1977–78 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1977–78 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#Not ranked
AP	#Not ranked
1977–78 record	13–14 (7–11 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson
Assistant coach	Tony Yates
Assistant coach	Mark Bial
Assistant coach	Les Wothke
MVP	Audie Matthews
Captain	Audie Matthews
Home arena	Assembly Hall

1977–78 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#4 Michigan State	15	–	3	.833	25	–	5	.833
#13 Indiana	12	–	6	.667	21	–	8	.724
Minnesota	12	–	6	.667	17	–	10	.630
Michigan	11	–	7	.611	16	–	11	.593
Purdue	11	–	7	.611	16	–	11	.593
Ohio State	9	–	9	.500	16	–	11	.593
Illinois	7	–	11	.389	13	–	14	.481
Iowa	5	–	13	.278	12	–	15	.444
Northwestern	4	–	14	.222	8	–	19	.296
Wisconsin	4	–	14	.222	8	–	19	.296

Rankings from AP Poll)

The 1977–78 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The most significant recruit in the three years of Head Coach Lou Henson's tenure at Illinois came prior to the 1978-79 season. Eddie Johnson was considered to be the most significant piece to reviving the Illini basketball program, a program that had not been to a post-season tournament for 16 years. Johnson, who played at Chicago Westinghouse High School, was the state's top senior a McDonald's All-American as well as a Parade Magazine All-American. During his senior year at Westinghouse, Johnson, along with teammate Mark Aguirre, became part of a team that went 29-0, losing only in the Public League Final to Wendell Phillips. Prior to choosing Illinois, Johnson visited Southern Cal, Iowa, Michigan and DePaul, but with the encouragement of assistant coach Tony Yates, he selected Illinois.

Along with Johnson, Henson recruited Mark Smith from Peoria Richwoods High School. By season's end, Smith would develop into the team's second leading scorer, finishing the season with 312 points. The team's starting lineup included Neil Bresnahan and Levi Cobb as forwards, Audie Matthews and Reno Gray at the guard positions, and Rich Adams playing center.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
10	Reno Gray	Chicago, Illinois	Hales Franciscan High School	Jr.	Guard
12	Ken Ferdinand	Urbana, Illinois	Urbana High School	Jr.	Forward
20	Matt Meyer	Manito, Illinois	Foreman High School	Jr.	Guard
21	Steve Lanter	Belleville, Illinois	Mascoutah Community High School	So.	Guard
23	Larry Lubin	Glencoe, Illinois	Evanston Township High School	Jr.	Guard
24	Tom Gerhardt	Chicago, Illinois	De La Salle High School	Sr.	Forward
30	Rob Judson	Zion, Illinois	Zion-Benton High School	So.	Guard
31	Neil Bresnahan	Oak Park, Illinois	Fenwick High School	So.	Forward
32	Levi Cobb	Chicago, Illinois	Morgan Park High School	So.	Forward
33	Eddie Johnson	Chicago, Illinois	Westinghouse High School	Fr.	Forward
40	Rich Adams	Cincinnati, Ohio	Colerain High School	Sr.	Forward
41	Mike Jones	Joliet, Illinois	Joliet Central High School	Fr.	Guard/Forward
42	Mark Smith	Peoria, Illinois	Richwoods High School	Fr.	Forward
43	Audie Matthews (captain)	Chicago Heights, Illinois	Bloom High School	Sr.	Forward

