1963–64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1963-64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. Not Ranked
AP	No. Not Ranked
1963-64 record	13-11 (6-8 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harry Combes
Assistant coach	Howie Braun
Assistant coach	Jim Wright
MVP	Skip Thoren
Captain	Bill Edwards
Home arena	Assembly Hall

1963–64 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#2 Michigan	11	–	3	.786	23	–	5	.821
Ohio State	11	–	3	.786	16	–	8	.667
Minnesota	10	–	4	.714	17	–	7	.708
Michigan State	8	–	6	.571	14	–	10	.583
Purdue	8	–	6	.571	12	–	12	.500
Illinois	6	–	8	.429	13	–	11	.542
Northwestern	6	–	8	.429	8	–	13	.381
Indiana	5	–	9	.357	9	–	15	.375
Iowa	3	–	11	.214	8	–	15	.348
Wisconsin	2	–	12	.143	8	–	16	.333

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1963–64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1963-64 Fighting Illini basketball team, playing in their first full season in Assembly Hall, dropped back from its previous championship season with a losing finish in the Big Ten and a mediocre overall record. Head coach Harry Combes guided the Illini to a 10-3 record after the first 13 games of the season only to see the team reverse trends and go 3-8 the rest of the way. Once again the Illini played in a mid-season tournament, playing in the Los Angeles Basketball Classic. During the tournament the Illini would face eventual national champion, UCLA.

The 1963-64 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer and team "MVP" Skip Thoren. It also saw the return of team captain Bill Edwards, juniors Tal Brody, Bogie Redmon, Bill McKeown as well as sophomores Don Freeman, Jim Vopicka and Larry Hinton to their lineup. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 6 wins and 8 losses, finishing in a 6th place tie in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 13 wins and 11 losses. The starting lineup included Skip Thoren at the center position, Tal Brody and Jim Vopicka at guard and Don Freeman and Bogie Redmon at the forward slots.^[1]

Roster

No.	Player	Position	Height	Weight	Class	Hometown	High School
10	Larry Bauer	Forward	6-7	207	Junior	Springfield, Illinois	Springfield High School
11	Bob Meadows	Guard	5-7	157	Junior	Collinsville, Illinois	Collinsville High School
12	Tal Brody	Guard	6-2	170	Junior	Trenton, New Jersey	Central High School
14	John Love	Forward	6-3	190	Senior	Ottawa, Illinois	Ottawa Township High School
15	Don Freeman	Forward	6-2	180	Sophomore	Madison, Illinois	Madison High School
20	Mel Blackwell	Forward	6-2	168	Sophomore	Centralia, Illinois	Centralia High School
22	Jim Vopicka	Guard	6-1	170	Sophomore	Brookfield, Illinois	Morton West High School
23	Ron Beeks	Guard	6-1	180	Junior	Princeton, New Jersey	Princeton High School
30	Jeff Ferguson	Forward	6-3	195	Senior	Benton, Illinois	Benton Consolidated High School
31	Tony Latham	Guard	5-10	163	Junior	Waukegan, Illinois	Waukegan High School
32	Bill Edwards (captain)	Guard	6-2	185	Senior	Windsor, Illinois	Windsor High School
33	Bogie Redmon	Forward	6-5	225	Junior	Collinsville, Illinois	Collinsville High School
34	Bill McKeown	Guard	6-2	185	Junior	Clinton, Illinois	Clinton High School
35	Skip Thoren	Center	6-8	215	Junior	Rockford, Illinois	Rockford East High School
40	Bob Brown	Forward	6-2	190	Sophomore	West Frankfort, Illinois	Frankfort Community High School
43	Larry Hinton	Forward	6-2	190	Sophomore	Shelbyville, Illinois	Shelbyville High School
44	Mike Graville	Forward	6-1	170	Sophomore	Madison, Illinois	Madison High School
53	George Johnson	Forward	6-2	185	Sophomore	Elmhurst, Illinois	York High School
54	Dan Lee	Forward	6-3	175	Sophomore	Attica, Indiana	Attica High School

Head Coach: Harry Combes (17th year at Illinois)^[2]

Schedule

Source^[3]

