1949–50 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1949–50 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1949–50 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	14–8 (7-5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harry Combes (3rd season)
Assistant coach	Howie Braun (13th season)
MVP	Wally Osterkorn
Captain	Bill Erickson
Home arena	Huff Hall
Seasons ← 1948–49 1950–51 →

1949–50 Big Nine Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 Ohio State	11	–	1		.917			22	–	4		.846
No. 16 Wisconsin	9	–	3		.750			17	–	5		.773
No. 20 Indiana	7	–	5		.583			17	–	5		.773
Illinois	7	–	5		.583			14	–	8		.636
Iowa	6	–	6		.500			15	–	7		.682
Minnesota	4	–	8		.333			13	–	9		.591
Michigan	4	–	8		.333			11	–	11		.500
Northwestern	3	–	9		.250			10	–	12		.455
Purdue	3	–	9		.250			9	–	13		.409
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

The 1949-50 season looked to have solid promise based on the fact that the team had 3 returning starters from a "Final Four" team a year earlier. Unfortunately for the Fighting Illini men's basketball team, the conference season proved to be more difficult than expected. With 5 of the team's 8 losses coming at the hands of conference competition, the Illini, not only placed in a third place tie in the Big Ten, they also missed out on the opportunity to play in a post-season tournament. Head coach Harry Combes had guided the team a year earlier to a Big Ten championship, a third place finish in the 1949 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and a final AP ranking of No. 4 in the nation. The 1949-50 team compiled an overall record of 14 wins and 8 losses with a conference record of 7 wins and 5 losses. The starting lineup included captain William Erickson, Roy Gatewood and Donald Sunderlage as forwards, Rodney Fletcher, and Burdette Thurlby at guard and Walter Osterkorn and Mack Follmer rotating at the center position.^[1]

Roster

1949–50 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 7 Jim Cottrell 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 167 lb (76 kg) Jr Champaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois F 8 Roy Gatewood 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 174 lb (79 kg) Sr Salem High School Salem, Illinois G 11 Don Sunderlage 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Elgin High School Elgin, Illinois C 13 Walter Osterkorn 6 ft 4.5 in (1.94 m) 207 lb (94 kg) Sr Amundsen High School Chicago, Illinois F 14 Burdette Thurlby 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Kirkland High School Kirkland, Illinois C 21 Walt Kersulis 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 197 lb (89 kg) Sr East St. Louis Senior High School East St. Louis, Illinois F 22 Van Anderson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Sullivan Community High School Sullivan, Illinois F 23 Ted Beach 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Jr Champaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois C 27 Mack Follmer 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Forrest High School Forrest, Illinois F 30 Glen Trugillo 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Jr East High School Rockford, Illinois G 33 Bill Erickson (C) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 184 lb (83 kg) Sr East High School Rockford, Illinois G 34 Seymour Gantman 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) 165 lb (75 kg) So Marshall High School Chicago, Illinois G 35 Ren Alde 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Pana High School Pana, Illinois G 37 Rod Fletcher 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 194 lb (88 kg) So Champaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois G 38 Herb Gerecke 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Pekin High School Pekin, Illinois John Marks — — Jr Edwardsville High School Edwardsville, Illinois Cliff Fulton — — Sr Mooseheart High School Mooseheart, Illinois	Head coach Harry Combes (University of Illinois) (3rd year) Assistant coach(es) Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (13th year) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/3/1949*		at Butler	W 60–56	1-0	Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,704) Indianapolis, IN
12/8/1949*		Toledo	W 67–51	2-0	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
12/10/1949*		at Oklahoma	L 47–55	2-1	McCasland Field House (4,500) Norman, OK
12/14/1949*		Arkansas	W 65–53	3-1	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
12/17/1949*		Oklahoma	W 57–47	4-1	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
12/22/1949*		St. Louis	W 59–47	5-1	Huff Hall (5,333) Champaign, IL
12/23/1949*		UCLA	L 63–65	5-2	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
12/27/1949*		Columbia	W 58–46	6-2	Huff Hall (4,760) Champaign, IL
12/30/1949*		Princeton	W 68–61	7-2	Huff Hall (4,593) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/2/1950		at Wisconsin	L 50–59	7-3 (0-1)	Wisconsin Field House (13,000) Madison, WI
1/7/1950	No. 16	at Ohio State	L 62–83	7-4 (0-2)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (-) Columbus, OH
1/9/1950		Purdue	W 59–54	8-4 (1-2)	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
1/16/1950		Northwestern Rivalry	W 76–50	9-4 (2-2)	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
1/21/1950		No. 11 Ohio State	W 66–50	10-4 (3-2)	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
2/1/1950*	No. 20	at St. Louis	L 42–62	10-5	Bauman–Eberhardt Center (-) St. Louis, MO
2/4/1950		at Minnesota	W 67–57	11-5 (4-2)	Williams Arena (13,527) Minneapolis, MN
2/11/1950		at Iowa Rivalry	L 65–70	11-6 (4-3)	Iowa Field House (13,394) Iowa City, IA
2/13/1950		No. 16 Indiana Rivalry	L 72–83	11-7 (4-4)	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
2/18/1950		Michigan	W 70–60	12-7 (5-4)	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
2/25/1950		Wisconsin	W 76–58	13-7 (6-4)	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
2/27/1950		at No. 17 Indiana Rivalry	L 66–80	13-8 (6-5)	The Field House (10,036) Bloomington, IN
3/4/1950		at Northwestern Rivalry	W 69–52	14-8 (7-5)	Chicago Stadium (14,200) Chicago, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Main article: 1949–50 NCAA men's basketball rankings

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Wally Osterkorn	22	125	83	333
Bill Erickson	22	78	73	229
Burdette Thurlby	21	57	52	166
Don Sunderlage	22	54	45	153
Rod Fletcher	19	39	24	102
Roy Gatewood	17	38	18	94
Mack Follmer	22	34	13	81
Van Anderson	19	25	14	64
Walt Kersulis	19	23	14	60
Ted Beach	19	20	13	53
Cliff Fulton	17	7	7	21
Herb Gerecke	6	3	5	11
Seymour Gantman	7	3	3	9
Jim Cottrell	4	1	2	4
John Marks	1	1	0	2
Glen Trugillo	2	1	0	2
Ron Alde	1	0	0	0

^[3]

Awards and honors

• Bill Erickson
  • Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1950)
• Wally Osterkorn
  • Team Most Valuable Player ^[4]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
2	15	Wally Osterkorn	Chicago Stags
7	83	Bill Erickson	Tri-Cities Blackhawks

^[5]

Rankings

Main article: 1949–50 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings