1914–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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1914–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
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Helms Foundation National Champions
Premo-Porretta National Champions
Big Ten Conference Champions
Conference Big Ten Conference
1914–15 record 16–0 (12–0 Big Ten)
Head coach Ralph Jones
Captain Sven Duner
Home arena Kenney Gym
Seasons
« 1913–14 1915–16 »
1914–15 Western Conference men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
Illinois 12 – 0   1.000     16 – 0   1.000
Chicago 9 – 3   .750     20 – 5   .800
Wisconsin 8 – 4   .667     13 – 4   .765
Minnesota 6 – 6   .500     11 – 6   .647
Northwestern 5 – 5   .500     11 – 8   .579
Purdue 4 – 8   .333     5 – 8   .385
Ohio State 3 – 9   .250     7 – 10   .412
Iowa 2 – 6   .250     9 – 8   .529
Indiana 1 – 9   .100     4 – 9   .308
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1914–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Coached by Ralph Jones, the 1914–15 Fighting Illini men's basketball team became the first undefeated Big Ten champion in the history of the school as well as the fourth Big Ten National Champion.[1] That 1915 season was the third in the eight-year tenure of head coach Ralph Jones and it produced the only unbeaten season in Illini history and the first Big Ten title for the Illinois basketball program. The Illinois team was retroactively named national champions by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.[2] Jones’ 1915 team scored twice as many points as its opponents and won the conference title by three games over Chicago. The arrival of the Woods brothers in 1914 had a lot to do with the success of this era. Guard Ray Woods was named first-team All-America all three years he competed (1915–17), and brother Ralf, a forward, led the team in scoring in both 1916 and 1917. His consistency at the free throw line led to the establishment of the Ralf Woods Award, which is still given annually to the Fighting Illini player with the best free-throw percentage. The starting lineup included Frank Bane at center, Clyde Alwood and Edward Allan Williford at the forward postitons, captain Sven Duner at guard and brothers Ralf Woods and Ray Woods. Ray Woods was named an All-American during this season.[3]

Roster

"1914-15 Fighting Illini team"
Player Position Class Hometown
Sven Duner Left Guard, Right Guard Senior Downers Grove, Illinois
Helmuth Kircher Right Forward, Left Forward Senior Kalamazoo, Michigan
Edward Williford Left Forward, Center Senior Binghamton, New York
Ray Woods Right Guard Sophomore Oak Park, Illinois
Ralf Woods Right Guard Sophomore Oak Park, Illinois
Frank Bane Center Senior Pontiac, Illinois
Dudley Crane Left Guard, Right Guard Junior Columbus, Ohio
Clyde Alwood Right Forward Sophomore Clinton, Illinois
Robert W. Hoffman Right Guard, Left Guard Senior
D. F. Comstock Left Guard, Forward, Center Senior
W. B. Erwin Left Forward Senior
John E. Davis Left Forward, Left Guard Freshman Chicago, Illinois
M. O. Jensen Right Forward
R. A. McDermott

[4]

Schedule

Date Opponent Score Result Location
December 8, 1914 Arkansas A.C. 52–6 Win Urbana, IL
December 12, 1914 Illinois Wesleyan 50–9 Win Urbana, IL
December 18, 1914 Millikin University 19–16 Win Urbana, IL
January 2, 1915 Peoria YMCA 27–14 Win Peoria, IL
January 11, 1915 Indiana 34–13 Win Urbana, IL
January 16, 1915 Purdue 27–8 Win Urbana, IL
January 23, 1915 Ohio State 24–17 Win Urbana, IL
January 26, 1915 Indiana 20–4 Win Bloomington, IN
February 8, 1915 Wisconsin 39–19 Win Urbana, IL
February 13, 1915 Wisconsin 19–17 Win Madison, WI
February 15, 1915 Minnesota 20–10 Win Minneapolis, MN
February 23, 1915 University of Chicago 20–12 Win Urbana, IL
February 27, 1915 Purdue 22–15 Win West Lafayette, IN
March 1, 1915 Ohio State 26–19 Win Columbus, OH
March 6, 1915 University of Chicago 19–18 Win Chicago, IL
March 8, 1915 Minnesota 26–11 Win Urbana, IL

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Points
Edward Williford[5] 12 31 56 118
Frank Bane[6] 16 50 1 101
Ralf Woods[7] 15 35 17 87
Ray Woods[8] 16 29 0 58
Clyde Alwood[9] 11 19 0 38
Sven Duner[10] 16 8 0 16
Dudley Crane[11] 5 6 0 12


Awards and honors

Ray Woods was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004. Woods was also selected as an All-American for the 1914–15 season.

References

  1. ↑ A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.20 ISBN 1-58261-793-7
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
  4. ↑ All-Time Illini Rosters
  5. ↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
  6. ↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
  7. ↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
  8. ↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
  9. ↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
  10. ↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
  11. ↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
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