1945–46 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 Basketball 1945–46 Illinois Fighting Illini 1945–46_Illinois_Fighting_Illini_men's_basketball_team.jpg 300px Big Ten Conference Big Ten 14–7 7–5 Douglas R. Mills Howie Braun Wally Roettger 10th 9th 11th Walton Kirk Bob Doster Huff Hall The 1945–46 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season The modern era of college basketball unofficially began with the 1945–46 season and the University of Illinois was quick to offer a team that was rebuilding its post-war image to that of a contender. Future hall of fame coaches Johnny Orr and Vic Bubas left the team to join in with the war effort as did Walt Kersulis, a top 5 scorer from the previous season and Consensus First-Team All-American and team captain Walt Kirk. The addition of freshman Bob Doster and Dwight Humphrey to a lineup that included team Jack Burmaster, Robert Rowe and Walter Mroz became formidable opponents to every team they played including a no. 1 ranked DePaul. On December 29, 1945, the Fighting Illini took on George Mikan's Blue Demons, who had lost just eight games in three years, and defeated them by a score of 56–37. In the game Burmaster and Doster each scored 14 points with Mroz adding 11 in the second half. The victory proved that, even without team captain Kirk, who had gone to serve in the armed services, the young team was ready to take on all comers. The 1945 Blue Demons went on to win the 1945 National Invitation Tournament. Additionally, the 1945–46 season would be the finale for the University of Chicago as part of the Big Ten. Illinois would defeat the Maroons two times during the year, 70–28 and 85–24. Due to the departure of Chicago, the Big Ten would become the Big Nine until Michigan State joined the conference in 1950. Mills used 31 players during the course of the season and had an overall record of 14 wins and 7 losses with a conference mark of 7 and 5, finishing in a fifth place tie in the Big Ten. The team finished with an 11–2 record at home and a road record of 3–5. Future All-American Dwight "Dike" Eddleman would appear in two games during the course of the season, as well as future North Carolina A&T Aggies, hall-of-fame men's basketball coach, Cal Irvin, would appear in one game. David "Matt" Bullock 1946 saw the end of a 34-year career for Illini athletic trainer Matt Bullock. From 1913 to 1947 David "Matt" Bullock saw to it that football and basketball stars like Red Grange, George Halas, Buddy Young, Ray Woods, Chuck Carney, Lou Boudreau, Andy Phillip and other Fighting Illini stayed healthy. During his long career at the University of Illinois, Bullock cared for more than 40,000 athletes. Roster 1945 Illinois Fighting Illini y yes Hal Craig 7 F 6 0 160 FR Decatur, Illinois Decatur High School n Jimmy Seyler 9 G 5 11 170 SR Centralia, Illinois Centralia High School n Jake Staab 10 F 6 2 170 SR Chillicothe, Illinois Chillicothe High School n Leo Swinford 11 F 5 10 160 FR Paris, Illinois Paris High School n Leo Gedvilas 12 G 6 0 175 SO Spring Valley, Illinois Hall High School n Walt Kirk 13 G 6 3 175 JR Mt. Vernon, Illinois Mt. Vernon High School y C Arthur Smiley 14 G 6 3 195 JR Waterman, Illinois Waterman High School y Jack Smiley Robert Menke 15 C 6 3 185 FR Elgin, Illinois Elgin High School n Robert Doster 16 F 6 0 165 FR Decatur, Illinois Decatur High School n Joseph Rodriguez 17 G 5 10 165 SO Niagara Falls, New York Niagara Falls High School n Paul Eckert 18 G 6 1 180 FR Herrin, Illinois Herrin High School n Robert Rowe 19 C 6 7 195 FR Warren, Illinois Warren High School n Walter Mroz 20 F 5 9 145 SO Chicago, Illinois Chicago Public Schools n Dean Meador 22 F 5 8 140 FR Patoka, Illinois Patoka Senior High School n William Eddleman 23 G 6 0 170 SR Anna, Illinois Anna-Jonesboro Community High School n Van Anderson 24 F 6 1 185 FR Sullivan, Illinois Sullivan Community High School n George Leddy 26 G 6 0 165 FR Chicago, Illinois Chicago Public Schools n Ray McClure 27 F 5 11 156 FR Galesburg, Illinois Galesburg High School n Dwight Humphrey 29 F 5 8 138 FR Moline, Illinois Moline High School n Robert Jones 30 C 6 3 200 FR West Frankfort, Illinois Frankfort Community High School n William Edwards 31 C 6 2 176 FR Staunton, Illinois Staunton High School n Robert Olson 33 G 6 0 180 FR St. Elmo, Illinois St. Elmo Junior-Senior High School n Jack Burmaster 38 G 6 2 175 SO Elgin, Illinois Elgin High School y Dwight Eddleman 40 F 6 2 190 SO Centralia, Illinois Centralia High School y Jack Pierce 41 G 5 10 175 SO Pontiac, Illinois Pontiac Township High School n Fred Green 48 C 6 7 210 FR Urbana, Illinois Urbana High School n Bob Dannehl FR Onarga, Illinois Onarga High School n Cal Irvin FR East Orange, New Jersey Orange High School n Tony Esposito FR Chicago, Illinois Chicago Public Schools n Russell "Harold" Strange G Mount Pleasant, Michigan Mount Pleasant High School n Al Leavitt FR Chicago, Illinois Chicago Public Schools n Douglas Mills (University of Illinois) (10th year) Wally Roettger (University of Illinois) (11th year) Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (9th year) https://fightingillini.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/1945-46 Schedule yes |- !colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season 12/1/1945 yes Wright Field Huff Hall Champaign, IL 52–56 4,291 0–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="" 12/2/1945 yes 1945 Saint Louis Billikens St. Louis Huff Hall Champaign, IL 54–46 3,766 1–1 12/8/1945 yes 1945 Naval Station Great Lakes Naval Training Station Great Lakes Huff Hall Champaign, IL 58–41 4,995 2–1 12/8/1945 yes 1945 Naval Station Great Lakes Great Lakes Hospital Huff Hall Champaign, IL 51–23 4,995 3–1 12/11/1945 yes 1945 Detroit Titans Detroit Huff Hall Champaign, IL 51–34 4,475 4–1 |- !colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"|Big Ten regular season 12/15/1945 Ohio State Huff Hall Champaign, IL 46–50 5,640 4–2 0–1 12/18/1945 yes 1945 Drake Bulldogs Drake Huff Hall Champaign, IL 64–42 5,640 5–2 12/20/1945 yes yes 1945 Nebraska Cornhuskers Nebraska Nebraska Coliseum Lincoln, NE 62–51 3,000 6–2 12/22/1945 yes 1945 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA Rivalry 39–41 14,300 6–3 0–2 12/29/1945 yes 1945 DePaul Blue Demons DePaul Huff Hall Champaign, IL 56–37 5,079 7–3 1/1/1946 yes Wisconsin Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI 38–31 8,000 8–3 1–2 1/5/1946 yes Michigan Yost Field House Ann Arbor, MI 48–49 7,000 8–4 1–3 1/12/1946 yes Ohio State Ohio Expo Center Coliseum Columbus, OH 35–41 2,800 8–5 1–4 1/14/1946 1945 Northwestern Wildcats Northwestern Huff Hall Champaign, IL Rivalry 45–38 6,310 9–5 2–4 1/19/1946 yes 1945 Chicago Maroons University of Chicago Henry Crown Field House Chicago, IL 70–28 1,500 10–5 3–4 1/26/1946 yes yes 1945 Naval Station Great Lakes Great Lakes Great Lakes Gymnasium Great Lakes, IL 42–67 2,500 10–6 2/4/1946 University of Chicago Huff Hall Champaign, IL 85–24 3,616 11–6 4–4 2/9/1946 Michigan Huff Hall Champaign, IL 49–44 7,005 12–6 5–4 2/16/1946 yes Northwestern Chicago Stadium Chicago, IL Rivalry 43–48 20,442 12–7 5–5 2/18/1946 Wisconsin Huff Hall Champaign, IL 72–53 5,992 13–7 6–5 2/23/1946 Iowa Huff Hall Champaign, IL Rivalry 57–51 7,214 14–7 7–5 Central Time SourceUniversity of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1943–44 pg.81 https://web.archive.org/web/20161026185153/http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/fightingillini.com/documents/2015/10/14/2015_16_ILLINI_MBB_Record_Book_for_Web.pdf October 26, 2016 , FightingIllini.com Player stats Player Games played Field goals Free throws PointsBob Doster 2010759273Jack Burmaster 20154173Wallie Mroz 175320126Robert Rowe 20261668Bob Menke17251767Dwight Humphrey20261620Jimmy Seyler16231763Fred Green416941Ray McClure 1617438Jack Smiley413834Hal Craig 1214634George Leddy1951626Leo Gedvilas179119Van Anderson79119Robert Olson 75717William Edwards84412Dean Meador6306Dwight Eddleman 2306Bob Dannehl2215Cal Irvin1204William Eddleman3204Jack Pierce 1204Tony Esposito1204Jake Staab 3022Harold Strange 1102Al Leavitt3102Paul Eckert1011Robert Jones 3011Joe Rodriguez5011 http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1945.html Season Stats 2014-04-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20130625105538/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1945.html 2013-06-25 dead Awards and honors Jack Burmaster Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American (1946) Bob Doster Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American (1946) Team Most Valuable Player http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ill/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/05_mbb_guide_06.pdf List of MVPs 2013-01-15 2014-10-30 https://web.archive.org/web/20141030004049/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ill/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/05_mbb_guide_06.pdf dead References Illinois Fighting Illini Category:Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball seasons Basketball, Illinois Fighting Illini Men Basketball, Illinois Fighting Illini Men