1954–55 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1954–55 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1954–55 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 16
APNo. 18
Record17–5 (10-4 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coachHowie Braun (18th season)
MVPPaul Judson
CaptainMorris Sterneck
Home arenaHuff Hall
Seasons
1954–55 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 5 Iowa 11 3   .786 19 7   .731
No. 18 Illinois 10 4   .714 17 5   .773
No. 11 Minnesota 10 4   .714 15 7   .682
Michigan State 8 6   .571 13 9   .591
Northwestern 7 7   .500 12 10   .545
Purdue 5 9   .357 12 10   .545
Michigan 5 9   .357 11 11   .500
Wisconsin 5 9   .357 10 12   .455
Indiana 5 9   .357 8 14   .364
Ohio State 4 10   .286 10 12   .455
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

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Head coach Harry Combes, in his eighth year at Illinois, directed a youthful team with only three returning seniors, none of which were regular players. Combes' team, once again, was primarily made of sophomores and juniors recruited from the state of Illinois.

The 1954-55 team had some talented juniors including the return of twin brothers, Paul and Phil Judson from Hebron, Illinois, Bruce Brothers and Bill Ridley. It also added sophomores George Bon Salle, Bill Altenberger, Hiles Stout, and future Illini head coach, Harv Schmidt. Exactly like the previous season, the Illini finished with a conference record of 10 wins and 4 losses, finishing in a 2nd place tie in the Big Ten. The Illini lost 5 total games with three of the five losses coming at the hands of ranked opponents. The starting lineup included George Bon Salle at the center position, Bill Ridley and Bill Altenberger at guard and Bruce Brothers and Paul Judson at the forward slots.[1]

Roster

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1954–55 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 7 Morris Sterneck (C) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Sr Salem High School Salem, Illinois
G 9 Elmer Plew 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Paris High School Paris, Illinois
F 10 Hiles Stout 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So Central High School Peoria, Illinois
G 11 Bill Ridley 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Jr Taylorville High School Taylorville, Illinois
F 16 James Burks 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) So Caverna High School Horse Cave, Kentucky
G 20 Bill Altenberger 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Senior High School East St. Louis, Illinois
C 22 George Bon Salle 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) So Loyola Academy Chicago, Illinois
F 27 Jim Dutcher 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Downers Grove High School Downers Grove, Illinois
G 30 Phil Judson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Jr Alden-Hebron High School Hebron, Illinois
F 32 Bruce Brothers 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Quincy Senior High School Quincy, Illinois
G 33 Harvard Schmidt 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Kankakee High School Kankakee, Illinois
G 34 Paul Judson 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Jr Alden-Hebron High School Hebron, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

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

Roster

Schedule

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Source[2]

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state[3]
Non-Conference regular season
12/2/1954*
no, no
Butler W 88–34  1-0
Huff Hall (4,566)
Champaign, IL
12/4/1954*
no, no
Missouri
Rivalry
W 77–69  2-0
Huff Hall (4,766)
Champaign, IL
12/11/1954*
no, no
No. 14 at No. 11 Oklahoma A&M W 59–53  3-0
Gallagher Hall (8,200)
Stillwater, OK
12/15/1954*
no, no
No. 3 Miami (OH) W 97–72  4-0
Huff Hall (4,898)
Champaign, IL
12/18/1954*
no, no
No. 3 No. 20 Notre Dame W 66–57  5-0
Huff Hall (6,804)
Champaign, IL
12/21/1954*
no, no
No. 3 at Rice W 86–53  6-0
Tudor Fieldhouse (3,300)
Houston, TX
12/22/1954*
no, no
No. 3 at Loyola (New Orleans) L 66–72  6-1
The Den (-)
New Orleans, LA
Big Ten regular season
1/1/1955
no, no
No. 6 Wisconsin L 64–79  6-2
(0-1)
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
1/8/1955
no, no
No. 12 Indiana
Rivalry
L 64–67  7-2
(1-1)
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
1/10/1955
no, no
No. 12 at Purdue W 83–73  8-2
(2-1)
Lambert Fieldhouse (9,700)
West Lafayette, IN
1/15/1955
no, no
No. 7 at Ohio State W 86–78  9-2
(3-1)
Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (6,154)
Columbus, OH
1/17/1955
no, no
No. 7 at No. 19 Iowa
Rivalry
L 80–92  9-3
(3-2)
Iowa Field House (15,000)
Iowa City, IA
1/29/1955*
no, no
No. 10 at Loyola (Chicago) W 95–69  10-3
Chicago Stadium (12,181)
Chicago, IL
2/5/1955
no, no
No. 10 Northwestern
Rivalry
W 104–89  11-3
(4-2)
Huff Hall (5,844)
Champaign, IL
2/7/1955
no, no
No. 10 at Michigan W 81–80  12-3
(5-2)
Yost Field House (6,913)
Ann Arbor, MI
2/12/1955
no, no
No. 10 at No. 12 Minnesota L 71–78 OT 12-4
(5-3)
Williams Arena (11,879)
Minneapolis, MN
2/14/1955
no, no
No. 10 Michigan State W 90–72  13-4
(6-3)
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
2/19/1955
no, no
No. 14 at Wisconsin W 99–71  14-4
(7-3)
Wisconsin Field House (12,100)
Madison, WI
2/21/1955
no, no
No. 14 No. 15 Iowa
Rivalry
L 70–89  14-5
(7-4)
Huff Hall (6,912)
Champaign, IL
2/26/1955
no, no
No. 13 Ohio State W 85–77  15-5
(8-4)
Huff Hall (5,829)
Champaign, IL
2/28/1955
no, no
No. 13 Michigan W 81–75  16-5
(9-4)
Huff Hall (4,366)
Champaign, IL
3/5/1955
no, no
No. 17 at Northwestern
Rivalry
W 81–69  17-5
(10-4)
McGaw Memorial Hall (9,765)
Evanston, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

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Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Points
Paul Judson 22 139 85 363
Bill Ridley 22 123 88 334
George BonSalle 20 98 67 263
Bruce Brothers 22 93 55 241
Bill Altenberger 22 91 25 207
Hiles Stout 16 40 44 124
Harv Schmidt 21 36 28 100
Phil Judson 22 35 22 92
Jim Dutcher 13 20 20 60
Morris Sterneck 12 4 1 9
Elmer Plew 12 3 3 9
James Burks 7 2 2 6
Dick Rapp 2 0 0 0
William Bosnak 2 0 0 0

[4]

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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Player NBA Club Round Pick
No Player Drafted

[6]

Rankings

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References

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  1. ^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
  2. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1954-55, FightingIllini.com
  3. ^ Schedule
  4. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 19, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  5. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  6. ^ 1955 NBA Draft Archived 2013-01-05 at the Wayback Machine