Head Coach Lou Henson (3rd year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date Time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
11/25/1977* no, no	UNC Charlotte	L 64-68	0-1	Assembly Hall (8,655) Champaign, IL
11/28/1977* no, no	Arizona	W 113-107	1-1	Assembly Hall (7,356) Champaign, IL
12/1/1977* no, no	Southern California	W 82-59	2-1	Assembly Hall (8,941) Champaign, IL
12/3/1977* no, no	South Carolina	W 84-68	3-1	Carolina Coliseum (9,116) Columbia, SC
12/6/1977* no, no	Missouri Show-Me Classic	W 96-85	4-1	Assembly Hall (6,010) Champaign, IL
12/16/1977* no, no	BYU	W 81-74	5-1	Assembly Hall (8,612) Champaign, IL
12/28/1977* no, no	Washington State Far West Classic	L 75-82	5-2	Veterans Memorial Coliseum (9,762) Portland, OR
12/29/1977* no, no	Oregon Far West Classic	W 86-80	6-2	Veterans Memorial Coliseum (6,432) Portland, OR
12/30/1977* no, no	Washington Far West Classic	L 68-81	6-3	Veterans Memorial Coliseum (6,542) Portland, OR
1/5/1978 no, no	Purdue	L 85-95	6-4 (0-1)	Mackey Arena (11,253) West Lafayette, IN
1/7/1978 no, no	Indiana (#11)	W 65-64	7-4 (1-1)	Assembly Hall (16,903) Bloomington, IN
1/12/1978 no, no	Michigan State (#12)	L 70-82	7-5 (1-2)	Assembly Hall (10,300) Champaign, IL
1/14/1978 no, no	Michigan	W 65-61	8-5 (2-2)	Assembly Hall (8,795) Champaign, IL
1/19/1978 no, no	Minnesota	L 66-70	8-6 (2-3)	Williams Arena (15,134) Minneapolis, MN
1/21/1978 no, no	Northwestern	W 73-64	9-6 (3-3)	Assembly Hall (9,616) Champaign, IL
1/26/1978 no, no	Iowa	W 70-61	10-6 (4-3)	Iowa Field House (11,000) Iowa City, IA
1/30/1978 no, no	Ohio State	L 84-87	10-7 (4-4)	Assembly Hall (9,285) Champaign, IL
2/2/1978 no, no	Wisconsin	W 74-71	11-7 (5-4)	Assembly Hall (7,802) Champaign, IL
2/4/1978 no, no	Ohio State	L 65-70	11-8 (5-5)	St. John Arena (13,489) Columbus, OH
2/9/1978 no, no	Northwestern	L 61-72	11-9 (5-6)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (3,268) Evanston, IL
2/11/1978 no, no	Wisconsin	L 73-80	11-10 (5-7)	Wisconsin Field House (7,802) Madison, WI
2/16/1978 no, no	Minnesota	L 69-75	11-11 (5-8)	Assembly Hall (8,098) Champaign, IL
2/18/1978 no, no	Iowa	W 77-76	12-11 (6-8)	Assembly Hall (9,441) Champaign, IL
2/23/1978 no, no	Michigan	L 96-107	12-12 (6-9)	Crisler Center (13,589) Ann Arbor, MI
2/25/1978 no, no	Michigan State (#10)	L 67-89	12-13 (6-10)	Jenison Fieldhouse (9,886) East Lansing, MI
3/2/1978 no, no	Indiana	L 68-77	12-14 (6-11)	Assembly Hall (7,222) Champaign, IL
3/2/1978 no, no	Purdue	L 67-66	13-14 (7-11)	Assembly Hall (11,938) 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	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Audie Matthews^[3]	27	136	55	87	50	0	12	327
Mark Smith^[4]	27	111	90	163	36	7	37	312
Rich Adams^[5]	27	108	58	133	37	32	25	274
Eddie Johnson^[6]	27	100	20	84	16	8	11	220
Rob Judson^[7]	27	76	45	49	57	1	20	197
Neil Bresnahan^[8]	27	94	31	195	68	2	21	219
Reno Gray^[9]	20	90	6	29	66	1	18	186
Levi Cobb^[10]	27	72	28	131	23	10	17	172

Awards and honors

Eddie Johnson
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Audie Matthews
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[11]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
4	86	Rich Adams	San Antonio Spurs
6	117	Audie Matthews	Detroit Pistons

^[12]

References

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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