1938–39 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1938–39 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1938–39 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	14–5 (8-4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Douglas Mills (3rd season);
Assistant coaches	Howie Braun (2nd season); Wally Roettger (4th season);
Captain	Tom Nisbet
Home arena	Huff Hall
	Seasons ← 1937–38 1939–40 →

1938–39 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Ohio State	10	–	2	.833	16	–	7	.696
Indiana	9	–	3	.750	17	–	3	.850
Illinois	8	–	4	.667	14	–	5	.737
Minnesota	7	–	5	.583	14	–	6	.700
Purdue	6	–	6	.500	12	–	7	.632
Northwestern	5	–	7	.417	7	–	13	.350
Michigan	4	–	8	.333	11	–	9	.550
Wisconsin	4	–	8	.333	10	–	10	.500
Chicago	4	–	8	.333	9	–	11	.450
Iowa	3	–	9	.250	8	–	11	.421

The 1938–39 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1938-39 season was year number three for head coach Doug Mills. Overall the team regrouped from a miserable eighth-place finish in the Big Ten a year earlier by winning 9 of their 10 home games only losing to conference rival Indiana. Unfortunately for the Fighting Illini they finished with a 5-5 record on the road to finish in third place overall in conference action. Mills' Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team featured only 5 returning letterman. Along with team captain Tom Nisbit, the Illini also featured a starting lineup of Lewis Dehner at the center position, John Drish, Joe Frank and William Hapac at forward and George Wardley, and Colin Handlon at guard.^[1]

Roster

1938–39 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	3	Colin Handlon	—	—	Jr	Connersville, Indiana
G	4	Henry Sachs	—	—	Fr	Chicago, Illinois
C	6	Robert O'Neill	—	—	So	Pitman, New Jersey
C	8	Lewis Dehner	—	—	Sr	Lincoln, Illinois
F	9	Edsel Hart	—	—	So	Kensington, Kansas
G	10	James Phillips	—	—	So	Oak Park, Illinois
G	11	Darold Staley	—	—	So	Decatur, Illinois
G	12	Robert Richmond	—	—	So	Johnston City, Illinois
G	15	George Wardley	—	—	Sr	Gary, Indiana
F	17	Joe Frank	—	—	Jr	Urbana, Illinois
G	18	Tom Nisbet (C)	—	—	Sr	Chicago, Illinois
F	19	William Hapac	—	—	Jr	Cicero, Illinois
G	20	Harold Shapiro	—	—	So	Chicago, Illinois
F	21	John Drish	—	—	So	Evanston, Illinois
F	26	Ivan Johnson	—	—	So	Thebes, Illinois
F	27	Howard Cronk	—	—	So	Anderson, Indiana
F	28	Norman Cusick	—	—	So	Chicago Heights, Illinois

Head coach

Douglas Mills (University of Illinois) (3rd year)

Assistant coach(es)

Wally Roettger (University of Illinois) (4th year)
Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (2nd year)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/10/1938* no, no	Washington (St. Louis)	W 49–31	1–0	Huff Hall (5,000) Champaign, IL
12/17/1938* no, no	North Dakota	W 61–33	2–0	Huff Hall (4,000) Champaign, IL
12/21/1938* no, no	Connecticut State	W 49–33	3–0	Huff Hall (4,763) Champaign, IL
12/27/1938* no, no	at Manhattan	W 60–41	4–0	Madison Square Garden (17,000) New York, NY
12/29/1938* no, no	at Villanova	W 28–22	5–0	Municipal Auditorium (9,000) Philadelphia, PA
1/3/1939* no, no	Cornell	W 35-34	6–0	Huff Hall (8,500) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/7/1939 no, no	Michigan	W 30–20	7–0 (1–0)	Huff Hall (6,553) Champaign, IL
1/9/1939 no, no	Indiana Rivalry	L 28–29	7–1 (1–1)	Huff Hall (6,706) Champaign, IL
1/14/1939 no, no	at University of Chicago	W 43–33	8–1 (2–1)	Henry Crown Field House (3,500) Chicago, IL
1/16/1939 no, no	Ohio State	W 45–31	9–1 (3–1)	Huff Hall (6,846) Champaign, IL
1/21/1939 no, no	at Wisconsin	W 37-34	10–1 (4–1)	Wisconsin Field House (11,200) Madison, WI
1/23/1939 no, no	at Minnesota	L 33–35	10–2 (4–2)	Williams Arena (16,500) Minneapolis, MN
2/3/1939* no, no	at Notre Dame	L 24–38	10–3	Notre Dame Fieldhouse (5,500) Notre Dame, IN
2/6/1939 no, no	Iowa Rivalry	W 34–26	11–3 (5–2)	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
2/11/1939 no, no	at Purdue	L 30–34	11–4 (5–3)	Lambert Fieldhouse (5,000) West Lafayette, IN
2/13/1939 no, no	at Michigan	W 35–28	12–4 (6–3)	Yost Field House (4,000) Ann Arbor, MI
2/20/1939 no, no	Purdue	W 35–28	13–4 (7–3)	Huff Hall (6,900) Champaign, IL
2/25/1939 no, no	at Northwestern Rivalry	L 34–36	13–5 (7–4)	Patten Gymnasium (5,000) Evanston, IL
2/27/1939 no, no	University of Chicago	W 49–26	14–5 (8–4)	Huff Hall (6,500) Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Source^[2]

Awards and honors

Louis Dehner
- Madison Square Garden 1st team All-American
- Converse 3rd team All-American

References

^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
^ "1938-39 Men's Basketball Schedule".

[1] Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7

[2] "1938-39 Men's Basketball Schedule".

[1]

[2]

v t e 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 Iowa Missouri Northwestern
Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
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 1999–2000 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 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics