1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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

1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	11-12 (5–9 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harv Schmidt (4th season)
Assistant coaches	Dick Campbell (4th season) Jim Wright (12th season) Nat Frazier (1st season)
MVP	Rick Howat
Captains	Rick Howat Fred Miller
Home arena	Assembly Hall
Seasons ← 1969–70 1971–72 →

1970–71 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	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

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 Fred Miller at the forward spots, Jim Krelle and Rick Howat as guards and Greg Jackson 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 High School 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) Dick Campbell (4th year) Jim Wright (University of Illinois) (12th 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
12/1/1970*		Butler	W 113-102	1 - 0	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
12/5/1970*		Oklahoma	L 72-74	1 - 1	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
12/8/1970*		Vanderbilt	W 96-79	2 - 1	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
12/12/1970*		at Iowa State	W 78-63	3 - 1	Iowa State Armory (6,000) Ames, IA
12/14/1970*		Northern Michigan	W 82-70	4 - 1	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
12/26/1970*		vs. No. 13 Villanova Rainbow Classic	L 76-89	4-2	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (7,500) Honolulu, HI
12/30/1970*		vs. St. Louis Rainbow Classic	W 78-60	5-2	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (1,414) Honolulu, HI
Big Ten regular season
1/9/1971		Michigan State	W 89-61	6 - 2 (1 - 0)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
1/12/1971		Wisconsin	W 84-82	7 - 2 (2 - 0)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
1/16/1971		at Michigan State	W 69-67	8 - 2 (3 - 0)	Jenison Fieldhouse (7,323) East Lansing, MI
1/29/1971*	No. 18	vs. No. 3 Southern California	L 68-81	8 - 3	Chicago Stadium (15,000) Chicago, IL
1/30/1971*	No. 18	vs. No. 7 Notre Dame	W 69-66 OT	9 - 3	Chicago Stadium (17,000) Chicago, IL
2/2/1971	No. 15	at Iowa Rivalry	L 84-92	9 - 4 (3 - 1)	Iowa Field House (13,105) Iowa City, IA
2/6/1971	No. 15	Minnesota	W 93-78	10 - 4 (4 - 1)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
2/13/1971		at Ohio State	L 72-92	10 - 5 (4 - 2)	St. John Arena (13,489) Columbus, OH
2/16/1971		Purdue	L 70-73	10 - 6 (4 - 3)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
2/20/1971		Indiana Rivalry	L 86-88	10 - 7 (4 - 4)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
2/23/1971		at Wisconsin	L 84-88	10 - 8 (4 - 5)	Wisconsin Field House (5,878) Madison, WI
2/27/1971		at Minnesota	L 64-80	10 - 9 (4 - 6)	Williams Arena (7,317) Minneapolis, MN
3/2/1971		Michigan	L 74-75	10 - 10 (4 - 7)	Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL
3/6/1971		at Purdue	L 93-99	10 - 11 (4 - 8)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
3/9/1971		Northwestern Rivalry	L 70-85	10 - 12 (4 - 9)	Assembly Hall (5,885) Champaign, IL
3/13/1971		at 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[2]	23	190	94	67	474
Nick Weatherspoon[3]	23	151	79	246	381
Greg Jackson[4]	23	113	49	157	275
Fred Miller[5]	22	79	65	109	223
Nick Conner[6]	23	74	33	162	181
Jim DeDecker[7]	22	37	16	40	90
Jim Krelle[8]	17	31	12	38	74
Alvin O'Neal	16	24	7	33	55
Jed Foster[9]	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

• Rick Howat
  • Team Most Valuable Player ^[10]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick

^[11]

Rankings

Main article: 1970–71 NCAA University Division men's basketball rankings