1965–66 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1965–66 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1965–66 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	12–12 (8–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harry Combes (19th season)
Assistant coaches	Howie Braun (29th season) Jim Wright (8th season)
MVP	Donnie Freeman
Captain	Donnie Freeman
Home arena	Assembly Hall
Seasons ← 1964–65 1966–67 →

1965–66 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 9 Michigan	11	–	3		.786			18	–	8		.692
Michigan State	10	–	4		.714			15	–	7		.682
Iowa	8	–	6		.571			17	–	7		.708
Illinois	8	–	6		.571			12	–	12		.500
Minnesota	7	–	7		.500			14	–	10		.583
Northwestern	7	–	7		.500			12	–	12		.500
Wisconsin	6	–	8		.429			11	–	13		.458
Ohio State	5	–	9		.357			11	–	13		.458
Indiana	4	–	10		.286			8	–	16		.333
Purdue	4	–	10		.286			8	–	16		.333
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

Harry Combes entered his 19th season as the head coach of the Fighting Illini. The program was heading in a positive direction with six up-and-coming sophomores joining a varsity team that already included five juniors and five seniors. This balance was demonstrated within the starting lineup which included a rotation of two sophomores, two juniors and two seniors. The starters included, Don Freeman and Rich Jones as forwards, Preston Pearson and Bob Brown as guards, and Ron Dunlap at center.

It was during this season that Freeman would mark his place in Illini history by setting a record for most points in a season (668), while averaging 27.8 points per game. When he finished at Illinois, he had totaled 1449 points and averaged 20.1 points and 10.3 rebounds per game over his three varsity seasons. This offensive output led to Freeman being named a 1st-team All-American by the Helms Foundation, a 2nd-team All-American by Converse and Basketball News, and honorable mention with UPI,

Roster

1965–66 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown F 10 John Prescott 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Lake Forest High School Lake Forest, Illinois G 11 Benny Louis 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) So Pinckneyville Community High School Pinckneyville, Illinois G 12 Greg Wright 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Homewood-Flossmoor High School Glenwood, Illinois G/F 14 Jerry Mettille 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Morris Community High School Morris, Illinois G 15 Donnie Freeman (C) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Madison High School Madison, Illinois F 20 Rich Crusius 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Bloomington High School Bloomington, Illinois F 21 Bob Johansen 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Geneva High School Geneva, Illinois G 24 Jim Dawson 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Jr York High School Elmhurst, Illinois G 25 Preston Pearson 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Freeport High School Freeport, Illinois F 30 Deon Flessner 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Fithian High School Fithian, Illinois G 22 Jim Vopicka 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Morton West High School Brookfield, Illinois F/C 33 Rich Jones 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Lester High School Memphis, Tennessee C 35 Ron Dunlap 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) So Farragut Academy Chicago, Illinois G/F 40 Bob Brown 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Sr P. S. Dupont High School Wilmington, DE F 43 Larry Hinton 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Sr Shelbyville High School Shelbyville, Illinois F 44 Mike Graville 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Madison High School Madison, Illinois F 54 Dan Lee 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Attica High School Attica, Indiana	Head coach Harry Combes (University of Illinois) (19th year) Assistant coach(es) Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (29th year) Jim Wright (University of Illinois) (8th year) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule

Source^[1]

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/1/1965*		Butler	W 88-74	1-0	Assembly Hall (9,167) Champaign, IL
12/3/1965*		at BYU	L 98-109	1-1	Marriott Center (11,488) Provo, Utah
12/4/1965*		at No. 1 UCLA	L 79-97	1-2	Pauley Pavilion (12,365) Los Angeles, CA
12/8/1965*		Kentucky	L 68-86	1-3	Assembly Hall (7,966) Champaign, IL
12/11/1965*		West Virginia	W 96-86	2-3	Assembly Hall (6,251) Champaign, IL
12/14/1965		at Wisconsin	W 90-70	3-3 (1-0)	Wisconsin Field House (8,206) Madison, WI
12/18/1965*		vs. Princeton	L 81-84	3-4	Chicago Stadium (6,038) Chicago, IL
12/27/1965*		vs. Georgetown ECAC Holiday Festival	W 96-94	4-4	Madison Square Garden (8,757) New York, NY
12/28/1965*		vs. No. 10 Providence ECAC Holiday Festival	L 79-81	4-5	Madison Square Garden (12,239) New York, NY
12/30/1965*		vs. Army ECAC Holiday Festival	L 69-78	4-6	Madison Square Garden (18,499) New York, NY
Big Ten regular season
1/8/1966		at Indiana Rivalry	W 98-84	5-6 (2-0)	New Fieldhouse (7,502) Bloomington, IN
1/11/1966		Wisconsin	W 80-64	6-6 (3-0)	Assembly Hall (6,127) Champaign, IL
1/15/1966		at Purdue	L 87-93	6-7 (3-1)	Mackey Arena (8,936) West Lafayette, IN
1/28/1966*		vs. Notre Dame	W 120-92	7-7	Chicago Stadium (18,183) Chicago, IL
2/1/1966		at No. 4 Michigan	W 99-93	8-7 (4-1)	Crisler Arena (9,544) Ann Arbor, MI
2/5/1966		Ohio State	W 78-77	9-7 (5-1)	Assembly Hall (9,838) Champaign, IL
2/7/1966		Northwestern Rivalry	L 77-80	9-8 (5-2)	Assembly Hall (7,695) Champaign, IL
2/12/1966		Indiana Rivalry	L 77-81	9-9 (5-3)	Assembly Hall (8,175) Champaign, IL
2/19/1966		Minnesota	W 100-89	10-9 (6-3)	Assembly Hall (8,643) Champaign, IL
2/22/1966		at Michigan State	L 66-68	10-10 (6-4)	Jenison Fieldhouse (10,484) East Lansing, MI
2/26/1966		at Minnesota	L 92-94	10-11 (6-5)	Williams Arena (7,340) Minneapolis, MN
2/28/1966		Purdue	W 98-81	11-11 (7-5)	Assembly Hall (6,207) Champaign, IL
3/5/1966		Iowa Rivalry	W 106-90	12-11 (8-5)	Assembly Hall (9,592) Champaign, IL
3/7/1966		at Northwestern Rivalry	L 76-84	12-12 (8-6)	McGaw Memorial Hall (4,800) Evanston, 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
Don Freeman[2]	24	258	152	285	668
Rich Jones[3]	24	206	96	265	508
Jim Dawson[4]	24	163	42	100	368
Deon Flessner[5]	24	48	38	127	134
Bob Brown[6]	15	44	24	42	112
Preston Pearson[7]	22	38	30	68	106
Ron Dunlap[8]	23	28	32	109	88
Bob Johansen[9]	20	27	11	37	65
Larry Hinton[10]	20	12	7	13	31
Benny Louis[11]	15	4	4	12	12
Jerry Mettile[12]	6	2	2	2	6
Mike Graville	1	0	0	0	0

Awards and honors

• Don Freeman
  • Team Most Valuable Player ^[13]
  • 1st team All-American (Helms)
  • 2nd team All-American (Converse)
  • 2nd team All-American (Basketball News)
  • Honorable Mention All-American (UPI)
• Rich Jones
  • Honorable Mention All-American (Converse)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick
Don Freeman	Philadelphia 76ers	3	9

^[14]

Rankings

Main article: 1965–66 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings