1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. Not ranked
AP	No. Not ranked
1970–71 record	11-12 (5–9 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harv Schmidt;
Assistant coaches	; ; Nat Frazier;
MVP
Captain	and
Home arena	Assembly Hall
	Seasons ← 1969–70 1971–72 →

The 1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season[]

Head coach Harv Schmidt, in only his fourth season at the helm of the Fighting Illini men's basketball team, saw the longest losing streak of his career, 8 games. After starting the year by winning 9 of their first 12 games and 10 of their first 14, the Illini started their losing streak at Ohio State on February 13, and continue for a month. The agonizing month ended March 13, 1971, when the Illini visited Indiana in the season finale. The Fighting Illini finished the season with an 11-12 record, tied for 5th place in the conference with a 5-9 record.

The Illini added sophomore forward Nick Weatherspoon for the season. Weatherspoon finished his inaugural season by scoring 381 points, averaging 16.5 points per game, and collected 246 rebounds. By the completion of his time at Illinois, Weatherspoon was their all-time leading scorer.

The 1970-71 team's starting lineup included Weatherspoon and at the forward spots, and as guards and at center.

Roster[]

1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	10	Rick Howat (C)	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	Sr	Downers Grove North High School	Downers Grove, Illinois
F	12	Nick Weatherspoon	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	McKinley High School	Canton, Ohio
G/F	14	Fred Miller (C)	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Sr	Pekin High School	Pekin, Illinois
G	21	Larry Cohen	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	So	New Trier East High School	Wilmette, Illinois
G	25	Jim Krelle	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Jr	Aurora West High School	Aurora, Illinois
C	31	Greg Jackson	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	265 lb (120 kg)	Sr	St. Philip High School	Chicago, Illinois
G	32	Sam Scaletta	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Jr	Eisenhower High School	Blue Island, Illinois
G/F	33	Alvin O'Neal	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	183 lb (83 kg)	So	Spalding High School	Peoria, Illinois
F	35	Jim Rucks	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	So	Waukegan High School	Waukegan, Illinois
F	40	Tom Dezort	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Jr	Edwardsville High School	Edwardsville, Illinois
G	43	Bob Shapland	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Central High School	Champaign, Illinois
F	44	Jed Foster	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	So		Fairfield, Illinois
F/C	45	Nick Conner	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	So	East High School	Columbus, Ohio
F/C	54	Jim DeDecker	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	So	Alleman High School	Moline, Illinois

Head coach

Harv Schmidt (University of Illinois) (4th year)

Assistant coach(es)

(4th year)
(University of Illinois) (12th year)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

All-Time Illini Roster

Source^[1] ^[2]

Schedule[]

Source^[3]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/1/1970* no, no	No. NR	vs.Butler	W 113-102	1 - 0	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
12/5/1970* no, no	No. NR	vs. Oklahoma	L 72-74	1 - 1	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
12/8/1970* no, no	No. NR	vs. Vanderbilt	W 96-79	2 - 1	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
12/12/1970* no, no	No. NR	@ Iowa State	W 78-63	3 - 1	Iowa State Armory (6,000) Ames, IA
12/14/1970* no, no	No. NR	vs. Northern Michigan	W 82-70	4 - 1	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
12/26/1970* no, no	No. NR	vs. #13 Villanova	L 76-89	4-2	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (7,500) Honolulu, HI
12/30/1970* no, no	No. NR	vs. St. Louis Rainbow Classic	W 78-60	5-2	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (1,414) Honolulu, HI

1/9/1971 no, no	No. NR	vs. Michigan State	W 89-61	6 - 2 ( 1 - 0 )	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
1/12/1971 no, no	No. NR	vs. Wisconsin	W 84-82	7 - 2 ( 2 - 0 )	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
1/16/1971 no, no	No. NR	@ Michigan State	W 69-67	8 - 2 ( 3 - 0 )	Jenison Fieldhouse (7,323) East Lansing, MI
1/29/1971* no, no	No. 18	vs. #3 Southern California	L 68-81	8 - 3	Chicago Stadium (15,000) Chicago, IL
1/30/1971* no, no	No. 18	vs. #7 Notre Dame	W 69-66 ^OT	9 - 3	Chicago Stadium (17,000) Chicago, IL
2/2/1971 no, no	No. 15	@ Iowa Rivalry	L 84-92	9 - 4 ( 3 - 1 )	Iowa Field House (13,105) Iowa City, IA
2/6/1971 no, no	No. 15	vs. Minnesota	W 93-78	10 - 4 ( 4 - 1 )	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
2/13/1971 no, no	No. NR	@ Ohio State	L 72-92	10 - 5 ( 4 - 2 )	St. John Arena (13,489) Columbus, OH
2/16/1971 no, no	No. NR	vs. Purdue	L 70-73	10 - 6 ( 4 - 3 )	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
2/20/1971 no, no	No. NR	vs. Indiana Rivalry	L 86-88	10 - 7 ( 4 - 4 )	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
2/23/1971 no, no	No. NR	@ Wisconsin	L 84-88	10 - 8 ( 4 - 5 )	Wisconsin Field House (5,878) Madison, WI
2/27/1971 no, no	No. NR	@ Minnesota	L 64-80	10 - 9 ( 4 - 6 )	Williams Arena (7,317) Minneapolis, MN
3/2/1971 no, no	No. NR	vs. Michigan	L 74-75	10 - 10 ( 4 - 7 )	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
3/6/1971 no, no	No. NR	@ Purdue	L 93-99	10 - 11 ( 4 - 8 )	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
3/9/1971 no, no	No. NR	vs. Northwestern	L 70-85	10 - 12 ( 4 - 9 )	Assembly Hall (5,885) Champaign, IL
3/13/1971 no, no	No. NR	@ Indiana Rivalry	L 67-87	11 - 12 ( 5 - 9 )	Assembly Hall (7,286) Bloomington, IN
*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
Rick Howat^[4]	23	190	94	67	474
Nick Weatherspoon^[5]	23	151	79	246	381
Greg Jackson^[6]	23	113	49	157	275
Fred Miller^[7]	22	79	65	109	223
Nick Conner^[8]	23	74	33	162	181
Jim DeDecker^[9]	22	37	16	40	90
Jim Krelle^[10]	17	31	12	38	74
Alvin O'Neal	16	24	7	33	55
Jed Foster^[11]	21	19	15	40	53
Larry Cohen	17	16	4	12	36
Bob Shapland	12	4	6	6	14
Tom Dezort	5	3	2	2	8
Jim Rucks	2	1	0	2	2
Sam Scaletta	1	0	1	0	1

Awards and honors[]

- Team Most Valuable Player ^[12]

Team players drafted into the NBA[]

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick

^[13]

Rankings[]

References[]

^ Men's Basketball Roster
^ All-Time Illini Rosters All-Time Illini Rosters Archived 2010-04-22 at the Wayback Machine
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1970-71 Archived 2013-12-16 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
^ Season Stats pg. 117
^ Season Stats pg. 117
^ Season Stats pg. 117
^ Season Stats pg. 117
^ Season Stats pg. 117
^ Season Stats pg. 117
^ Season Stats pg. 117
^ Season Stats pg. 117
^ List of MVPs
^ 1971 NBA Draft

[1] Men's Basketball Roster

[2] All-Time Illini Rosters All-Time Illini Rosters Archived 2010-04-22 at the Wayback Machine

[3] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1970-71 Archived 2013-12-16 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com

[4] Season Stats pg. 117

[5] Season Stats pg. 117

[6] Season Stats pg. 117

[7] Season Stats pg. 117

[8] Season Stats pg. 117

[9] Season Stats pg. 117

[10] Season Stats pg. 117

[11] Season Stats pg. 117

[12] List of MVPs

[13] 1971 NBA Draft

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

hide v t 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 Iowa Missouri Northwestern
Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
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 1999–2000 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 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics


v t	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 10 Ohio State	13	–	1	.929	20	–	6	.769
Michigan	12	–	2	.857	19	–	7	.731
Purdue	11	–	3	.786	18	–	7	.720
Indiana	9	–	5	.643	17	–	7	.708
Illinois	5	–	9	.357	11	–	12	.478
Minnesota	5	–	9	.357	11	–	13	.458
Michigan State	4	–	10	.286	10	–	14	.417
Iowa	4	–	10	.286	9	–	15	.375
Wisconsin	4	–	10	.286	9	–	15	.375
Northwestern	3	–	11	.214	7	–	17	.292

Rankings from AP Poll