1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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

1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 16
Record18-6 (10-4 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPSkip Thoren
CaptainSkip Thoren
Home arenaAssembly Hall
Seasons
1964–65 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 1 Michigan 13 1   .929 24 4   .857
No. 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

Regular season

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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.[1]

Roster

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1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 11 Larry Miller 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 161 lb (73 kg) Sr Connellsville High School Connellsville, Pennsylvania
G 12 Tal Brody 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 173 lb (78 kg) Sr Central High School Trenton, New Jersey
F 14 Jerry Mettille 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 179 lb (81 kg) So Morris Community High School Morris, Illinois
G 15 Donnie Freeman 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 179 lb (81 kg) Jr Madison High School Madison, Illinois
F 21 Bob Johansen 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Geneva High School Geneva, Illinois
G 22 Jim Vopicka 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Morton West High School Brookfield, Illinois
G 23 Ron Beeks 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Princeton High School Princeton, New Jersey
G 24 Jim Dawson 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 172 lb (78 kg) So York High School Elmhurst, Illinois
G 25 Preston Pearson 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Freeport High School Freeport, Illinois
F 30 Deon Flessner 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 193 lb (88 kg) So Fithian High School Fithian, Illinois
F 33 Bogie Redmon 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Sr Collinsville High School Collinsville, Illinois
G 34 Bill McKeown 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Clinton High School Clinton, Illinois
C 35 Skip Thoren (C) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 232 lb (105 kg) Sr Rockford East High School Rockford, Illinois
G/F 40 Bob Brown 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr P. S. Dupont High School Wilmington, DE
F 43 Larry Hinton 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 194 lb (88 kg) Jr Shelbyville High School Shelbyville, Illinois
F 44 Mike Graville 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Madison High School Madison, Illinois
F 54 Dan Lee 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Attica High School Attica, Indiana
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

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

Roster

Schedule

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Source[2]

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/4/1964*
no, no
No. 2 UCLA W 110-83  1-0
Assembly Hall (11,873)
Champaign, IL
12/5/1964*
no, no
at St. Louis L 64-79  1-1
Kiel Auditorium (9,230)
St. Louis, MO
12/8/1964*
no, no
Bowling Green W 100-62  2-1
Assembly Hall (9,889)
Champaign, IL
12/12/1964*
no, no
Washington (St. Louis) W 103-59  3-1
Assembly Hall (9,027)
Champaign, IL
12/15/1964
no, no
at Wisconsin W 70-56  4-1
(1-0)
Wisconsin Field House (9,538)
Madison, WI
12/18/1964*
no, no
vs. Dayton
Kentucky Invitational Tournament
W 104-86  5-1
Memorial Coliseum (11,800)
Lexington, KY
12/19/1964*
no, no
at No. 8 Kentucky
Kentucky Invitational Tournament
W 91-86  6-1
Memorial Coliseum (11,800)
Lexington, KY
12/26/1964*
no, no
No. 7 vs. NYU
ECAC Quaker City Tournament
W 102-79  7-1
Palestra (9,500)
Philadelphia, PA
12/28/1964*
no, no
No. 7 at St. Joseph's
ECAC Quaker City Tournament
L 71-75  7-2
Palestra (9,500)
Philadelphia, PA
12/29/1964*
no, no
No. 6 at Villanova
ECAC Quaker City Tournament
W 74-65  8-2
Palestra (9,500)
Philadelphia, PA
Big Ten regular season
1/4/1965
no, no
No. 6 No. 2 Indiana
Rivalry
W 88-81  9-2
(2-0)
Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
1/9/1965
no, no
at No. 3 Michigan L 83-89  9-3
(2-1)
Yost Field House (7,600)
Ann Arbor, MI
1/16/1965
no, no
Minnesota W 75-72  10-3
(3-1)
Assembly Hall (10,789)
Champaign, IL
1/30/1965*
no, no
vs. Notre Dame W 101-87  11-3
Chicago Stadium (16,746)
Chicago, IL
2/6/1965
no, no
Purdue W 121-93  12-3
(4-1)
Assembly Hall (8,828)
Champaign, IL
2/8/1965
no, no
at Ohio State W 86-71  13-3
(5-1)
St. John Arena (7,626)
Columbus, OH
2/13/1965
no, no
No. 10 at Minnesota L 90-105  13-4
(5-2)
Williams Arena (8,184)
Minneapolis, MN
2/16/1965
no, no
Ohio State W 95-72  14-4
(6-2)
Assembly Hall (8,751)
Champaign, IL
2/20/1965
no, no
at Michigan State W 100-89  15-4
(7-2)
Jenison Fieldhouse (8,643)
East Lansing, MI
2/23/1965
no, no
Iowa
Rivalry
W 97-80  16-4
(8-2)
Assembly Hall (13,387)
Champaign, IL
2/27/1965
no, no
No. 1 Michigan L 79-80  16-5
(8-3)
Assembly Hall (16,128)
Champaign, IL
3/2/1965
no, no
at Northwestern
Rivalry
W 93-70  17-5
(9-3)
McGaw Memorial Hall (5,500)
Evanston, IL
3/6/1965
no, no
at Iowa
Rivlary
L 84-94  17-6
(9-4)
Iowa Field House (10,500)
Iowa City, IA
3/9/1965
no, no
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

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Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Rebounds Points
Skip Thoren[2] 24 219 95 349 533
Tal Brody[2] 24 183 95 108 463
Don Freeman[2] 24 178 84 226 440
Bogie Redmon[2] 24 155 55 192 365
Bill McKeown[2] 9 41 17 39 99
Jim Dawson[2] 22 38 11 41 87
Jim Vopicka[2] 23 34 19 61 87
Bob Johansen[2] 19 56 22 34 56
Larry Hinton[2] 18 36 14 17 36
Preston Pearson[2] 17 16 4 18 16
Deon Flessner[2] 13 4 5 14 13
Bob Brown[2] 13 2 6 8 10
Jerry Mettile[2] 9 3 2 8 8

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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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

[4]

Rankings

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References

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  1. ^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History by News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1964-65 Archived 2014-03-08 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  3. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  4. ^ 1965 NBA Draft Archived 2013-02-03 at the Wayback Machine