time, TV
Opponent Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
1/3/1919*
no, no
Great Lakes L 26–28  0-1
Kenney Gym (467)
Urbana, IL
1/10/1919*
no, no
Millikin University W 37–17  1-1
Kenney Gym (577)
Urbana, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/18/1919
no, no
Purdue L 13–16  1-2
(0-1)
Kenney Gym (1,519)
Urbana, IL
1/20/1919
no, no
Ohio State W 25–20  2-2
(1-1)
Kenney Gym (1,462)
Urbana, IL
1/25/1919
no, no
at Wisconsin W 25–15  3-2
(2-1)
University of Wisconsin Armory and Gymnasium (-)
Madison, WI
1/27/1919
no, no
at Minnesota L 17–36  3-3
(2-2)
University of Minnesota Armory (-)
Minneapolis, MN
2/1/1919
no, no
at Michigan W 27–23  4-3
(3-2)
Waterman Gymnasium (-)
Ann Arbor, MI
2/8/1919
no, no
at University of Chicago L 12–17  4-4
(3-3)
Bartlett Gymnasium (-)
Chicago, IL
2/15/1919
no, no
Wisconsin W 16–14  5-4
(4-3)
Kenney Gym (1,774)
Urbana, IL
2/21/1919
no, no
at Purdue W 25–18  6-4
(5-3)
Memorial Gymnasium (-)
West Lafayette, IN
2/24/1919
no, no
at Ohio State L 15–32  6-5
(5-4)
Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (-)
Columbus, OH
3/1/1919
no, no
University of Chicago L 15–17  6-6
(5-5)
Kenney Gym (2,126)
Urbana, IL
3/3/1919
no, no
Minnesota L 9–26  6-7
(5-6)
Kenney Gym (1,485)
Urbana, IL
3/10/1919
no, no
Michigan L 18–22  6-8
(5-7)
Kenney Gym (1,329)
Urbana, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

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Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Points
Kenneth Wilson[4] 14 28 53 109
Paul Taylor[5] 12 24 6 54
Ralph Fletcher[6] 12 23 2 48
Bert Ingwersen[7] 13 10 0 20
Benjamin Mittleman[8] 13 8 1 17
D.W. Smith[9] 7 6 1 13

Awards and honors

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References

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  1. ^ A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.17 ISBN 1-58261-793-7
  2. ^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
  3. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1918-19 Archived 2013-12-17 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)