1960–61 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1960–61 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#1 Ohio State	14	–	0	1.000	27	–	1	.964
#7 Iowa	10	–	4	.714	18	–	6	.750
Purdue	10	–	4	.714	16	–	7	.696
Indiana	8	–	6	.571	15	–	9	.625
Minnesota	8	–	6	.571	10	–	13	.435
Northwestern	6	–	8	.429	10	–	12	.455
Illinois	5	–	9	.357	9	–	15	.375
Wisconsin	4	–	10	.286	7	–	17	.292
Michigan State	3	–	11	.214	7	–	17	.292
Michigan	2	–	12	.143	6	–	18	.250

Rankings from http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/conferences/big-ten/1961.html

The 1960–61 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Head coach Harry Combes experienced the worst record of his 20 years at the University of Illinois. His Fighting Illini basketball team, for the second year in a row, played in a mid-season tournament. The tournament they would compete in would be the Kentucky Invitational Tournament held at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky December 21–22.

The 1960-61 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer and team "MVP" Dave Downey. It also saw the return of Jerry Colangelo, John Wessels, Bill Burwell, Bill Small, as well as Doug Mills. The Illini also added sophomore Bob Starnes to their lineup. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 5 wins and 9 losses, finishing 7th in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 9 wins and 15 losses. The starting lineup included Bill Burwell at the center position, Bill Small and Jerry Colangelo at guard and Dave Downey and John Wessels at the forward slots.^[1]

Roster

No.	Player	Position	Height	Weight	Class	Hometown	High School
10	John Wessels	Center	6-7	210	Senior	Rockford, Illinois	Rockford West High School
20	Jerry Renner	Forward	6-1	180	Sophomore	Aurora, Illinois	East Aurora High School
21	Sam Leeper	Guard	6-0	165	Junior	Tolono, Illinois	Unity High School
22	Jay Lovelace	Guard	6-2	165	Sophomore	Carbondale, Illinois	Carbondale Community High School
23	Jerry Colangelo	Guard	6-2	175	Junior	Chicago Heights, Illinois	Bloom High School
25	Bill Burwell	Center	6-8	243	Sophomore	Brooklyn, New York	Boys High School
30	Jeff Ferguson	Guard	6-3	180	Sophomore	Benton, Illinois	Benton Consolidated High School
31	Doug Mills	Guard	6-0	165	Junior	Galesburg, Illinois	Galesburg High School
33	James Knoefel	Forward	6-4	180	Sophomore	Valparaiso, Indiana	Valparaiso High School
34	Gary McClung	Forward	6-4	185	Sophomore	Maroa, Illinois	Maroa-Forsyth High School
40	Dave Downey	Forward	6-4	200	Sophomore	Canton, Illinois	Canton High School
41	Jerry Curless	Guard	6-0	160	Junior	Table Grove, Illinois	VIT High School
42	Ed Searcy	Forward	6-5	185	Junior	Indianapolis, Indiana	Attucks High School
44	Bob Starnes	Forward	6-4	180	Sophomore	Chicago, Illinois	Gage Park High School
51	Bill Mohlenbrock	Guard	6-3	178	Senior	Murphysboro, Illinois	Murphysboro High School
53	Bill Small	Guard	6-2	185	Sophomore	Aurora, Illinois	West Aurora High School

Head Coach: Harry Combes (14th year at Illinois)^[2]

Schedule

Source^[3]

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
12/1/1960* no, no	#NR	vs. Creighton	W 99-74	1-0	Huff Hall (6,708) Champaign, IL
12/6/1960* no, no	#NR	vs. Butler	W 84-52	2-0	Huff Hall (6,689) Champaign, IL
12/12/1960* no, no	#NR	@ Colorado	L 81-90	2-1	Balch Fieldhouse (4,100) Boulder, CO
12/17/1960* no, no	#NR	@ Marquette	L 88-96	2-2	Marquette Gymnasium (8,440) Milwaukee, WI
12/19/1960* no, no	#NR	vs. Washington State	W 79-58	3-2	Huff Hall (3,507) Champaign, IL
12/21/1960* no, no	#NR	@ Kentucky Kentucky Invitational Tournament	L 78-83	3-3	Memorial Coliseum (7,500) Lexington, KY
12/22/1960* no, no	#NR	vs. California Kentucky Invitational Tournament	L 54-72	3-4	Memorial Coliseum (8,000) Lexington, KY
12/27/1960* no, no	#NR	@ Butler	L 68-70	3-5	Hinkle Fieldhouse (6,100) Indianapolis, IN
12/28/1960* no, no	#NR	vs. Notre Dame	L 66-69	3-6	Hinkle Fieldhouse (6,591) Indianapolis, IN
1/7/1961 no, no	#NR	@ Ohio State (#1)	L 65-91	3-7 (0-1)	St. John Arena (13,408) Columbus, OH
1/14/1961 no, no	#NR	vs. Michigan	W 88-64	4-7 (1-1)	Huff Hall (6,705) Champaign, IL
1/16/1961 no, no	#NR	@ Iowa (#6)	L 71-78	4-8 (1-2)	Iowa Field House (12,700) Iowa City, IA
1/28/1961* no, no	#NR	vs. Notre Dame	W 77-62	5-8	Chicago Stadium (11,800) Chicago, IL
1/30/1961 no, no	#NR	vs. Michigan State	W 93-92	6-8 (2-2)	Huff Hall (3,132) Champaign, IL
2/4/1961 no, no	#NR	@ Minnesota	W 65-60	7-8 (3-2)	Williams Arena (12,001) Minneapolis, MN
2/6/1961 no, no	#NR	vs. Wisconsin	W 77-73	8-8 (4-2)	Huff Hall (6,775) Champaign, IL
2/11/1961 no, no	#NR	@ Purdue	L 73-89	8-9 (4-3)	Lambert Fieldhouse (10,000) West Lafayette, IN
2/18/1961 no, no	#NR	vs. Northwestern	L 72-78	8-10 (4-4)	Huff Hall (6,569) Champaign, IL
2/20/1961 no, no	#NR	@ Michigan State	L 80-90	8-11 (4-5)	Jenison Fieldhouse (4,185) East Lansing, MI
2/25/1961 no, no	#NR	@ Indiana	L 82-93	8-12 (4-6)	Gladstein Fieldhouse (600) Bloomington, IN
2/27/1961 no, no	#NR	vs. Minnesota	L 76-85	8-13 (4-7)	Huff Hall (6,569) Champaign, IL
3/4/1961 no, no	#NR	vs. Purdue	W 85-75	9-13 (5-7)	Huff Hall (6,891) Champaign, IL
3/6/1961 no, no	#NR	@ Michigan	L 66-74	9-14 (5-8)	Yost Ice Arena (2,000) Ann Arbor, MI
3/11/1961 no, no	#NR	vs. Ohio State (#1)	L 66–95	9-15 (5-9)	Huff Hall (6,912) 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
Dave Downey	24	157	88	267	402
Jerry Colangelo	24	128	71	94	327
John Wessels	24	119	83	217	321
Bill Burwell	24	117	57	207	291
Bill Small	22	73	42	56	188
Bob Starnes	24	29	25	61	83
Doug Mills	21	26	20	15	72
Ed Searcy	13	23	12	62	58
Jerry Curless	22	17	13	38	47
Jerry Renner	19	11	2	22	24
Jeff Ferguson	11	2	5	4	9
Jay Lovelace	7	2	2	2	6
Sam Leeper	7	1	2	5	2
Bill Mohlenbrock	2	0	0	1	0
Butch Jones	1	0	0	1	0

^[4]

Awards and honors

Dave Downey
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[5]
John Wessels
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick
John Wessels	Chicago Packers	8	8

^[6]

References

↑ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
↑ All-Time Illini Rosters
↑ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1960-61, FightingIllini.com
↑ Season Stats
↑ List of MVPs
↑ 1961 NBA Draft

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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