# 1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1939–40 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

Doug Mills entered his fourth year as the head coach of the Fighting Illini with high hopes as well as a player with national prominence. William "Bill" Hapac was the program's first consensus first-team All-American as recognized by the NCAA. During the 1939-40 season, he became the first-ever recipient of the University of Illinois Athlete of the Year award. Hapac set the Big Ten single-game scoring record on February 10, 1940, with 34 points vs. Minnesota, a point total unheard of at that time. In addition to his success on the hardwood, Hapac also was a three-year letterwinner for the Illini baseball team. During the season, the Illini won 10 of their 11 home games only losing to conference rival Purdue in the last game of the season. Unfortunately for the Illini they finished with a 4-5 record on the road to finish in a fourth place tie overall in conference action. Mills' team featured 9 returning letterman including team captain William Hapac. The Illini also featured a starting lineup of John Drish at the center position and Harold Shapiro, Joe Frank, and William Hapac at forward and Victor Wukovits and future major league baseball player Walter Evers at the guard spot.

### Roster
## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Opponent | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season |||||
| 12/6/1939* no, no | Monmouth (IL) | W 37–19 | 1–0 | Huff Hall (4,346) Champaign, IL |
| 12/6/1939* no, no | Wabash | W 60–21 | 2–0 | Huff Hall (4,346) Champaign, IL |
| 12/15/1939* no, no | Carleton | W 46–15 | 3–0 | Huff Hall (4,164) Champaign, IL |
| 12/18/1939* no, no | Princeton | W 41–25 | 4–0 | Huff Hall (4,346) Champaign, IL |
| 12/27/1939* no, no | Notre Dame | W 42–29 | 5–0 | Huff Hall (3,747) Champaign, IL |
| 12/29/1939* no, no | at Drake | W 35-34 | 6–0 | Drake Fieldhouse (-) Des Moines, IA |
| 1/1/1940 no, no | at Butler | W 37–18 | 7–0 | Hinkle Fieldhouse (4,000) Indianapolis, IN |
| Big Ten regular season |||||
| 1/6/1940 no, no | at Indiana Rivalry | L 36–38 | 7–1 (0–1) | Wildermuth Intramural Center (6,000) Bloomington, IN |
| 1/8/1940 no, no | University of Chicago | W 34–33 | 8–1 (1–1) | Huff Hall (5,200) Champaign, IL |
| 1/13/1940 no, no | at Ohio State | L 31–37 | 8–2 (1–2) | Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (4,046) Columbus, OH |
| 1/15/1940 no, no | at Michigan | W 48–43 | 9–2 (2–2) | Yost Fieldhouse (4,500) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 2/3/1940* no, no | at Notre Dame | L 40–58 | 9-3 | Notre Dame Fieldhouse (5,500) Notre Dame, IN |
| 2/10/1940 no, no | Minnesota | W 60–31 | 10–3 (3–2) | Huff Hall (5,402) Champaign, IL |
| 2/12/1940 no, no | Northwestern Rivalry | W 35–33 | 11–3 (4–2) | Huff Hall (5,400) Champaign, IL |
| 2/17/1940 no, no | at Purdue | L 27–33 | 11–4 (4–3) | Lambert Fieldhouse (8,800) West Lafayette, IN |
| 2/19/1940 no, no | Wisconsin | W 37-35 | 12–4 (5–3) | Huff Hall (5,400) Champaign, IL |
| 2/24/1940 no, no | Michigan | W 51–28 | 13–4 (6–3) | Huff Hall (5,692) Champaign, IL |
| 2/26/1940 no, no | at University of Chicago | W 42–40 | 14–4 (7–3) | Henry Crown Field House (3,500) Chicago, IL |
| 3/2/1940 no, no | at Iowa Rivalry | L 47–62 | 14–5 (7–4) | Iowa Field House (7,000) Iowa City, IA |
| 3/4/1940 no, no | Purdue | L 31–34 | 14–6 (7–5) | Huff Hall (7,172) Champaign, IL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. |||||
Source

## Player stats

| Player | Games Played | Field Goals | Free Throws | Points |
| William Hapac | 18 | 95 | 54 | 244 |
| Walter Evers | 17 | 40 | 33 | 113 |
| Victor Wukovits | 19 | 32 | 28 | 92 |
| Colin Handlon | 19 | 23 | 23 | 69 |
| Joe Frank | 19 | 25 | 10 | 60 |
| John Drish | 18 | 20 | 7 | 47 |
| Harold Shapiro | 15 | 17 | 5 | 39 |
| William Hocking | 13 | 13 | 9 | 35 |
| Henry Sachs | 18 | 15 | 2 | 32 |
| Robert Richmond | 10 | 10 | 9 | 29 |
| Robert O'Neill | 10 | 10 | 6 | 26 |
| Howard Cronk | 10 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| Rex Sherman | 4 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Paul Milosevich | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Scott Gill | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Frederick Townshend | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Norman Cusick | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Kenneth Brown | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Edward Evers | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Harry Lasater | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Leonard Sharp | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |

## Awards and honors

* William Hapac
** Helms 1st team All-American (Consensus)
** Converse 1st team All-American