1975–76 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
American college basketball season
The 1975–76 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.
Regular season
During the 1975-76 season, Illinois finished seventh in the Big Ten going went 14-13 overall. Lou Henson took over the team as head coach, replacing Gene Bartow after Bartow left Illinois to replace John Wooden at UCLA.
Roster
1975–76 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players
Coaches
Pos.
#
Name
Height
Weight
Year
Previous school
Hometown
G
10
Nate Williams
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
185 lb (84 kg)
Sr
Crane High School
Chicago, Illinois
F
12
Ken Ferdinand
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
200 lb (91 kg)
Fr
Urbana High School
Urbana, Illinois
G
20
Dennis Graff
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
170 lb (77 kg)
Sr
Gibson City High School
Gibson City, Illinois
G
23
Larry Lubin
6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
175 lb (79 kg)
Fr
New Trier High School
Glencoe, Illinois
F
24
Tom Gerhardt
6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
210 lb (95 kg)
So
De La Salle High School
Chicago, Illinois
G
33
Otho Tucker
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
200 lb (91 kg)
RS Sr
Paris High School
Paris, Illinois
G/F
34
Rick Leighty
6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
180 lb (82 kg)
So
Lawrenceville High School
Lawrenceville, Illinois
F
40
Rich Adams
6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
200 lb (91 kg)
So
Colerain High School
Cincinnati, Ohio
G/F
42
Tim Bushell
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
195 lb (88 kg)
Jr
Lincoln Community High School
Lincoln, Illinois
G/F
44
Audie Matthews
6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
180 lb (82 kg)
So
Bloom High School
Chicago Heights, Illinois
C
53
Bill Rucks
7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
250 lb (113 kg)
Sr
Waukegan High School
Waukegan, Illinois
C
54
Mike Washington
6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
195 lb (88 kg)
So
Morgan Park High School
Chicago, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on
Roster
Schedule
Source[ 1]
Date time, TV
Opponent
Result
Record
Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/28/1975 *no, no
at Nebraska
W 60-58
1 - 0
Nebraska Coliseum (6,235)Lincoln, NE
12/1/1975 *no, no
Kent State
W 73-54
2 - 0
Assembly Hall (5,007)Champaign, IL
12/4/1975 *no, no
Missouri-Rolla
W 67-65
3 - 0
Assembly Hall (5,050)Champaign, IL
12/6/1975 *no, no
New Mexico
W 67-66 OT
4 - 0
Assembly Hall (5,684)Champaign, IL
12/8/1976 *no, no
North Dakota State
W 90-73
5 - 0
Assembly Hall (3,016)Champaign, IL
12/11/1975 *no, no
at Furman
L 73-75
5 - 1
Greenville, South Carolina (2,579)Greenville, SC
12/13/1975 *no, no
at Southern California
L 58-62
5 - 2
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (4,458)Los Angeles, CA
12/20/1975 *no, no
Arizona
W 66-60
6 - 2
Assembly Hall (6,115)Champaign, IL
12/22/1975 *no, no
Rice
W 106-64
7 - 2
Assembly Hall (6,192)Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/3/1976 no, no
at Iowa Rivalry
L 60-84
7 - 3 (0 - 1)
Iowa Field House (13,171)Iowa City, IA
1/8/1976 no, no
at No. 17 Minnesota
L 68-77
7 - 4 (0 - 2)
Williams Arena (10,062)Minneapolis, MN
1/10/1976 no, no
Northwestern Rivalry
W 74-69
8 - 4 (1 - 2)
Assembly Hall (5,547)Champaign, IL
1/12/1976 no, no
Wisconsin
W 71-61
9 - 4 (2 - 2)
Assembly Hall (6,968)Champaign, IL
1/17/1976 no, no
No. 1 Indiana Rivalry
L 55-83
9 - 5 (2 - 3)
Assembly Hall (16,128)Champaign, IL
1/19/1976 no, no
at Ohio State
L 63-64
9 - 6 (2 - 4)
St. John Arena (5,715)Columbus, OH
1/24/1976 no, no
Michigan State
L 63-74
9 - 7 (2 - 5)
Assembly Hall (6,975)Champaign, IL
1/26/1976 no, no
No. 17 Michigan
W 76-75
10 - 7 (3 - 5)
Assembly Hall (5,863)Champaign, IL
1/31/1976 no, no
Purdue
W 71-63
11 - 7 (4 - 5)
Assembly Hall (8,467)Champaign, IL
2/2/1976 no, no
Minnesota
L 62-72
11 - 8 (4 - 6)
Assembly Hall (7,317)Champaign, IL
2/7/1976 no, no
at Northwestern Rivalry
W 61-55
12 - 8 (5 - 6)
McGaw Memorial Hall (4,228)Evanston, IL
2/9/1976 no, no
at Wisconsin
W 70-59
13 - 8 (6 - 6)
Wisconsin Field House (3,883)Madison, WI
2/14/1976 no, no
at No. 1 Indiana Rivalry
L 48-58
13 - 9 (6 - 7)
Assembly Hall (17,759)Bloomington, IN
2/16/1976 no, no
Ohio State
W 91-73
14 - 9 (7 - 7)
Assembly Hall (8,087)Champaign, IL
2/21/1976 no, no
at Michigan State
L 59-69
14 - 10 (7 - 8)
Jenison Fieldhouse (4,227)East Lansing, MI
2/23/1976 no, no
at No. 15 Michigan
L 75-90
14 - 11 (7 - 9)
Crisler Center (8,121)Ann Arbor, MI
2/28/1976 no, no
at Purdue
L 62-81
14 - 12 (7 - 10)
Mackey Arena (13,729)West Lafayette, IN
3/6/1976 no, no
Iowa Rivalry
L 70-82
14 - 13 (7 - 11)
Assembly Hall (10,028)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
Points
Rich Adams[ 2]
27
181
67
158
41
429
Audi Matthews[ 3]
27
129
46
144
50
304
Mike Washington[ 4]
27
105
40
142
78
250
Nate Williams[ 5]
18
102
39
63
44
243
Otho Tucker[ 6]
26
83
68
135
84
234
Ken Ferdinand[ 7]
26
72
17
83
11
161
Rick Leighty[ 8]
27
50
10
70
53
110
Larry Lubin
26
22
16
19
46
60
Tom Gearhardt
22
15
8
34
12
38
Dennis Graff
15
4
16
4
6
24
Tim Bushell
8
2
2
3
2
6
Awards and honors
Nate Williams
Team Most Valuable Player [ 9]
Team players drafted into the NBA
[ 10]
Rankings
References
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1975-76 Archived 2013-12-16 at the Wayback Machine , FightingIllini.com
^ "Season Stats pg. 118" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2013 .
^ "Season Stats pg. 118" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2013 .
^ "Season Stats pg. 118" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2013 .
^ "Season Stats pg. 118" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2013 .
^ "Season Stats pg. 118" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2013 .
^ "Season Stats pg. 118" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2013 .
^ "Season Stats pg. 118" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2013 .
^ "List of MVPs" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2013 .
^ 1976 NBA Draft Archived 2012-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
Venues Rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics