1946–47 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1946–47 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1946–47 record	14–6 (8–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Douglas R. Mills
Assistant coach	Howie Braun
Assistant coach	Wally Roettger
MVP	Jack Smiley
Captain	Selected each game
Home arena	Huff Hall

1946–47 Big Nine Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Wisconsin	9	–	3	.750	16	–	6	.727
Illinois	8	–	4	.667	14	–	6	.700
Indiana	8	–	4	.667	12	–	8	.600
Minnesota	7	–	5	.583	14	–	7	.667
Michigan	6	–	6	.500	12	–	8	.600
Iowa	5	–	7	.417	12	–	7	.632
Ohio State	5	–	7	.417	7	–	13	.350
Purdue	4	–	8	.333	9	–	11	.450
Northwestern	2	–	10	.167	7	–	13	.350

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1946–47 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1946-47 season would be the last year that Doug Mills would be the head coach of the Fighting Illini, however; he would remain as the University of Illinois athletic director until 1966. During his tenure at the helm, Mills' coached 217 games over 11 seasons. Overall his teams won 151 games and lost only 66, the 151 wins remains 4th all-time in Illini history. During the Big Ten Conference season, Mills' teams won 88 games while losing only 47. Included in the 88 wins would be back-to-back conference titles in 1942 and 1943 where his teams would go 35-6 overall and 25-2 in the conference. Amazingly, Mills' three championships ('37, '42, '43) in just 11 years, place him just one behind Harry Combes, his replacement as head coach, for the most conference championships.

An attempt to regroup the 'Whiz Kids' occurred during the 1946-47 season when Ken Menke, Gene Vance, and Andy Phillip returned from their service in World War II. Unfortunately, the chemistry was not the same and the team finished in a tie for second in the conference with a record of 8 wins, 4 losses. Overall, the team finished with a 14-6 record. The starting lineup included 4 of the 5 Whiz Kids, guards Smiley and Vance, forwards Phillip and Ken Menke as well as All-American guard Walt Kirk and Fred Green at center.

Roster

No	Player	Position	Height	Weight	Class	Hometown	High School
7	Robert Menke	Center	6' 3"	185	Sophomore	Elgin, Illinois	Elgin High School
8	Roy Gatewood	Forward	6' 2"	182	Freshman	Salem, Illinois	Salem High School
9	Dick Foley	Guard	6' 0"	155	Sophomore	Paris, Illinois	Paris High School
10	Bill Edwards	Forward	6' 2"	180	Sophomore	Paris, Illinois	Paris High School
11	Jack Burmaster	Guard	6' 2"	182	Junior	Elgin, Illinois	Elgin High School
14	Walt Kirk	Guard	6' 3"	175	Junior	Mt. Vernon, Illinois	Mt. Vernon High School
15	Arthur Smiley	Guard	6' 3"	195	Senior	Waterman, Illinois	Waterman High School
16	Bob Doster	Forward	6' 1"	165	Sophomore	Decatur, Illinois	Decatur High School
19	Bob Rowe	Center	6' 7"	200	Sophomore	Warren, Illinois	Warren High School
21	Ray DeMoulin	Forward	6' 1"	170	Sophomore	Mulberry Grove, Illinois	Mulberry Grove High School
24	Burdette Thurlby	Forward	6' 2"	170	Freshman	Kirkland, Illinois	Kirkland High School
25	Gene Vance	Guard	6' 3"	196	Senior	Clinton, Illinois	Clinton High School
26	Chet Trost	Forward	6' 3"	175	Sophomore	Champaign, Illinois	Champaign Central High School
27	Craig Hal	Forward	6' 0"	160	Junior	Decatur, Illinois	Decatur High School
29	Dwight Humphrey	Forward	5' 9"	145	Sophomore	Moline, Illinois	Moline High School
30	Walter Osterkorn	Center	6' 4"	195	Freshman	Chicago, Illinois	Amundsen High School
31	Stanley Fronczak	Guard	6' 2"	190	Junior	Brooklyn, New York	Brooklyn High School
33	Bill Erickson	Forward	6' 1"	173	Freshman	Rockford, Illinois	East High School
34	Benton Odum	Forward	6' 0"	172	Freshman	Marion, Illinois	Marion High School
36	Jim Marks	Forward	6' 2"	175	Freshman	Edwardsville, Illinois	Edwardsville High School
38	Ken Menke	Forward	6' 0"	172	Senior	Dundee, Illinois	Dundee High School
39	Bob Lavoy	Center	6' 6"	185	Freshman	Aurora, Illinois	West Aurora High School
40	Dwight Eddleman	Forward	6' 2"	190	Sophomore	Centralia, Illinois	Centralia High School
47	Andy Phillip	Forward	6' 2"	184	Senior	Granite City, Illinois	Granite City High School
48	Fred Green	Center	6' 7"	210	Sophomore	Urbana, Illinois	Urbana High School

Head Coach: Douglas Mills (11th year at Illinois) ^[1]

Record

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
December 6, 1946	Cornell	87–39	Win	Champaign, IL	7,892
December 11, 1946	Marquette	73–40	Win	Champaign, IL	7,697
December 14, 1946	Pittsburgh	58–31	Win	Champaign, IL	7,855
December 16, 1946	Missouri	50–55	Loss	Columbia, MO	4,470
December 20, 1946	California	58–41	Win	Berkeley, CA	7,000
December 21, 1946	California	35–53	Loss	Berkeley, CA	7,000
December 28, 1946	Nebraska	72–37	Win	Champaign, IL	-
January 1, 1947	Wisconsin	47–53	Loss	Madison, WI	7,900
January 4, 1947	Mexico	94–36	Win	Champaign, IL	7,851
January 6, 1947	Minnesota	31–34	Loss	Champaign, IL	7,875
January 11, 1947	Northwestern	55–40	Win	Champaign, IL	6,600
January 13, 1947	Ohio State	61-42	Win	Champaign, IL	7,600
January 25, 1947	Wisconsin	63–37	Win	Champaign, IL	7,685
February 1, 1947	Ohio State	59–58	Win	Columbus, OH	-
February 5, 1947	Purdue	42–51	Loss	West Lafayette, IN	11,000
February 8, 1947	Iowa	45–36	Win	Champaign, IL	7,879
February 15, 1947	Indiana	59–50	Win	Champaign, IL	7,874
February 22, 1947	Northwestern	52–51	Win	Chicago, IL	24,000
February 24, 1947	Michigan	45–36	Win	Ann Arbor, MI	-
March 1, 1947	Indiana	41–48	Loss	Bloomington, IN	-

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Andy Phillip	20	81	30	192
Ken Menke	20	72	36	180
Fred Green	20	72	25	169
Jack Smiley	20	56	38	150
Gene Vance	20	49	37	135
Walt Kirk	19	31	22	84
Bill Erickson	20	27	7	61
Jack Burmaster	15	15	4	34
Bob Doster	12	12	7	31
Dick Foley	16	11	4	26
Bob Lavoy	11	7	11	25
Dwight Eddleman	10	5	2	12
Benton Odum	2	4	3	11
Dwight Humphrey	11	4	0	8
Wally Osterkorn	8	1	4	6
Ron Bontemps	4	0	2	2
Burdette Thurlby	4	0	1	1
Robert Rowe	5	0	0	0
Roy Gatewood	2	0	0	0

^[2]

Awards and honors

Dwight Eddleman
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Andy Phillip
- True Magazine 1st team All-American (1947)
- National Association of Basketball Coaches 1st team All-American (1947)
- Consensus 2nd team All-American (1947)
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1947)
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1961)
Jack Smiley
- Helms 3rd Team All-American (1947)
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1947)
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[3]
Gene Vance
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1947)

References

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)

Rivalries	Indiana Missouri

Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek

People	Head coaches NBA draftees Consensus All-Americans

Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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