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
11/30/1963* no, no	No. NR	@ Butler	W 59-52	1-0	Hinkle Fieldhouse (11,400) Indianapolis, IN
12/4/1963* no, no	No. NR	vs. St. Louis	L 78-81	2-0	Assembly Hall (14,327) Champaign, IL
12/9/1963* no, no	No. NR	@ Oklahoma	L 104-105	1-2	McCasland Field House (3,800) Norman, OK
12/14/1963* no, no	No. NR	vs. Notre Dame	W 79-68	2-2	Assembly Hall (14,238) Champaign, IL
12/19/1963* no, no	No. NR	vs. Butler	W 74-53	3-2	Assembly Hall (13,681) Champaign, IL
12/26/1963* no, no	No. NR	vs. West Virginia Los Angeles Basketball Classic	W 92-86	4-2	Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (5,104) Los Angeles, CA
12/27/1963* no, no	No. NR	vs. Pittsburgh Los Angeles Basketball Classic	W 83-76	5-2	Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (14,267) Los Angeles, CA
12/28/1963* no, no	No. NR	@ #4 UCLA Los Angeles Basketball Classic	L 79-83	5-3	Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (13,060) Los Angeles, CA
12/31/1963* no, no	No. NR	vs. Notre Dame	W 87-78	6-3	Chicago Stadium (13,571) Chicago, IL
1/4/1964 no, no	No. NR	vs. Michigan State	W 87-66	7-3 (1-0)	Assembly Hall (14,141) Champaign, IL
1/11/1964 no, no	No. NR	@ Iowa	W 87-70	8-3 (2-0)	Iowa Field House (8,800) Iowa City, IA
1/25/1964* no, no	No. NR	vs. Arizona State	L 97-78	9-3	Chicago Stadium (19,000) Chicago, IL
2/1/1964 no, no	No. NR	vs. Northwestern	W 73-71	10-3 (3-0)	Assembly Hall (10,093) Champaign, IL
2/3/1964 no, no	No. NR	vs. Indiana	L 96-104	10-4 (3-1)	Gladstein Fieldhouse (8,002) Bloomington, IN
2/8/1964 no, no	No. NR	vs. #2 Michigan	L 82-93	10-5 (3-2)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
2/10/1964 no, no	No. NR	vs. Ohio State	L 92-110	10-6 (3-3)	St. John Arena (11,351) Columbus, OH
2/15/1964 no, no	No. NR	vs. Minnesota	L 81-92	10-7 (3-4)	Williams Arena (12,461) Minneapolis, MN
2/17/1964 no, no	No. NR	vs. Michigan State	L 82-85	10-8 (3-5)	Jenison Fieldhouse (6,124) East Lansing, MI
2/22/1964 no, no	No. NR	vs. Minnesota	W 86-78	11-8 (4-5)	Assembly Hall (15,676) Champaign, IL
2/24/1964 no, no	No. NR	@ Purdue	L 90-105	11-9 (4-6)	Lambert Fieldhouse (8,184) West Lafayette, IN
2/28/1964 no, no	No. NR	@ #3 Michigan	L 83-89	11-10 (4-7)	Yost Ice Arena (7,875) Ann Arbor, MI
3/2/1964 no, no	No. NR	vs. Ohio State	W 74-86	11-11 (4-8)	Assembly Hall (8,643) Champaign, IL
3/7/1964 no, no	No. NR	vs. Wisconsin	W 97-73	12-11 (5-8)	Assembly Hall (15,826) Champaign, IL
3/9/1964 no, no	No. NR	vs. Iowa	W 90-67	13-11 (6-8)	Assembly Hall (13,676) 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	Points
Skip Thoren^[4]	24	187	114	331	488
Tal Brody^[5]	24	157	91	97	405
Don Freeman^[6]	24	130	81	231	341
Bogie Redmon^[7]	24	97	37	148	231
Jim Vopicka^[8]	24	56	24	62	136
Bill McKeown^[9]	15	46	17	34	109
Larry Hinton^[10]	23	36	18	54	90
Bill Edwards^[11]	20	32	24	24	88
Mel Blackwell^[12]	17	14	14	33	42
Bob Brown^[13]	16	14	12	7	40
Larry Bauer^[14]	12	11	6	24	28
John Love^[15]	16	6	2	17	14
Jeff Ferguson^[16]	2	0	4	0	4

Awards and honors

Tal Brody
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American
- Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American
Duane "Skip" Thoren
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[17]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick
No Player Selected

^[18]

References

↑ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
↑ All-Time Illini Rosters
↑ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1963-64, FightingIllini.com
↑ Season Stats
↑ Season Stats
↑ Season Stats
↑ Season Stats
↑ Season Stats
↑ Season Stats
↑ Season Stats
↑ Season Stats
↑ Season Stats
↑ Season Stats
↑ Season Stats
↑ Season Stats
↑ Season Stats
↑ List of MVPs
↑ 1964 NBA Draft

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 2016–17

Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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