1982–83 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
American college basketball season
The 1982–83 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illiniois.
Regular season
One of Illinois’ best groups arrived on campus for the 1982-83 season. Guards Bruce Douglas and Doug Altenberger , and forwards Scott Meents and Efrem Winters joined sophomores George Montgomery and Anthony Welch to form the nucleus for a team that would win 95 games during the next four seasons. During this season, the Fighting Illini became the nation’s 25th team to cap the 1,000-win mark with a 72-70 victory over Texas A&M in the Great Alaska Shootout . Later
that year, Derek Harper was selected First-Team All-Big Ten, falling one vote shy of being a unanimous pick, before leaving school early for the NBA draft . He was a first round selection of the Dallas Mavericks .
Roster
1982–83 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players
Coaches
Pos.
#
Name
Height
Weight
Year
Previous school
Hometown
G
11
Mike O'Brien
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
165 lb (75 kg)
Jr
Richwoods High School
Peoria, Illinois
G
12
Derek Harper (C)
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
185 lb (84 kg)
Jr
North Shore High School
West Palm Beach, Florida
G
20
Kevin Bontemps (C)
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
180 lb (82 kg)
Sr
Morton High School
Morton, Illinois
G
21
Quinn Richardson
5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)
175 lb (79 kg)
Sr
Eisenhower High School
Robbins, Illinois
G
22
Doug Altenberger
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
180 lb (82 kg)
Fr
Richwoods High School
Peoria, Illinois
F
23
George Montgomery
6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
215 lb (98 kg)
So
Corliss High School
Chicago, Illinois
F
24
Efrem Winters
6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
210 lb (95 kg)
Fr
King High School
Chicago, Illinois
G
25
Bruce Douglas
6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
175 lb (79 kg)
Fr
Quincy Senior High School
Quincy, Illinois
F/C
30
Scott Meents
6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
230 lb (104 kg)
Fr
Herscher High School
Kankakee, Illinois
F
31
Don Klusendorf
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
210 lb (95 kg)
Jr
Lyons Township High School
Western Springs, Illinois
F
32
Jay Daniels
6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
185 lb (84 kg)
So
John I. Leonard High School
West Palm Beach, Florida
F
34
Dee Maras
6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
225 lb (102 kg)
So
Antioch Community High School
Antioch, Illinois
G
35
Reggie Woodward
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
170 lb (77 kg)
Fr
King High School
Chicago, Illinois
F
43
Bryan Leonard (C)
6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
230 lb (104 kg)
RS Sr
Belleville High School-East
Belleville, Illinois
F
44
Anthony Welch
6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
180 lb (82 kg)
So
Creston High School
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on
Roster
Schedule and Results
Source[ 1]
Date time, TV
Rank#
Opponent#
Result
Record
Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/26/1982 *no, no
vs. Vanderbilt Great Alaska Shootout
L 47-58
0-1
Buckner Fieldhouse (3,500)Anchorage, AK
11/27/1982 *no, no
vs. Texas A&M Great Alaska Shootout
W 72-70
1-1
Buckner Fieldhouse (3,500)Anchorage, AK
11/28/1982 *no, no
vs. Florida Great Alaska Shootout
W 68-55
2-1
Buckner Fieldhouse (2,500)Anchorage, AK
12/2/1982 *no, no
Valparaiso
W 94-59
3-1
Assembly Hall (11,184)Champaign, IL
12/4/1982 *no, no
Western Michigan
W 75-59
4-1
Assembly Hall (12,874)Champaign, IL
12/19/1982 *no, no
at Kansas State
W 59-55
5-1
Ahearn Field House (11,220)Manhattan, KS
12/11/1982 *no, no
at No. 2 Kentucky
L 57-76
5-2
Rupp Arena (23,872)Lexington, KY
12/13/1982 *no, no
Vanderbilt
W 79-77 2ot
6-2
Assembly Hall (10,341)Champaign
12/17/1982 *no, no
Southern Illinois Illini Classic
W 79-61
7-2
Assembly Hall (10,119)Champaign
12/18/1982 *no, no
Illinois State Illini Classic
W 67-60
8-2
Assembly Hall (14,328)Champaign, IL
12/23/1982 *no, no
at Oklahoma
L 75-101
8-3
Lloyd Noble Center (8,713)Norman, OK
12/31/1982 *no, no
Loyola (Chicago)
W 73-72
9-3
Assembly Hall (10,152)Champaign, IL
1/3/1982 *no, no
vs. Iowa State
W 74-57
10-3
Rosemont Horizon (7,628)Rosemont, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/6/1983 no, no
at Minnesota
L 49-75
10-4 (0-1)
Williams Arena (15,543)Minneapolis, MN
1/8/1983 no, no
at Wisconsin
W 61-54
11-4 (1-1)
Wisconsin Field House (7,401)Madison, WI
1/13/1983 no, no
No. 4 Indiana Rivalry
L 55-69
11-5 (1-2)
Assembly Hall (14,827)Champaign, IL
1/5/1983 no, no
No. 20 Ohio State
W 63-55
12-5 (2-2)
Assembly Hall (13,015)Champaign, IL
1/19/1983 no, no
at Purdue
L 62-63
12-6 (2-3)
Mackey Arena (13,502)West Lafayette, IN
1/27/1983 no, no
at Michigan State
W 78-71
13-6 (3-3)
Jenison Fieldhouse (7,018)East Lansing, MI
1/29/1983 no, no
at Michigan
W 87-74
14-6 (4-3)
Crisler Arena (12,876)Ann Arbor, MI
2/3/1983 no, no
No. 13 Iowa Rivalry
W 62-61
15-6 (5-3)
Assembly Hall (15,181)Champaign, IL
2/5/1983 no, no
Northwestern Rivalry
W 78-62
16-6 (6-3)
Assembly Hall (14,684)Champaign, IL
2/10/1983 no, no
at Northwestern Rivalry
L 55-58
16-7 (6-4)
Alumni Hall (5,223)Chicago, IL
2/12/1983 no, no
at No. 20 Iowa Rivalry
L 66-68
16-8 (6-5)
Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,450)Iowa City, IA
2/17/1983 no, no
Michigan
W 91-71
17-8 (7-5)
Assembly Hall (12,716)Champaign, IL
2/19/1983 no, no
Michigan State
W 69-61
18-8 (8-5)
Assembly Hall (14,123)Champaign, IL
2/23/1983 no, no
Purdue
L 54-56
18-9 (8-6)
Assembly Hall (13,507)Champaign, IL
2/27/1983 no, no
at No. 14 Ohio State
W 74-73
19-9 (9-6)
St. John Arena (11,979)Columbus, OH
3/5/1983 no, no
at No. 11 Indiana Rivalry
L 55-67
19-10 (9-7)
Assembly Hall (17,328)Bloomington, IN
3/10/1983 no, no
Wisconsin
W 71-64
20-10 (10-7)
Assembly Hall (12,947)Champaign, IL
3/13/1983 no, no
Minnesota
W 70-67 2ot
21-10 (11-7)
Assembly Hall (15,386)Champaign, IL
NCAA Tournament
3/17/1983 *no, no
(7 W)
vs. (10 W) Utah First Round
L 49-52
21-11
BSU Pavilion (11,200)Boise, ID [ 2]
*Non-conference game.
# Rankings from
AP Poll . (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in
Central Time .
Player stats
Player
Games Played
Minutes Played
2 pt. Field Goals
3 pt. Field Goals
Free Throws
Rebounds
Assists
Blocks
Steals
Points
Derek Harper[ 3]
32
1182
185
13
83
112
118
18
72
792
Efrem Winters[ 4]
31
977
159
0
67
213
20
31
14
385
Anthony Welch[ 5]
32
1085
158
0
61
201
44
15
17
377
Bruce Douglas [ 6]
32
1016
117
1
64
87
189
5
78
301
George Montgomery[ 7]
32
643
72
0
40
146
22
7
15
184
Bryan Leonard[ 8]
30
495
51
0
20
104
22
9
10
122
Doug Altenberger
31
428
29
1
35
40
23
0
15
96
Scott Meents
29
237
34
0
13
35
27
14
6
81
Jay Daniels
18
250
28
0
15
29
11
2
9
71
Kevin Bontemps
27
138
8
0
14
20
27
0
1
30
Reggie Woodward
14
29
5
1
3
5
4
0
2
16
Don Klusendorf
13
21
2
0
5
6
0
0
0
9
Dee Maras
12
24
2
0
0
9
1
0
1
4
Awards and honors
Team players drafted into the NBA
Player
NBA Club
Round
Pick
Derek Harper
Dallas Mavericks
1
11
[ 10]
Rankings
References
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1982-83 Archived 2014-01-11 at the Wayback Machine , FightingIllini.com
^ 1983 NCAA Tournament
^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014 .
^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014 .
^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014 .
^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014 .
^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014 .
^ "Season Stats" . Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014 .
^ "List of MVPs" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013 .
^ 1983 NBA Draft Archived 2010-03-18 at the Wayback Machine
Venues Rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics