1996–97 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1996–97 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Illini Classic, Champion
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Second Round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#24
AP	#19
1996–97 record	22–10 (11–7 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lon Kruger
Assistant coach	Robert McCullum
Assistant coach	Rob Judson
Assistant coach	Mike Shepherd
MVP	Kiwane Garris
Captain	Herb Caldwell Kiwane Garris Chris Gandy
Home arena	Assembly Hall

1996–97 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#3 Minnesota*	16	–	2	.889	31	–	4	.886
Iowa	12	–	6	.667	22	–	10	.688
Purdue	12	–	6	.667	18	–	12	.600
#19 Illinois	11	–	7	.611	22	–	10	.688
Wisconsin	11	–	7	.611	18	–	10	.643
Indiana	9	–	9	.500	22	–	11	.667
Michigan State	9	–	9	.500	17	–	12	.586
Ohio State	5	–	13	.278	10	–	17	.370
Penn State	3	–	15	.167	10	–	17	.370
Northwestern	2	–	16	.111	7	–	22	.241
Michigan*	0	–	9	.000	0	–	11	.000

Rankings from AP Poll Michigan: 24 games vacated; including NIT champ. vacated due to sanctions against the program Minnesota: 5G NCAA Tourn. vacated due to sanctions against the program Disputed records: Michigan-(24-11)(9-9); Minnesota-(35-5)(16-2)

The 1996–97 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

On March 21, 1996, a new era in Illinois basketball began when Director of Athletics Ron Guenther introduced Lon Kruger as the University’s 14th men’s basketball coach. Kruger came to Illinois from the University of Florida and carried a list of impressive credentials, including guiding Florida to the Final Four in 1994. In his first year at Illinois, Kruger guided Illinois to a 22-10 record and the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Over the course of the season, Illinois defeated five ranked opponents, including No. 7 Minnesota, 96-90, at the Assembly Hall. Illinois also traveled to Bloomington and handed Indiana a 78-74 loss, the first win for Illinois at Assembly Hall in Bloomington since 1990. During the course of the year, Kiwane Garris etched his name in the Illinois record book with one of the best season performances by any Illini player in history. He finished his career second on the all-time scoring list with 1,948 points and set the single-season record for free throws made and attempted. Garris averaged 19.4 points and missed being the Big Ten’s leading scorer by three one-hundredths of a point.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
00	Victor Chukwudebe	Springfield, Illinois	Lanphier High School	Fr.	Forward
4	Fess Hawkins	Pine Bluff, Arkansas	Dollarway High School	Fr.	Center
5	Halim Abdullah	Jersey City, New Jersey	St. Anthony High School	Jr.	Guard
21	Matt Heldman	Libertyville, Illinois	Libertyville High School	Jr.	Guard
22	Kiwane Garris (captain)	Chicago, Illinois	Westinghouse High School	Sr.	Guard
25	Bryant Notree	Chicago, Illinois	Simeon High School	Jr.	Guard
32	Jerry Gee	Chicago, Illinois	St. Martin de Porres High School	Jr.	Forward
33	Kevin Turner	Chicago, Illinois	Simeon High School	Jr.	Guard
34	Brian Johnson	Des Plaines, Illinois	Maine West High School	Jr.	Forward
35	Carvell Ammons	Champaign, Illinois	Centennial High School	So.	Forward
40	Jerry Hester	Peoria, Illinois	Manual High School	Sr.	Forward
42	Herb Caldwell (captain)	Jacksonville, Illinois	Jacksonville High School	Sr.	Forward
45	Chris Gandy (captain)	Kankakee, Illinois	Bradley Bourbonnais High School	Sr.	Forward

Head Coach Lon Kruger (1st year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Regular Season
11/22/1996* no, no		@ Illinois-Chicago	W 68-63	1-0	UIC Pavilion (8,715) Chicago, IL
11/25/1996* no, no		vs. Delaware State	W 92-51	2-0	Assembly Hall (10,993) Champaign, IL
11/29/1996* no, no		vs. TCU Big Island Invitational	W 73-67	3-0	UHH Gymnasium (1,000) Hilo, HI
11/30/1996* no, no		vs. Louisville Big Island Invitational	L 60-70	3-1	UHH Gymnasium (1,000) Hilo, HI
12/1/1996* no, no		vs. Virginia Tech Big Island Invitational	W 92-68	4-1	UHH Gymnasium (1,000) Hilo, HI
12/3/1996* no, no		@ California	L 88-89 ^2ot	4-2	Haas Pavilion (6,578) Berkeley, CA
12/6/1996* no, no		vs. Columbia Illini Classic	W 84-59	5-2	Assembly Hall (11,847) Champaign, IL
12/7/1996* no, no		vs. Tennessee State Illini Classic	W 86-73	6-2	Assembly Hall (12,160) Champaign, IL
12/11/1996* no, no	#12	vs. Chicago State	W 94-57	7-2	Assembly Hall (8,757) Champaign, IL
12/14/1996* no, no		vs. Coppin State	W 91-55	8-2	Assembly Hall (14,269) Champaign, IL
12/21/1996* no, no		vs. #24 UCLA	W 79-63	9-2	United Center (15,331) Chicago, IL
12/28/1996* no, no		vs. Missouri Braggin' Rights	W 85-69	10-2	Scottrade Center (22,371) St. Louis, MO
1/2/1997 no, no	#24	vs. Purdue	L 69-75	10-3 (0-1)	Assembly Hall (15,364) Champaign, IL
1/4/1997 no, no	#24	@ Ohio State	W 72-64	11-3 (1-1)	St. John Arena (10,503) Columbus, OH
1/9/1996 no, no	#25	@ #16 Michigan	L 74-88	11-4 (1-2)	Crisler Arena (13,265) Ann Arbor, MI
1/11/1997 no, no	#25	vs. Penn State	W 85-70	12-4 (2-2)	Assembly Hall (14,251) Champaign, IL
1/14/1997 no, no		vs. #7 Minnesota	W 96-90	13-4 (3-2)	Assembly Hall (12,326) Champaign, IL
1/22/1997 no, no		@ Michigan State	W 66-63	14-4 (4-2)	Breslin Student Events Center (12,975) East Lansing, MI
1/25/1997 no, no		vs. Wisconsin	L 56-73	14-5 (4-3)	Assembly Hall (15,448) Champaign, IL
1/29/1997 no, no		@ Iowa	L 65-82	14-6 (4-4)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA
2/2/1997 no, no		@ #17 Indiana	W 78-74	15-6 (5-4)	Assembly Hall (17,341) Bloomington, IN
2/5/1997 no, no		vs. Northwestern	W 70-58	16-6 (6-4)	Assembly Hall (12,430) Champaign, IL
2/9/1997 no, no		vs. #25 Iowa	W 66-51	17-6 (7-4)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
2/12/1997 no, no	#20	@ Wisconsin	L 45-62	17-7 (7-5)	Wisconsin Field House (11,500) Madison, WI
2/15/1997 no, no	#20	vs. Michigan State	W 79-68	18-7 (8-5)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
2/22/1997 no, no	#23	@ #2 Minnesota	L 66-67	18-8 (8-6)	Williams Arena (14,554) Minneapolis, MN
2/25/1997 no, no	#21	@ Penn State	W 87-65	19-8 (9-6)	Bryce Jordan Center (12,697) University Park, PA
3/2/1997 no, no	#21	vs. #24 Michigan	W 70-51	20-8 (10-6)	Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL
3/5/1997 no, no	#15	vs. Ohio State	W 90-83	21-8 (11-6)	St. John Arena (13,702) Columbus, OH
3/8/1997 no, no	#15	@ Purdue	L 69-77	21-9 (11-7)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
NCAA Tournament
3/14/1997* no, no	#19	vs. Southern California NCAA Tournament	W 90-77	22-9	Charlotte Coliseum (11,206) Charlotte, NC
3/16/1997* no, no	#19	vs. UT Chattanooga NCAA Tournament	L 63-75	22-10	Charlotte Coliseum (14,864) Charlotte, NC
*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]	30	161	73	181	108	163	2	52	576
Chris Gandy^[4]	30	119	12	68	174	16	19	27	318
Matt Heldman^[5]	30	99	61	45	104	60	1	41	304
Kevin Turner^[6]	30	113	59	16	68	63	1	31	301
Brian Notree^[7]	30	90	10	58	112	41	1	21	248
Jerry Gee^[8]	30	83	0	22	117	21	10	13	188
Brian Johnson^[9]	30	55	31	49	119	61	13	20	160
Victor Chukwudebe^[10]	30	32	0	12	65	4	12	11	76

NCAA basketball tournament

Southeast regional
- Illinois 90, Southern Cal 77
- Tennessee-Chattanooga 75, Illinois 63

^[11]

Awards and honors

Kiwane Garris
- Associated Press All-American Honorable Mention
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[12]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club

^[13]

Rankings

Main article: 1996–97 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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