1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Illini Classic, Champion; BYU-Hawaii Classic, Champion
NCAA men's Division I tournament, first round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 11
AP	No. 11
Record	23–8 (13–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson (12th season);
Assistant coaches	Dick Nagy (8th season); Jimmy Collins (4th season); Mark Coomes (2nd season);
MVP	Ken Norman
Captains	Doug Altenberger; Ken Norman; Tony Wysinger;
Home arena	Assembly Hall
	Seasons ← 1985–86 1987–88 →

1986–87 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 3 Indiana	15	–	3	.833	30	–	4	.882
No. 7 Purdue	15	–	3	.833	25	–	5	.833
No. 6 Iowa	14	–	4	.778	30	–	5	.857
No. 11 Illinois	13	–	5	.722	23	–	8	.742
Michigan	10	–	8	.556	20	–	12	.625
Ohio State	9	–	9	.500	20	–	13	.606
Michigan State	6	–	12	.333	11	–	17	.393
Wisconsin	4	–	14	.222	14	–	17	.452
Minnesota	2	–	16	.111	9	–	19	.321
Northwestern	2	–	16	.111	7	–	21	.250

As of March 30, 1987^[1] Rankings from AP Poll

The 1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1986–87 season saw the addition of an outstanding group of young players to the roster. Guards Steve Bardo, Kendall Gill and Larry Smith joined forward Nick Anderson in a highly touted recruiting class. This group produced another 20-win season (23-8) and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, where Illinois was beaten 68-67 by Austin Peay in arguably the school's most shocking upset.

This marked the first season in Big Ten Conference basketball history where two teams finished with 30 or more victories. This season also marks the NCAA's first unified 3-point line of 19 feet 9 inches after 5 years of experimentation.

Roster

1986–87 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	10	Tony Wysinger (C)	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	Sr	Peoria Central High School	Peoria, Illinois
G	13	Kendall Gill	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Rich Central High School	Matteson, Illinois
G	21	Glynn Blackwell	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Jr	Highland Park Community High School	Highland Park, Michigan
G	22	Doug Altenberger (C)	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	RS Sr	Richwoods High School	Peoria, Illinois
G/F	25	Nick Anderson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Fr	Simeon High School	Chicago, Illinois
G	31	Larry Smith	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Alton High School	Alton, Illinois
F	32	Kenny Battle	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	West Aurora High School	Aurora, Illinois
F	33	Ken Norman (C)	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Sr	Crane High School	Chicago, Illinois
G	34	Dave Wells	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Sr	Freeport High School	Freeport, Illinois
G/F	35	Stephen Bardo	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Fr	Carbondale Community High School	Carbondale, Illinois
C	40	Olaf Blab	7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	RS So	Charleston High School	Munich, West Germany
F	42	Jim Green	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Jr	Academy of Our Lady/Spalding Institute	Morton, Illinois
F	43	Jeff Finke	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	Casey-Westfield High School	Casey, Illinois
F	44	Phil Kunz	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Fr	Carlyle High School	Carlyle, Illinois
F	45	Lowell Hamilton	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	So	Providence St. Mel High School	Chicago, Illinois
F/C	50	Bryan Brickner	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Scales Mound High School	Scales Mound, Illinois
C	54	Jens Kujawa	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	RS So	Taylorville High School	Braunschweig, West Germany

Head coach

Lou Henson (New Mexico State University) (12th year)

Assistant coach(es)

Jimmy Collins (New Mexico State) (4th year)
Dick Nagy (Hardin-Simmons University) (8th year)
Mark Coomes (New Mexico State) (2nd year)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/28/1986* no, no	No. 14	vs. New Mexico State BYU-Hawaii Classic	W 67–65	1–0	BYU-Hawaii Campus (450) Laie, HI
11/29/1986* no, no	No. 14	vs. Duke BYU-Hawaii Classic	W 69–62	2–0	BYU-Hawaii Campus (1,887) Laie, HI
12/4/1986* no, no	No. 9	Chicago State	W 92–78	3–0	Assembly Hall (13,986) Champaign, Illinois
12/6/1986* no, no	No. 9	at No. 12 Pittsburgh	W 99–97	4–0	Civic Arena (6,689) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
12/8/1986* no, no	No. 9	Eastern Illinois	W 85–51	5–0	Assembly Hall (13,578) Champaign, Illinois
12/12/1986* no, no	No. 6	Baylor Illini Classic	W 92–68	6–0	Assembly Hall (13,922) Champaign, Illinois
12/13/1986* no, no	No. 6	Princeton Illini Classic	W 81–55	7–0	Assembly Hall (14,543) Champaign, Illinois
12/20/1986* no, no	No. 5	at No. 4 North Carolina	L 77–90	7–1	Dean Smith Center (21,444) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
12/23/1986* no, no	No. 9	vs. Missouri Braggin' Rights	W 92–74	8–1	St. Louis Arena (16,500) St. Louis, Missouri
12/27/1986* no, no	No. 9	at Loyola (Chicago)	L 82–83	8–2	Alumni Gym (9,017) Chicago, Illinois
Big Ten regular season
1/3/1987 no, no	No. 16	Michigan	W 95–84	9–2 (1–0)	Assembly Hall (16,468) Champaign, Illinois
1/5/1987 no, no	No. 16	Michigan State	W 79–72	10–2 (2–0)	Assembly Hall (13,672) Champaign, Illinois
1/8/1987 no, no	No. 12	at Wisconsin	W 68–66	11–2 (3–0)	Wisconsin Field House (8,054) Madison, Wisconsin
1/10/1987 no, no	No. 12	at Northwestern Rivalry	W 76–69	12–2 (4–0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, Illinois
1/14/1987 no, no	No. 8	No. 2 Iowa Rivalry	L 88–91 ^OT	12–3 (4–1)	Assembly Hall (16,666) Champaign, Illinois
1/17/1987 no, no	No. 8	Minnesota	W 80–58	13–3 (5–1)	Assembly Hall (13,814) Champaign, Illinois
1/22/1987 no, no	No. 9	at No. 5 Purdue	L 86–87 ^OT	13–4 (5–2)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, Indiana
1/24/1987* no, no	No. 9	Arizona	W 82–63	14–4	Assembly Hall (15,884) Champaign, Illinois
1/28/1987 no, no	No. 12	at No. 4 Indiana Rivalry	L 66–69	14–5 (5–3)	Assembly Hall (17,249) Bloomington, Indiana
1/31/1987* no, no	No. 12	Colorado	W 69–65	15–5	Assembly Hall (14,596) Champaign, Illinois
2/2/1987 no, no	No. 12	at Ohio State	W 93–70	16–5 (6–3)	St. John Arena (14,075) Columbus, Ohio
2/5/1987 no, no	No. 14	Northwestern Rivalry	W 72–43	17–5 (7–3)	Assembly Hall (14,095) Champaign, Illinois
2/7/1987 no, no	No. 14	Wisconsin	W 99–74	18–5 (8–3)	Assembly Hall (16,682) Champaign, Illinois
2/12/1987 no, no	No. 11	at Minnesota	W 79–67	19–5 (9–3)	Williams Arena (11,183) Minneapolis, Minnesota
2/14/1987 no, no	No. 11	at No. 4 Iowa Rivalry	L 61–66	19–6 (9–4)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA
2/23/1987 no, no	No. 14	No. 6 Purdue	L 75–76 ^OT	19–7 (9–5)	Assembly Hall (16,667) Champaign, Illinois
2/25/1987 no, no	No. 14	Ohio State	W 93–70	20–7 (10–5)	Assembly Hall (14,075) Champaign, Illinois
3/1/1987 no, no	No. 14	No. 3 Indiana Rivalry	W 69–67	21–7 (11–5)	Assembly Hall (16,793) Champaign, Illinois
3/4/1987 no, no	No. 12	at Michigan	W 89–75	22–7 (12–5)	Crisler Arena (13,145) Ann Arbor, Michigan
3/7/1987 no, no	No. 12	at Michigan State	W 77–64	23–7 (13–5)	Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004) East Lansing, Michigan
NCAA Tournament
3/12/1987* no, no	(3 SE) No. 11	vs. (14 SE) Austin Peay First Round	L 67–68	23–8	Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex (-) Birmingham, Alabama
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Minutes Played	2 pt. Field Goals	3 pt. Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Ken Norman^[3]	31	1112	255	1	128	303	68	48	37	641
Doug Altenberger^[4]	30	996	63	76	55	138	91	6	41	409
Tony Wysinger^[5]	30	948	100	28	54	56	192	2	40	338
Lowell Hamilton^[6]	31	729	149	0	36	121	28	31	24	334
Glynn Blackwell^[7]	31	679	114	6	61	106	64	4	31	307
Jens Kujawa^[8]	31	499	53	0	35	109	22	14	14	141
Stephen Bardo^[9]	31	630	41	1	34	92	85	15	23	119
Kendall Gill^[10]	31	345	40	0	34	42	27	8	39	114
Larry Smith	20	108	12	0	14	13	16	2	6	38
Phil Kunz	23	161	13	0	10	30	3	11	4	36
Olaf Blab	8	15	2	0	2	5	0	2	0	4
Jeff Finke	6	25	1	0	2	5	1	0	1	4
Jim Green	12	16	1	0	1	3	0	1	0	3
Bryan Brickner	2	3	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0
Dave Wells	4	5	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0

Awards and honors

Ken Norman
- Associated Press 2nd team All-American
- United States Basketball Writers Association 2nd team All-American
- National Association of Basketball Coaches 3rd team All-American
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[11]
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Kendall Gill
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick
Ken Norman	Los Angeles Clippers	1	19
Doug Altenberger	Chicago Bulls	6	125

^[12]

Rankings

References

^ "1986-87 Big Ten Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1986-87 Archived February 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
^ 1987 NBA Draft Archived 2011-05-20 at the Wayback Machine

[1] "1986-87 Big Ten Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Retrieved February 4, 2018.

[2] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1986-87 Archived February 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com

[3] "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.

[4] "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.

[5] "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.

[6] "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.

[7] "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.

[8] "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.

[9] "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.

[10] "Season Stats pg. 121" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.

[11] "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.

[12] 1987 NBA Draft Archived 2011-05-20 at the Wayback Machine

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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