1972–73 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1972–73 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. Not ranked
AP	No. Not ranked
1972–73 record	14–10 (8–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harv Schmidt
Assistant coach	Dick Campbell
Assistant coach	Marshall Stoner
MVP	Nick Weatherspoon
Captain	Nick Weatherspoon
Home arena	Assembly Hall

1972–73 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#6 Indiana	11	–	3	.786	22	–	6	.786
#10 Minnesota	10	–	4	.714	21	–	5	.808
Purdue	8	–	6	.571	15	–	9	.625
Illinois	8	–	6	.571	14	–	10	.583
Ohio State	8	–	6	.571	14	–	10	.583
Iowa	6	–	8	.429	13	–	11	.542
Michigan	6	–	8	.429	13	–	11	.542
Michigan State	6	–	8	.429	13	–	11	.542
Wisconsin	5	–	9	.357	11	–	13	.458
Northwestern	2	–	12	.143	5	–	19	.208

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1972–73 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Head coach Harv Schmidt entered his sixth season with the Fighting Illini with high expectations. The 1971-72 team returned one of the top senior athletes in the country, Nick Weatherspoon. As a sophomore, Weatherspoon scored 381 points, averaging 16.5 points per game, while collecting 246 rebounds. His junior year was even better, scoring 500 total points, averaging 20.8 points and pulling down 262 rebounds. Nothing, however, would be better than Weatherspoon's senior year. During this season he would score 600 points, averaging 25.0 points per game, while amassing 295 total rebounds. Weatherspoon remains as number 11 on the all-time leading scores list at the University of Illinois, only surpassed by players that completed four years of varsity basketball. His three year average of 20.9 points per game and 11.3 rebounds per game still remain number one for the Fighting Illini.

The 1972-73 team's starting lineup included Weatherspoon and Rick Schmidt at the forward spots, Jeff Dawson and Otho Tucker as guards and Nick Conner at center.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
10	Garvin Roberson	Elkhart, Indiana	Elkhart Central High School	Jr.	Guard
11	Dave Roberts	Maywood, Illinois	Proviso East High School	So.	Guard
12	Nick Weatherspoon	Canton, Ohio	McKinley High School	Sr.	Forward
14	C.J. Schroeder	Davenport, Iowa	Davenport West High School	So.	Guard
20	Dennis Graff	Gibson City, Illinois	Gibson City High School	Fr.	Guard
21	Larry Cohen	Wilmette, Illinois	New Trier East High School	Sr.	Guard
22	Rich Connell	St. Joseph, Illinois	St. Joseph-Ogden High School	Fr.	Guard
24	Jeff Dawson	Oak Park, Illinois	Downers Grove North High School	Sr.	Guard
25	Donn Deputy	Pekin, Illinois	Pekin High School	So.	Forward
30	Mike Wente	Effingham, Illinois	St. Anthony High School	Jr.	Center
31	Mark Bondeson	Des Plaines, Illinois	Maine East High School	Fr.	Forward
32	Rick Schmidt	Royal, Illinois	St. Joseph-Ogden High School	So.	Forward
33	Otho Tucker	Paris, Illinois	Paris High School	So.	Guard
41	Dave Smith	Clarendon Hills, Illinois	Hinsdale Central High School	Fr.	Forward/Center
42	Jim Rucks	Waukegan, Illinois	Waukegan High School	Sr.	Forward
44	Jed Foster	Fairfield, Illinois	Fairfield High School	Sr.	Forward
45	Nick Conner	Columbus, Ohio	East High School	Sr.	Forward/Center
53	Bill Rucks	Waukegan, Illinois	Waukegan High School	Fr.	Center
54	Jim DeDecker	Moline, Illinois	Alleman High School	Sr.	Center

