1983–84 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
American college basketball season
The 1983–84 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illiniois.
Regular season
The 1983–84 season brought Illinois its 12th Big Ten Conference championship in a season where Illinois had four overtime games including an epic four-overtime 75–66 victory over Michigan . The next game was a two-overtime win at Iowa , Lou Henson ’s 400th victory as a college head coach. The Illini recorded a 26-5 mark and were 15-3 in Big Ten play, tying Purdue for the league title. This season also marked Illinois’ first back-to-back 20 win seasons since 1951–52. The Illini would go on to record a total of nine consecutive 20-win seasons from 1982–83 to 1990–91. Illinois advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals before dropping a heart-breaking 54–51 loss to Kentucky on its home court , causing the NCAA to put a rule in place not allowing a school to play in a tournament game on its home court. Rumors also were floated that the outcome was predetermined, with home team time clock operations being implicated in part.
Roster
1983–84 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players
Coaches
Pos.
#
Name
Height
Weight
Year
Previous school
Hometown
G
10
Tony Wysinger
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
155 lb (70 kg)
Fr
Peoria Central High School
Peoria, Illinois
F
11
Tom Schafer
6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
205 lb (93 kg)
Fr
Harry D. Jacobs High School
Algonquin, Illinois
F
15
B.J. Jenkins
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
175 lb (79 kg)
Fr
Palatine High School
Palatine, Illinois
G
21
Quinn Richardson (C)
5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)
175 lb (79 kg)
RS Sr
Eisenhower High School
Robbins, Illinois
G
22
Doug Altenberger
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
180 lb (82 kg)
So
Richwoods High School
Peoria, Illinois
F
23
George Montgomery
6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
215 lb (98 kg)
Jr
Corliss High School
Chicago, Illinois
F
24
Efrem Winters
6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
210 lb (95 kg)
So
King High School
Chicago, Illinois
G
25
Bruce Douglas
6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
175 lb (79 kg)
So
Quincy Senior High School
Quincy, Illinois
F/C
30
Scott Meents
6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
230 lb (104 kg)
So
Herscher High School
Kankakee, Illinois
F
31
Don Klusendorf
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
210 lb (95 kg)
Sr
Lyons Township High School
Western Springs, Illinois
F
32
Dragomir Marinkovich
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
195 lb (88 kg)
Jr
Lane Tech High School
Chicago, Illinois
G
33
Stephan Freeman
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
180 lb (82 kg)
So
Chicago Public Schools
Chicago, Illinois
F
34
Dee Maras
6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
225 lb (102 kg)
Jr
Antioch Community High School
Antioch, Illinois
G
35
Reggie Woodward
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
170 lb (77 kg)
Jr
King High School
Chicago, Illinois
F
43
Tom Siegel
6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
200 lb (91 kg)
Jr
Belleville High School-East
Belleville, Illinois
F
44
Anthony Welch
6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
200 lb (91 kg)
Jr
Creston High School
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on
Roster
Schedule
Source[ 1]
Date time, TV
Rank#
Opponent#
Result
Record
Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/25/1983 *no, no
vs. Utah Tribune Charities Holiday Classic
W 99-65
1-0
Rosemont Horizon (5,463)Rosemont, IL
11/26/1983 *no, no
vs. Loyola (Chicago) Tribune Charities Holiday Classic
W 70-53
2-0
Rosemont Horizon (5,854)Rosemont, IL
12/2/1983 *no, no
Western Illinois Illini Classic
W 65-49
3-0
Assembly Hall (10,365)Champaign, IL
12/3/1983 *no, no
Southern Mississippi Illini Classic
W 78-47
4-0
Assembly Hall (11,841)Champaign, IL
12/6/1983 *no, no
at Vanderbilt
W 69-55
5-0
Memorial Gymnasium (15,204)Nashville, TN
12/10/1983 *no, no
West Texas State
W 69-58
6-0
Assembly Hall (10,430)Champaign, IL
12/12/1983 *no, no
Loyola (Chicago)
W 74-69
7-0
Assembly Hall (10,488)Champaign, IL
12/21/1983 *no, no
Cal State Northridge
W 78-57
8-0
Assembly Hall (8,253)Champaign, IL
