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1948–49 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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1948–49 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
APNo. 4
Record21–4 (10–2 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPDike Eddleman
CaptainDike Eddleman
Home arenaHuff Hall
Seasons
1948–49 Big Nine Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 4 Illinois 10 2   .833 21 4   .840
No. 6 Minnesota 9 3   .750 18 3   .857
Michigan 7 5   .583 15 6   .714
No. 20 Ohio State 6 6   .500 14 7   .667
Indiana 6 6   .500 14 8   .636
Purdue 6 6   .500 13 9   .591
Wisconsin 5 7   .417 12 10   .545
Iowa 3 9   .250 10 10   .500
Northwestern 2 10   .167 5 16   .238
Rankings from AP Poll
"1948-49 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

The 1948–49 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

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The 1948-49 squad, led by Dike Eddleman, Bill Erickson, and Walter Osterkorn, was Illinois’ first 20-game winner since 1908, finishing 21-4. Illinois beat Yale, 71-67, to advance to a national semifinal showdown with Kentucky at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Illini fell to the Wildcats, 76-47, forcing Illinois to defeat Oregon State, 57-53, in Seattle for third place.

Roster

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1948–49 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) So Champaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois
F 8 Roy Gatewood 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 174 lb (79 kg) Jr Salem High School Salem, Illinois
G 9 Dick Foley 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Sr Paris High School Paris, Illinois
C 10 Bill Boyer 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Beardstown High School Beardstown, Illinois
G 11 Don Sunderlage 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Elgin High School Elgin, Illinois
G 12 Richard Brogren 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So East High School Rockford, Illinois
C 13 Walter Osterkorn 6 ft 4.5 in (1.94 m) 207 lb (94 kg) Jr Amundsen High School Chicago, Illinois
F 14 Burdette Thurlby 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Kirkland High School Kirkland, Illinois
G 15 Paul Eckert 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 178 lb (81 kg) So Herrin High School Herrin, Illinois
C 21 Walt Kersulis 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 197 lb (89 kg) Jr 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) Jr Sullivan Community High School Sullivan, Illinois
F 23 Ted Beach 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 165 lb (75 kg) So Champaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois
F 24 Benton Odum 6 ft 0.5 in (1.84 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Marion High School Marion, Illinois
F 27 Jim Marks 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 177 lb (80 kg) Sr Edwardsville High School Edwardsville, Illinois
F 30 Glen Trugillo 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 160 lb (73 kg) So East High School Rockford, Illinois
G 31 Bill Hoffman 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Wells High School Chicago, Illinois
G 33 Bill Erickson 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 184 lb (83 kg) Jr East High School Rockford, Illinois
C 36 Al Leavitt 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 230 lb (104 kg) So Sullivan High School Chicago, Illinois
F 40 Dwight Eddleman (C) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 189 lb (86 kg) Sr Centralia High School Centralia, Illinois
C 48 Fred Green 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 208 lb (94 kg) Sr Urbana High School Urbana, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

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

Roster

Schedule

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Source[1]