Head Coach Harv Schmidt (6th year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date Time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
12/2/1972* no, no	vs.DePauw	W 100-68	1 - 0	Assembly Hall (8,755) Champaign, IL
12/4/1972* no, no	vs. Valparaiso	W 80-62	2 - 0	Assembly Hall (8,326) Champaign, IL
12/9/1973* no, no	@ Detroit	L 77-79 ^ot	2 - 1	Calihan Hall (2,651) Detroit, MI
12/13/1972* no, no	vs. Iowa State	W 74-60	3 - 1	Assembly Hall (8,501) Champaign, IL
12/19/1972* no, no	vs. Furman	W 86-81	4 - 1	Assembly Hall (9,418) Champaign, IL
12/22/1972* no, no	@ Southern California	L 72-75	4 - 2	Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (3,472) Los Angeles, CA
12/29/1972* no, no	vs. Temple Sugar Bowl Classic	W 82-77	5 - 2	Municipal Auditorium (6,975) New Orleans, LA
12/30/1972* no, no	vs. #1 UCLA Sugar Bowl Classic	L 64-71	5 - 3	Municipal Auditorium (7,123) New Orleans, LA
1/6/1973 no, no	@ Purdue	L 80-91	5 - 4 ( 0 - 1 )	Mackey Arena (11,684) West Lafayette, IN
1/8/1973 no, no	vs. Wisconsin	W 76-74	6 - 4 ( 1 - 1 )	Assembly Hall (8,607) Champaign, IL
1/13/1973 no, no	vs. Iowa	W 80-78	7 - 4 ( 2 - 1 )	Assembly Hall (9,916) Champaign, IL
1/25/1973* no, no	vs. Notre Dame	W 87-84	8 - 4	Chicago Stadium (15,817) Chicago, IL
1/27/1973* no, no	vs. South Carolina	L 76-86	8 - 5	Assembly Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
2/3/1973 no, no	vs. Michigan	W 76-75	9 - 5 ( 3 - 1 )	Assembly Hall (11,117) Champaign, IL
2/5/1973 no, no	@ Northwestern	W 84-77	10 - 5 ( 4 - 1 )	Welsh-Ryan Arena (4,726) Evanston, IL
2/10/1973 no, no	@ Wisconsin	L 88-99	10 - 6 ( 4 - 2 )	Wisconsin Field House (8,231) Madison, WI
2/12/1973 no, no	@ #4 Indiana	L 67-87	10 - 7 ( 4 - 3 )	Assembly Hall (14,156) Bloomington, IN
2/17/1973 no, no	vs. Ohio State	W 79-68	11 - 7 ( 5 - 3 )	Assembly Hall (11,892) Champaign, IL
2/19/1973 no, no	vs. #4 Minnesota	L 52-72	11 - 8 ( 5 - 4 )	Assembly Hall (11,367) Champaign, IL
2/24/1973 no, no	vs. Michigan State	W 82-90	12 - 8 ( 6 - 4 )	Assembly Hall (10,677) Champaign, IL
2/26/1973 no, no	@ Michigan	W 96-89	13 - 8 ( 7 - 4 )	Crisler Center (8,235) Ann Arbor, MI
3/3/1973 no, no	@ Ohio State	L 64-65	13 - 9 ( 7 - 5 )	St. John Arena (13,489) Columbus, OH
3/5/1973 no, no	vs. Northwestern	W 77-76	14 - 9 ( 7 - 5 )	Assembly Hall (10,857) Champaign, IL
3/10/1973 no, no	@ Iowa	L 76-93	14 - 10 ( 8 - 6 )	Iowa Field House (12,353) Iowa City, IA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Points
Nick Weatherspoon^[3]	24	247	106	295	600
Jeff Dawson^[4]	24	182	83	68	447
Nick Conner^[5]	24	136	43	221	315
Otho Tucker^[6]	24	92	53	79	237
Jed Foster^[7]	24	38	37	99	113
Rick Schmidt^[8]	23	39	10	90	88
C.J. Schroeder^[9]	20	9	14	28	32
Dave Roberts^[10]	15	8	9	7	25

Awards and honors

Nick Weatherspoon
- 1st Team All-American (Helms), Honorable Mention (Converse)
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[11]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	13	Nick Weatherspoon	Capitol Bullets
8	11	Jeff Dawson	Golden State Warriors
10	2	Nick Conner	Buffalo Braves

^[12]

References

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 Missouri

Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek

People	Head coaches NBA draftees Consensus All-Americans

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 1999–00 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

Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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