12/24/1983 *no, no
No. 2 Kentucky
L 54-56
8-1
Assembly Hall (10,732)Champaign, IL
12/28/1983 *no, no
No. 20
vs. Missouri Braggin' Rights
W 66-60
9-1
St. Louis Arena (17,844)St. Louis, MO
Big Ten regular season
1/5/1984 no, no
No. 14
Minnesota
W 80-53
10-1 (1-0)
Assembly Hall (11,012)Champaign, IL
1/7/1984 no, no
No. 14
at Wisconsin
W 63-62 OT
11-1 (2-0)
Wisconsin Field House (7,569)Madison, WI
1/11/1984 no, no
No. 9
at Indiana Rivalry
L 68-73 OT
11-2 (2-1)
Assembly Hall (17,223)Bloomington, IN
1/14/1984 no, no
No. 9
at Ohio State
W 55-53
12-2 (3-1)
St. John Arena (12,657)Columbus, OH
1/21/1984 no, no
No. 10
No. 19 Purdue
W 76-52
13-2 (4-1)
Assembly Hall (16,166)Champaign, IL
1/26/1984 no, no
No. 9
Michigan State
W 46-40
14-2 (5-1)
Assembly Hall (14,035)Champaign, IL
1/28/1984 no, no
No. 9
Michigan
W 75-66 4OT
15-2 (6-1)
Assembly Hall (15,952)Champaign, IL
2/2/1984 no, no
No. 8
at Iowa Rivalry
W 54-52 2OT
16-2 (7-1)
Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,450)Iowa City, IA
2/4/1984 no, no
No. 8
at Northwestern Rivalry
W 71-52
17-2 (8-1)
Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)Evanston, IL
2/8/1984 no, no
No. 8
Northwestern Rivalry
W 73-49
18-2 (9-1)
Assembly Hall (11,513)Champaign, IL
2/12/1984 no, no
No. 8
Iowa Rivalry
W 73-53
19-2 (10-1)
Assembly Hall (16,166)Champaign, IL
2/16/1984 no, no
No. 7
at Michigan
L 60-62
19-3 (10-2)
Crisler Center (13,511)Ann Arbor, MI
2/19/1984 no, no
No. 8
at Michigan State
W 70-53
20-3 (11-2)
Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004)East Lansing, MI
2/25/1984 no, no
No. 6
at No. 13 Purdue
L 55-59
20-4 (11-3)
Mackey Arena (14,123)West Lafayette, IN
3/1/1984 no, no
No. 10
Ohio State
W 73-58
21-4 (12-3)
Assembly Hall (14,911)Champaign, IL
3/4/1984 no, no
No. 10
Indiana Rivalry
W 70-53
22-4 (13-3)
Assembly Hall (16,166)Champaign, IL
3/8/1984 no, no
No. 7
at Minnesota
W 53-41
23-4 (14-3)
Williams Arena (14,729)Minneapolis, MN
3/10/1984 no, no
No. 7
Wisconsin
W 81-57
24-4 (15-3)
Assembly Hall (16,116)Champaign, IL
NCAA Tournament
3/18/1984 *no, no
(2 ME) No. 6
vs. (7 ME) Villanova Second Round
W 64-56
25-4
U.S. Cellular Arena (10,788)Milwaukee, WI
3/22/1984 *no, no
(2 ME) No. 6
vs. (3 ME) No. 11 Maryland Regional semifinals
W 72-70
26-4
Rupp Arena (23,525)Lexington, KY
3/24/1984 *no, no
(2 ME) No. 6
at (1 ME) No. 3 Kentucky Regional Finals
L 51-54
26-5
Rupp Arena (23,525)Lexington, KY [ 2]
*Non-conference game.
# Rankings from
AP Poll . (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in
Central Time .
Player stats
Player
Games Played
Minutes Played
Field Goals
Free Throws
Rebounds
Assists
Blocks
Steals
Points
Efrem Winters[ 3]
31
1039
182
92
205
54
21
19
456
Bruce Douglas[ 4]
31
1113
159
81
136
177
5
73
399
Doug Altenberger[ 5]
31
1125
143
66
15
68
4
39
352
George Montgomery[ 6]
31
967
124
53
224
53
17
27
301
Quinn Richardson[ 7]
31
1029
94
50
61
93
0
23
238
Scott Meents[ 8]
28
465
61
23
91
33
25
9
145
Tom Schafer
29
302
28
23
43
9
1
6
79
Tony Wysinger
30
192
15
27
14
23
0
11
57
Reggie Woodward
14
43
12
4
10
5
0
3
28
Don Klusendorf
19
55
4
10
10
6
0
1
18
Anthony Welch
2
25
6
2
2
0
0
0
14
Dee Maras
6
30
3
0
11
2
0
1
6
Drag Marinkovich
4
6
2
2
0
0
0
0
6
Joe Klauke
2
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
Tom Siegel
3
3
1
0
1
0
0
0
2
Stephan Freeman
2
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Awards and honors
Team players drafted into the NBA
Rankings
References
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1983-84 Archived 2013-10-21 at the Wayback Machine , FightingIllini.com
^ 1984 NCAA Tournament
^ "Season Stats pg. 120" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2011 .
^ "Season Stats pg. 120" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2011 .
^ "Season Stats pg. 120" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2011 .
^ "Season Stats pg. 120" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2011 .
^ "Season Stats pg. 120" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2011 .
^ "Season Stats pg. 120" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2011 .
^ "List of MVPs" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013 .
^ "List of MVPs" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013 .
^ 1984 NBA Draft Archived 2012-07-06 at the Wayback Machine
Venues Rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics