# 1975–76 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1975–76 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

During the 1975-76 season, Illinois finished seventh in the Big Ten going went 14-13 overall. Lou Henson took over the team as head coach, replacing Gene Bartow after Bartow left Illinois to replace John Wooden at UCLA.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Opponent | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season |||||
| 11/28/1975* no, no | at Nebraska | W 60-58 | 1 - 0 | Nebraska Coliseum (6,235) Lincoln, NE |
| 12/1/1975* no, no | Kent State | W 73-54 | 2 - 0 | Assembly Hall (5,007) Champaign, IL |
| 12/4/1975* no, no | Missouri-Rolla | W 67-65 | 3 - 0 | Assembly Hall (5,050) Champaign, IL |
| 12/6/1975* no, no | New Mexico | W 67-66 $^{OT}$ | 4 - 0 | Assembly Hall (5,684) Champaign, IL |
| 12/8/1976* no, no | North Dakota State | W 90-73 | 5 - 0 | Assembly Hall (3,016) Champaign, IL |
| 12/11/1975* no, no | at Furman | L 73-75 | 5 - 1 | Greenville, South Carolina (2,579) Greenville, SC |
| 12/13/1975* no, no | at Southern California | L 58-62 | 5 - 2 | Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (4,458) Los Angeles, CA |
| 12/20/1975* no, no | Arizona | W 66-60 | 6 - 2 | Assembly Hall (6,115) Champaign, IL |
| 12/22/1975* no, no | Rice | W 106-64 | 7 - 2 | Assembly Hall (6,192) Champaign, IL |
| Big Ten regular season |||||
| 1/3/1976 no, no | at Iowa Rivalry | L 60-84 | 7 - 3 (0 - 1) | Iowa Field House (13,171) Iowa City, IA |
| 1/8/1976 no, no | at No. 17 Minnesota | L 68-77 | 7 - 4 (0 - 2) | Williams Arena (10,062) Minneapolis, MN |
| 1/10/1976 no, no | Northwestern Rivalry | W 74-69 | 8 - 4 (1 - 2) | Assembly Hall (5,547) Champaign, IL |
| 1/12/1976 no, no | Wisconsin | W 71-61 | 9 - 4 (2 - 2) | Assembly Hall (6,968) Champaign, IL |
| 1/17/1976 no, no | No. 1 Indiana Rivalry | L 55-83 | 9 - 5 (2 - 3) | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 1/19/1976 no, no | at Ohio State | L 63-64 | 9 - 6 (2 - 4) | St. John Arena (5,715) Columbus, OH |
| 1/24/1976 no, no | Michigan State | L 63-74 | 9 - 7 (2 - 5) | Assembly Hall (6,975) Champaign, IL |
| 1/26/1976 no, no | No. 17 Michigan | W 76-75 | 10 - 7 (3 - 5) | Assembly Hall (5,863) Champaign, IL |
| 1/31/1976 no, no | Purdue | W 71-63 | 11 - 7 (4 - 5) | Assembly Hall (8,467) Champaign, IL |
| 2/2/1976 no, no | Minnesota | L 62-72 | 11 - 8 (4 - 6) | Assembly Hall (7,317) Champaign, IL |
| 2/7/1976 no, no | at Northwestern Rivalry | W 61-55 | 12 - 8 (5 - 6) | McGaw Memorial Hall (4,228) Evanston, IL |
| 2/9/1976 no, no | at Wisconsin | W 70-59 | 13 - 8 (6 - 6) | Wisconsin Field House (3,883) Madison, WI |
| 2/14/1976 no, no | at No. 1 Indiana Rivalry | L 48-58 | 13 - 9 (6 - 7) | Assembly Hall (17,759) Bloomington, IN |
| 2/16/1976 no, no | Ohio State | W 91-73 | 14 - 9 (7 - 7) | Assembly Hall (8,087) Champaign, IL |
| 2/21/1976 no, no | at Michigan State | L 59-69 | 14 - 10 (7 - 8) | Jenison Fieldhouse (4,227) East Lansing, MI |
| 2/23/1976 no, no | at No. 15 Michigan | L 75-90 | 14 - 11 (7 - 9) | Crisler Center (8,121) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 2/28/1976 no, no | at Purdue | L 62-81 | 14 - 12 (7 - 10) | Mackey Arena (13,729) West Lafayette, IN |
| 3/6/1976 no, no | Iowa Rivalry | L 70-82 | 14 - 13 (7 - 11) | Assembly Hall (10,028) Champaign, IL |
| *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 | Assists | Points |
| Rich Adams | 27 | 181 | 67 | 158 | 41 | 429 |
| Audi Matthews | 27 | 129 | 46 | 144 | 50 | 304 |
| Mike Washington | 27 | 105 | 40 | 142 | 78 | 250 |
| Nate Williams | 18 | 102 | 39 | 63 | 44 | 243 |
| Otho Tucker | 26 | 83 | 68 | 135 | 84 | 234 |
| Ken Ferdinand | 26 | 72 | 17 | 83 | 11 | 161 |
| Rick Leighty | 27 | 50 | 10 | 70 | 53 | 110 |
| Larry Lubin | 26 | 22 | 16 | 19 | 46 | 60 |
| Tom Gearhardt | 22 | 15 | 8 | 34 | 12 | 38 |
| Dennis Graff | 15 | 4 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 24 |
| Tim Bushell | 8 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 |

## Awards and honors

* Nate Williams
** Team Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |
| Nate Williams | Chicago Bulls | 5 | 69 |
| Otho Tucker | Boston Celtics | 10 | 169 |