1995–96 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1995–96 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Illini Classic, Champion
National Invitation Tournament, First Round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1995–96 record	18–13 (7–11 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson
Assistant coach	Dick Nagy
Assistant coach	Jimmy Collins
Assistant coach	Mark Bial
MVP	Kiwane Garris
Captain	Richard Keene Kiwane Garris Jerry Hester
Home arena	Assembly Hall

1995–96 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#4 Purdue	15	–	3	.833	26	–	6	.813
Indiana	13	–	5	.722	20	–	11	.645
#18 Penn State	12	–	6	.667	21	–	7	.750
#21 Iowa	12	–	6	.667	24	–	8	.750
Minnesota	11	–	7	.611	20	–	10	.667
Wisconsin	9	–	9	.500	18	–	14	.563
Michigan State	9	–	9	.500	16	–	16	.500
Illinois	7	–	11	.389	18	–	13	.581
Ohio State	5	–	13	.278	12	–	15	.444
Northwestern	4	–	14	.222	9	–	18	.333
Michigan	1	–	8	.111	1	–	10	.091

Rankings from AP Poll Michigan: 20 Games vacated due to sanctions against the program; 1 NCAA Tourn. vacated Minnesota: 2 NIT vacated due to sanctions against the program Disputed records: Michigan-(21-11)(10-8); Minnesota-(19-13)(10-8)

The 1995–96 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

After advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 1994-95, Illinois extended its run on postseason play with a berth in the 1996 NIT. The Illini started the 1995-96 season 11-1 before losing Kiwane Garris to injury. Without its leader, the Illini dropped its first five Big Ten games. Garris returned, but was never 100 percent and junior forward Jerry Hester missed games with a severely sprained ankle. The Illini finished the 1996 season 18-13 overall, 7-11 in the Big Ten. But more importantly the 1996 season marked the end of the most successful era in Illinois basketball when Lou Henson announced his retirement before the end of the season. In his 21 years at Illinois, Henson notched 423 victories and guided the Illini to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Okay, Oklahoma native coached Illinois to 11, 20-win seasons and finished his career as the third winningest coach in Big Ten history with 214 league victories.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
10	Jeff Lindenmeyer	Arcola, Illinois	Arcola High School	So.	Guard
21	Matt Heldman	Libertyville, Illinois	Libertyville High School	So.	Guard
22	Kiwane Garris (captain)	Chicago, Illinois	Westinghouse High School	Jr.	Guard
24	Richard Keene (captain)	Collinsville, Illinois	Collinsville High School	Sr.	Guard
25	Bryant Notree	Chicago, Illinois	Simeon High School	So.	Guard
31	Brett Robisch	Springfield, Illinois	Calvary Academy	So.	Center
32	Jerry Gee	Chicago, Illinois	St. Martin de Porres High School	So.	Forward
33	Kevin Turner	Chicago, Illinois	Simeon High School	So.	Guard
34	Brian Johnson	Des Plaines, Illinois	Maine West High School	So.	Forward
40	Jerry Hester (captain)	Peoria, Illinois	Manual High School	Jr.	Forward
44	Ryan Blackwell	Pittsford, New York	Pittsford Sutherland High School	Fr.	Forward
45	Chris Gandy	Kankakee, Illinois	Bradley Bourbanais High School	Jr.	Forward

Head Coach Lou Henson (21st year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Regular Season
11/25/1995* no, no	#NR	vs. Texas-San Antonio	W 83-80	1-0	Assembly Hall (12,382) Champaign, IL
11/28/1995* no, no	#NR	vs. Eastern Illinois	W 89-57	2-0	Assembly Hall (13,521) Champaign, IL
12/2/1995* no, no	#NR	@ #12 Duke	W 75-65	3-0	Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314) Durham, NC
12/4/1995* no, no	#21	vs. Kansas State	W 82-56	4-0	Assembly Hall (13,814) Champaign, IL
12/8/1995* no, no	#21	vs. Southeast Missouri State Illini Classic	W 89-70	5-0	Assembly Hall (14,611) Champaign, IL
12/9/1995* no, no	#21	vs. Ball State Illini Classic	W 97-53	6-0	Assembly Hall (14,920) Champaign, IL
12/16/1995* no, no	#16	vs. Illinois-Chicago	W 81-73	7-0	Assembly Hall (15,902) Champaign, IL
12/20/1995* no, no	#14	vs. #15 Missouri Braggin' Rights	W 96-85 ^ot	8-0	Scottrade Center (21,901) St. Louis, MO
12/23/1995* no, no	#14	vs. California	W 83-69	9-0	United Center (15,046) Chicago, IL
12/27/1995* no, no	#12	vs. #13 Syracuse Rainbow Classic	L 64-75	9-1	Stan Sheriff Center (8,757) Honolulu, HI
12/29/1995* no, no	#12	@ Hawaii Rainbow Classic	W 82-81 ^ot	10-1	Stan Sheriff Center (7,827) Honolulu, HI
12/30/1995* no, no	#12	vs. North Carolina State Rainbow Classic	W 85-76	11-1	Assembly Hall (7,787) Champaign, IL
1/3/1996 no, no	#13	@ Minnesota	L 64-69	11-2 (0-1)	Williams Arena (14,221) Minneapolis, MN
1/6/1996 no, no	#13	vs. Michigan State	L 58-68	11-3 (0-2)	Assembly Hall (16,413) Champaign, IL
2/26/1995 no, no	#21	@ #23 Michigan	L 68-83	11-4 (0-3)	Crisler Arena (13,562) Ann Arbor, MI
1/13/1996 no, no	#21	vs. Indiana	L 71-85	11-5 (0-4)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
1/18/1996 no, no	#NR	@ Iowa	L 79-82	11-6 (0-5)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA
1/20/1996 no, no	#NR	@ #17 Purdue	W 71-67	12-6 (1-5)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
1/24/1996 no, no	#NR	vs. Ohio State	W 77-46	13-6 (2-5)	Assembly Hall (14,862) Champaign, IL
1/27/1996 no, no	#NR	@ Northwestern	W 74-62	14-6 (3-5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL
2/3/1996 no, no	#NR	vs. Wisconsin	L 56-57	14-7 (3-6)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
2/8/1996 no, no	#NR	@ #10 Penn State	L 58-61	14-8 (3-7)	Bryce Jordan Center (14,754) University Park, PA
2/14/1996 no, no	#NR	vs. Northwestern	W 93-62	15-8 (4-7)	Assembly Hall (13,560) Champaign, IL
2/17/1996 no, no	#NR	@ Ohio State	W 76-67	16-8 (5-7)	St. John Arena (12,718) Columbus, OH
2/20/1996 no, no	#NR	vs. #7 Purdue	L 71-74	16-9 (5-8)	Assembly Hall (15,628) Champaign, IL
2/24/1996 no, no	#NR	vs. #18 Iowa	W 91-86	17-9 (6-8)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
2/28/1996 no, no	#NR	@ Indiana	L 64-76	17-10 (6-9)	Assembly Hall (17,139) Bloomington, IN
3/3/1996 no, no	#NR	vs. Michigan	W 73-62	18-10 (7-9)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
3/6/1996 no, no	#NR	@ Michigan State	L 67-77	18-11 (7-10)	Breslin Student Events Center (13,187) East Lansing, MI
3/9/1996 no, no	#NR	vs. Minnesota	L 66-67 ^ot	18-12 (7-11)	Assembly Hall (16,206) Champaign, IL
National Invitation Tournament
3/13/1996* no, no	#NR	vs. Alabama National Invitation Tournament	L 69-72	18-13	Assembly Hall (8,398) 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	Three Pointers	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Kiwane Garris^[3]	25	118	38	112	86	98	0	42	386
Jerry Hester^[4]	28	112	38	46	111	35	9	16	308
Brian Notree^[5]	31	122	17	66	190	30	5	32	327
Richard Keene^[6]	31	107	69	34	116	162	8	40	317
Jerry Gee^[7]	31	115	0	35	190	16	33	17	265
Chris Gandy^[8]	31	76	4	33	126	14	16	14	189
Matt Heldman^[9]	31	53	30	33	29	43	1	11	175
Kevin Turner^[10]	31	65	25	15	49	54	3	17	170

Awards and honors

Kiwane Garris
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[11]

National Invitation Tournament

Alabama 72, Illinois 69

^[12]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club

^[13]

Rankings

Main article: 1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

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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