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/3/1948*
no, no
Butler W 67–62  1–0
Huff Hall (–)
Champaign, IL
12/8/1948*
no, no
at Notre Dame W 59–58 OT 2–0
Notre Dame Fieldhouse (–)
Notre Dame, IN
12/11/1948*
no, no
vs. DePaul L 50–60  2–1
Chicago Stadium (17,189)
Chicago, IL
12/13/1948*
no, no
Oklahoma W 73–68  3–1
Huff Hall (6,902)
Champaign, IL
12/18/1948*
no, no
Pennsylvania W 80–61  4–1
Huff Hall (3,943)
Champaign, IL
12/20/1948*
no, no
DePaul W 89–51  5–1
Huff Hall (6,013)
Champaign, IL
12/21/1948*
no, no
Cornell W 71–47  6–1
Huff Hall (3,042)
Champaign, IL
12/29/1948*
no, no
Colgate W 77–54  7–1
Huff Hall (4,541)
Champaign, IL
12/30/1948*
no, no
Colgate W 85–55  8–1
Huff Hall (3,880)
Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/3/1949
no, no
Wisconsin W 62–50  9–1
(1–0)
Huff Hall (–)
Champaign, IL
1/8/1949
no, no
at Indiana
Rivalry
W 44–42 2OT 10–1
(2–0)
The Field House (10,000)
Bloomington, IN
1/10/1949
no, no
at Ohio State W 64–63  11–1
(3–0)
Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (6,958)
Columbus, OH
1/15/1949*
no, no
Creighton W 96–30  12–1
Huff Hall (6,958)
Champaign, IL
1/29/1949
no, no
No. 7 No. 4 Minnesota W 45–44  13–1
(4–0)
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
1/31/1949
no, no
No. 6 at Purdue L 53–55  13–2
(4–1)
Lambert Fieldhouse (10,000)
West Lafayette, IN
2/5/1949
no, no
No. 4 at Wisconsin W 61–54  14–2
(5–1)
Wisconsin Field House (13,500)
Madison, WI
2/7/1949
no, no
No. 4 Northwestern
Rivalry
W 85–66  15–2
(6–1)
Huff Hall (12,088)
Champaign, IL
2/12/1949
no, no
No. 4 No. 18 Ohio State W 64–49  16–2
(7–1)
Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
2/21/1949
no, no
No. 4 Iowa
Rivalry
W 80–49  17–2
(8–1)
Huff Hall (–)
Champaign, IL
2/26/1949
no, no
No. 4 vs. Northwestern
Rivalry
W 81–64  18–2
(9–1)
Chicago Stadium (17,905)
Chicago, IL
2/28/1949
no, no
No. 4 Indiana
Rivalry
W 91–28  19–2
(10–1)
Huff Hall (–)
Champaign, IL
3/7/1949
no, no
No. 4 at Michigan L 53–70  19–3
(10–2)
Yost Field House (–)
Ann Arbor, MI
NCAA tournament
3/21/1949*
no, no
No. 4 vs. Yale
NCAA tournament[2]
W 71–67  20–3
Madison Square Garden (18,051)
New York, NY
3/22/1949*
no, no
No. 4 vs. No. 1 Kentucky
NCAA Tournament Final Four
L 47–76  20–4
Madison Square Garden (15,126)
New York, NY
3/26/1949*
no, no
No. 4 vs. Oregon State
NCAA Tournament 3rd place game
W 57–53  21–4
Hec Edmundson Pavilion (–)
Seattle, WA
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

NCAA basketball tournament

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  • Eastern
    • Illinois 71, Yale 67
  • Final Four
    • Kentucky 76, Illinois 47
  • Third-place game
    • Illinois 57, Oregon State 53

[2]

Rankings

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Player stats

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Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Points
Dwight Eddleman 25 130 69 329
Wally Osterkorn 25 90 81 261
Bill Erickson 25 91 79 261
Fred Green 25 65 24 154
Don Sunderlage 25 57 39 153
Jim Marks 20 53 27 133
Walt Kersulis 20 43 23 109
Burdette Thurlby 17 36 21 93
Van Anderson 23 32 8 72
Dick Foley 24 24 11 59
Ted Beach 14 13 8 34
Roy Gatewood 9 9 4 22
Richard Brogren 6 4 3 11
Glen Trugillo 10 2 2 6
Benton Odum 3 1 3 3
Jim Cottrell 5 1 1 3
Bill Boyer 2 0 0 0

[3]

Awards and honors

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Team players drafted into the NBA

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Round Pick Player NBA Club
3 N/A Dike Eddleman Chicago Stags

[5]

Rankings

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References

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  1. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1948-49 Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  2. ^ a b "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
  3. ^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  4. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  5. ^ 1949 NBA draft Archived 2012-05-03 at the Wayback Machine