1940–41 Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team

1940–41 Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball
1940–41 Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball
Big Six Regular season Champion
Fifth District NCAA Qualifying Game
Conference	Big Six Conference
Record	15–4 (7–3 Big Six)
Head coach	Louis Menze (13th season);
Home arena	State Gymnasium
	Seasons ← 1939–40 1941–42 →

The 1940–41 Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team represented Iowa State College in the 1940–41 college basketball season. The team was led by 13th-year head coach Louis Menze. In 1939–40, the Cyclones finished 9–9 overall (2–8 in the Big Six Conference). The team's captains were Al Budolfson and Gordon Nicholas. The Cyclones shared the Big Six conference championship with the Kansas Jayhawks. This marked the first time that Iowa State had ever qualified for the postseason; they would face Creighton in a district qualifying game for the 1941 NCAA Tournament, where they would fall, 57–48.^[1]

1940–41 Big Six Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Iowa State	7	–	3	.700	15	–	4	.789
Kansas	7	–	3	.700	12	–	6	.667
Nebraska	6	–	4	.600	8	–	10	.444
Oklahoma	5	–	5	.500	6	–	12	.333
Kansas State	3	–	7	.300	6	–	12	.333
Missouri	2	–	8	.200	6	–	10	.375

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	Al Budolfson (C)	—	—	Jr	Rolfe, Iowa
G	Dale DeKoster	—	—	Sr	Spencer, Iowa
F	Jerry Deneckere	—	—		Rock Island, Illinois
	Fred Gordon	—	—		Decorah, Iowa
C	Gordon Nicholas (C)	—	—	Sr	Lawton, Iowa
G	Grover Miehe	—	—		Maynard, Iowa
G	Larry Owens	—	—		Ames, Iowa
F	Carol Schneider	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	—	Jr	Rock Island, Illinois
F	Ed Smith	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	—	So	Minburn, Iowa
F	Leon Uknes	—	—		Sioux City, Iowa

Head coach

Louis Menze

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

^[2]

Player stats

Note: PPG = Points per Game

Player	Class	Pos	PPG
Gordon Nicholas	Sr	C	9.7
Al Budolfson	Jr	F	8.1
Dale DeKoster	Sr	G	7.3
Carol Schneider	Jr	G	7.0

Schedule

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
December 4, 1940* 7:15 pm	Cornell	W 37–22	1–0	State Gymnasium Ames, Iowa
December 7, 1940*	Coe	W 28–23	2–0	State Gymnasium Ames, Iowa
December 9, 1940*	at Minnesota	W 37–36	3–0	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
December 14, 1940*	at Bradley Tech	W 31–28	4–0	Peoria Armory Peoria, Illinois
December 21, 1940*	Grinnell	W 43–37	5–0	State Gymnasium Ames, Iowa
December 31, 1940*	Drake Iowa Big Four	W 45–26	6–0	State Gymnasium Ames, Iowa
January 4, 1941* 8:15 pm	at Drake Iowa Big Four	W 36–30	7–0	Drake Fieldhouse Des Moines, Iowa
January 6, 1941* 7:15 pm	Montana	W 41–27	8–0	State Gymnasium Ames, Iowa
January 13, 1941	at Kansas	L 41–44	8–1 (0–1)	Hoch Auditorium Lawrence, Kansas
January 18, 1941	Missouri	W 40–37	9–1 (1–1)	State Gymnasium Ames, Iowa
January 25, 1941 7:30 pm	Nebraska	L 35–38	9–2 (1–2)	State Gymnasium Ames, Iowa
February 1, 1941	at Nebraska	L 36–41	9–3 (1–3)	Nebraska Coliseum Lincoln, Nebraska
February 8, 1941	at Oklahoma	W 35–33	10–3 (2–3)	OU Field House Norman, Oklahoma
February 10, 1941	at Kansas State	W 50–41	11–3 (3–3)	Nichols Hall Manhattan, Kansas
February 17, 1941	Oklahoma	W 44–30	12–3 (4–3)	State Gymnasium Ames, Iowa
February 24, 1941	at Missouri	W 49–29	13–3 (5–3)	Brewer Fieldhouse Columbia, Missouri
March 1, 1941	Kansas State	W 36–33	14–3 (6–3)	State Gymnasium Ames, Iowa
March 3, 1941	Kansas	W 41–29	15–3 (7–3)	State Gymnasium Ames, Iowa
Postseason
March 18, 1941* 9:00 pm	vs. Creighton Fifth District NCAA Qualifying Game	L 48–57	15–4	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.