1936–37 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1936–37 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Big Ten Conference champions
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1936–37 record	14–4 (10-2 Big Ten)
Head coach	Douglas Mills
Assistant coach	Howie Braun
Assistant coach	Wally Roettger
Captain	Robert Riegel
Home arena	Huff Hall

1936–37 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Illinois	10	–	2	.833	14	–	4	.778
Minnesota	10	–	2	.833	14	–	6	.700
Michigan	9	–	3	.750	16	–	4	.800
Purdue	8	–	4	.667	15	–	5	.750
Ohio State	7	–	5	.583	13	–	7	.650
Indiana	6	–	6	.500	13	–	7	.650
Northwestern	4	–	8	.333	11	–	9	.550
Iowa	3	–	9	.250	11	–	9	.550
Wisconsin	3	–	9	.250	8	–	12	.400
Chicago	0	–	12	.000	4	–	16	.200

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1936–37 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

New head coach Doug Mills took over the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team for the 1936-37 season replacing Craig Ruby. Mills was a player for the Illini from 1927 to 1930 and served as the assistant coach for the 1935-36 season. Mills' service toward the University of Illinois would continue until 1947 as head coach and until 1966 as athletic director. Along with future head coach Harry Combes, the Illini returned 7 lettermen from a team that had finished in a third place tie in the Big Ten the year before. Even though they lost 2 home games during conference play, the Illini finished the season in a tie for the conference championship with a record of 10 wins and 2 losses. The team finished the season with an overall record of 14 wins 4 losses. Along with Combes, the Illini also featured future major league baseball hall of fame shortstop and manager, Lou Boudreau. The starting lineup included captain Robert Riegel at the center position, Boudreau and Combes at forward and Wilbur Henry, James Vopicka and Tom Nisbet at guard.^[1] Following that season, the men’s gymnasium got a new name, George Huff Gymnasium, after former Illinois athletic director George Huff, who died on October 1, 1936. During the championship season, Boudreau led the team in scoring with 8.7 points per game.

Team

"1936-37 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

No.	Player	Position	Class	Hometown
3	Loren Grabb	Forward	Sophomore
4	Robert Riegel (captain)	Center	Senior	Tolono, Illinois
5	Carter Cooley	Forward	Sophomore
6	Wilbur Henry	Guard	Senior	North Hollywood, California
7	James Vopicka	Guard	Senior	Berwyn, Illinois
8	Harry Lasater Jr.	Forward	Freshman	Fairfield, Illinois
10	Harold Swanson	Forward	Senior	Chicago Heights, Illinois
11	Byron Blout	Forward	Senior	Salinas, California
15	George Wardley	Guard	Sophomore	Gary, Indiana
16	Charles Farrington	Forward	Junior	Urbana, Illinois
17	Harry Combes	Guard	Senior	Champaign, Illinois
18	Tom Nisbet	Guard	Sophomore	Chicago, Illinois
20	Frank Schack	Forward	Sophomore
21	Lou Boudreau	Forward	Sophomore	Harvey, Illinois
28	Edward Yeaton	Guard	Junior	Elkhorn, Wisconsin
29	Albert Billings	Forward	Sophomore	Elgin, Illinois
30	Robert Castelo	Guard	Sophomore	Champaign, Illinois

Head Coach: Douglas Mills (1st year at Illinois)

^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
December 8, 1936	Carroll	51–34	Win	Champaign, IL	6,500
December 12, 1936	Depauw	44–24	Win	Champaign, IL	6,000
December 19, 1936	Notre Dame	44–29	Win	Champaign, IL	7,000
December 23, 1936	DePaul	25–31	Loss	Chicago, IL	3,500
December 30, 1936	Bradley	43–33	Win	Peoria, IL	3,800
January 4, 1937	Northwestern	38–47	Loss	Champaign, IL	7,328
January 9, 1937	Wisconsin	31–28	Win	Madison, WI	6,700
January 11, 1937	Indiana	40–31	Win	Champaign, IL	7,000
January 16, 1937	Iowa	42–28	Win	Champaign, IL	6,810
January 18, 1937	Purdue	38–37	Win	West Lafayette, IN	5,600
January 23, 1937	University of Chicago	28–23	Win	Champaign, IL	6,000
February 6, 1937	Notre Dame	33–41	Loss	Notre Dame, IN	-
February 13, 1937	University of Chicago	34–26	Win	Chicago, IL	3,000
February 15, 1937	Purdue	34–61	Loss	Champaign	7,600
February 20, 1937	Indiana	42–25	Win	Bloomington, IN	5,000
February 22, 1937	Wisconsin	48–31	Win	Champaign, IL	9,000
February 27, 1937	Iowa	40–29	Win	Iowa City, IA	9,000
March 6, 1937	Northwestern	32–26	Win	Evanston, IL	6,000

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Awards and honors

Harry Combes
- Omaha World Newspaper 2nd team All-American

References

↑ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
↑ All-Time Illini Rosters

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)

Rivalries	Indiana Missouri

Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek

People	Head coaches NBA draftees Consensus All-Americans

Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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