1949–50 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1949–50 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1949–50 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
1949–50 record14–8 (7-5 Big Ten)
Head coachHarry Combes
Assistant coachHowie Braun
MVPWally Osterkorn
CaptainBill Erickson
Home arenaHuff Hall
1949–50 Big Nine Conference men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
No. 2 Ohio State11–1 .917  22–4  .846
No. 16 Wisconsin9–3 .750  17–5  .773
No. 20 Indiana7–5 .583  17–5  .773
Illinois7–5 .583  14–8  .636
Iowa6–6 .500  15–7  .682
Minnesota4–8 .333  13–9  .591
Michigan4–8 .333  11–11  .500
Northwestern3–9 .250  10–12  .455
Purdue3–9 .250  9–13  .409
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

The 1949-50 season looked to have solid promise based on the fact that the team had 3 returning starters from a "Final Four" team a year earlier. Unfortunately for the Fighting Illini men's basketball team, the conference season proved to be more difficult than expected. With 5 of the team's 8 losses coming at the hands of conference competition, the Illini, not only placed in a third place tie in the Big Ten, they also missed out on the opportunity to play in a post-season tournament. Head coach Harry Combes had guided the team a year earlier to a Big Ten championship, a third place finish in the 1949 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and a final AP ranking of No. 4 in the nation. The 1949-50 team compiled an overall record of 14 wins and 8 losses with a conference record of 7 wins and 5 losses. The starting lineup included captain William Erickson, Roy Gatewood and Donald Sunderlage as forwards, Rodney Fletcher, and Burdette Thurlby at guard and Walter Osterkorn and Mack Follmer rotating at the center position.[1]

Roster
1949–50 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#NameHeightWeightYearPrevious schoolHometown
G 7 Jim Cottrell 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)167 lb (76 kg) JrChampaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois
F 8 Roy Gatewood 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)174 lb (79 kg) SrSalem High School Salem, Illinois
G 11 Don Sunderlage 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)180 lb (82 kg) JrElgin High School Elgin, Illinois
C 13 Walter Osterkorn 6 ft 4.5 in (1.94 m)207 lb (94 kg) SrAmundsen High School Chicago, Illinois
F 14 Burdette Thurlby 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)180 lb (82 kg) SrKirkland High School Kirkland, Illinois
C 21 Walt Kersulis 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)197 lb (89 kg) SrEast St. Louis Senior High School East St. Louis, Illinois
F 22 Van Anderson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)185 lb (84 kg) SrSullivan Community High School Sullivan, Illinois
F 23 Ted Beach 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)165 lb (75 kg) JrChampaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois
C 27 Mack Follmer 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)200 lb (91 kg) SoForrest High School Forrest, Illinois
F 30 Glen Trugillo 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)160 lb (73 kg) JrEast High School Rockford, Illinois
G 33 Bill Erickson (C) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)184 lb (83 kg) SrEast High School Rockford, Illinois
G 34 Seymour Gantman 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)165 lb (75 kg) SoMarshall High School Chicago, Illinois
G 35 Ren Alde 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)180 lb (82 kg) SoPana High School Pana, Illinois
G 37 Rod Fletcher 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)194 lb (88 kg) SoChampaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois
G 38 Herb Gerecke 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)180 lb (82 kg) SoPekin High School Pekin, Illinois
John Marks
—
—
 JrEdwardsville High School Edwardsville, Illinois
Cliff Fulton
—
—
 SrMooseheart High School Mooseheart, Illinois
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

All-Time Illini Roster

Source[2]

Schedule

Source[3]

Date
time, TV		 Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/3/1949*
no, no		 No. NR @ Butler W 60–56  1-0
 Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,704)
Indianapolis, IN
12/8/1949*
no, no		 No. NR vs. Toledo W 67–51  2-0
 Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
12/10/1949*
no, no		 No. NR @ Oklahoma L 47–55  2-1
 McCasland Field House (4,500)
Norman, OK
12/14/1949*
no, no		 No. NR vs. Arkansas W 65–53  3-1
 Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
12/17/1949*
no, no		 No. NR vs. Oklahoma W 57–47  4-1
 Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
12/22/1949*
no, no		 No. NR vs. St. Louis W 59–47  5-1
 Huff Hall (5,333)
Champaign, IL
12/23/1949*
no, no		 No. NR vs. UCLA L 63–65  5-2
 Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
12/27/1949*
no, no		 No. NR vs. Columbia W 58–46  6-2
 Huff Hall (4,760)
Champaign, IL
12/30/1949*
no, no		 No. NR vs. Princeton W 68–61  7-2
 Huff Hall (4,593)
Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/2/1950
no, no		 No. NR @ Wisconsin L 50–59  7-3 (0-1)
 Wisconsin Field House (13,000)
Madison, WI
1/7/1950
no, no		 No. 16 @ Ohio State L 62–83  7-4 (0-2)
 Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (-)
Columbus, OH
1/9/1950
no, no		 No. NR vs. Purdue W 59–54  8-4 (1-2)
 Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
1/16/1950
no, no		 No. NR vs. Northwestern W 76–50  9-4 (2-2)
 Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
1/21/1950
no, no		 No. NR vs. Ohio State (No. 11) W 66–50  10-4 (3-2)
 Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
2/1/1950*
no, no		 No. 20 @ St. Louis L 42–62  10-5
 Bauman–Eberhardt Center (-)
St. Louis, MO
2/4/1950
no, no		 No. NR @ Minnesota W 67–57  11-5 (4-2)
 Williams Arena (13,527)
Minneapolis, MN
2/11/1950
no, no		 No. NR @ Iowa
Rivalry		 L 65–70  11-6 (4-3)
 Iowa Field House (13,394)
Iowa City, IA
2/13/1950
no, no		 No. NR vs. Indiana(No. 16)
Rivalry		 L 72–83  11-7 (4-4)
 Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
2/18/1950
no, no		 No. NR vs. Michigan W 70–60  12-7 (5-4)
 Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
2/25/1950
no, no		 No. NR vs. Wisconsin W 76–58  13-7 (6-4)
 Huff Hall (6,905)
Champaign, IL
2/27/1950
no, no		 No. NR @ Indiana (No. 17)
Rivalry		 L 66–80  13-8 (6-5)
 The Field House (10,036)
Bloomington, IN
3/4/1950
no, no		 No. NR vs. Northwestern W 69–52  14-8 (7-5)
 Chicago Stadium (14,200)
Chicago, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Time.

Rankings
Main article: 1949–50 NCAA men's basketball rankings

Player stats
Player Games Played Field Goals Free Throws Points
Wally Osterkorn2212583333
Bill Erickson227873229
Burdette Thurlby215752166
Don Sunderlage225445153
Rod Fletcher193924102
Roy Gatewood17381894
Mack Follmer22341381
Van Anderson19251464
Walt Kersulis19231460
Ted Beach19201353
Cliff Fulton177721
Herb Gerecke63511
Seymour Gantman7339
Jim Cottrell4124
John Marks1102
Glen Trugillo2102
Ron Alde1000

[4]

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA
RoundPickPlayerNBA Club
215Wally OsterkornChicago Stags
783Bill EricksonTri-Cities Blackhawks

[6]

Rankings
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References
  1. Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
  2. Men's Basketball Roster
  3. University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1949-50 Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  4. "Season Stats". Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2014-03-31.
  5. List of MVPs
  6. 1950 NBA Draft Archived 2010-01-17 at the Wayback Machine
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