# 1976–77 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1976–77 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

The 1976-77 team would include Lou Henson's first group of recruited athletes. Levi Cobb, Neil Bresnahan, and Steve Lanter contributed to a quick start on the season and a 7-1 record. The team's only loss was by 1 point at the hands of Missouri in the Show Me Classic played in Columbia, MO. Before the Big Ten season commenced the Illini had staked themselves to an 8-4 record, yet the fans support still did not yet believe in Henson's squad.
A mere 6,938 fans attended a mid-December Saturday afternoon game versus Arizona State. Even with fewer fans coming out, the team set a series of offensive records in the Big Ten opener against Ohio State. The records included converting on 19 of their first 21 shots and shooting 69.4 percent for the game.
During the course of the season the Illini would lose twice to the Golden Gophers, however, before the NCAA Tournament it was determined that Minnesota had committed violations that resulted in sanctions against them, including the forfeiture of all of their games. This gave the Illini two additional wins and a final record of 16-14, with an 8-10 conference mark.
The team's starting lineup included Rick Leighty, Ken Ferdinand and Levi Cobb as forwards, Audie Matthews and Steve Lanter at the guard positions, and Rich Adams playing center.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Opponent | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season |||||
| 11/26/1976* no, no | at St. Louis | W 68-65 | 1 - 0 | Kiel Auditorium (9,148) St. Louis, MO |
| 12/3/1976* no, no | at Missouri Show Me Classic | L 75-76 | 1 - 1 | Hearnes Center (5,227) Columbia, MO |
| 12/4/1976* no, no | St. Louis Show-Me Classic | W 54-46 | 2 - 1 | Hearnes Center (5,227) Columbia, MO |
| 12/8/1976* no, no | San Jose State | W 84-70 | 3 - 1 | Assembly Hall (6,113) Champaign, IL |
| 12/11/1976* no, no | Nebraska | W 67-63 | 4 - 1 | Assembly Hall (7,055) Champaign, IL |
| 12/13/1976* no, no | Cleveland State Illini Classic | W 72-70 | 5 - 1 | Assembly Hall (5,389) Champaign, IL |
| 12/17/1976* no, no | Cal Poly Illini Classic | W 67-65 | 6 - 1 | Assembly Hall (5,489) Champaign, IL |
| 12/18/1976* no, no | Arizona State | W 80-74 | 7 - 1 | Assembly Hall (6,938) Champaign, IL |
| 12/27/1976* no, no | Houston Rainbow Classic | L 66-69 | 7 - 2 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-) Honolulu, HI |
| 12/29/1976* no, no | William & Mary Rainbow Classic | W 73-64 | 8 - 2 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-) Honolulu, HI |
| 12/30/1976* no, no | St. John's Rainbow Classic | L 52-56 | 8 - 3 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center (1,849) Honolulu, HI |
| 1/1/1977* no, no | at Long Beach State | W 81-71 | 8 - 4 | Gold Mine (4,030) Long Beach, CA |
| Big Ten regular season |||||
| 1/6/1977 no, no | at Ohio State | W 89-72 | 9 - 4 (1 - 0) | St. John's Arena (6,907) Columbus, OH |
| 1/8/1977 no, no | at Indiana Rivalry | L 60-80 | 9 - 5 (1 - 1) | Assembly Hall (16,497) Bloomington, IN |
| 1/13/1977 no, no | No. 9 Minnesota | L 69-83 | 10 - 5 (2 - 1) | Assembly Hall (7,689) Champaign, IL |
| 1/15/1977 no, no | Iowa Rivalry | L 81-84 $^{ot}$ | 10 - 6 (2 - 2) | Assembly Hall (7,246) Champaign, IL |
| 1/20/1977 no, no | at Michigan State | L 58-67 | 10 - 7 (2 - 3) | Jenison Fieldhouse (3,417) East Lansing, MI |
| 1/22/1977 no, no | at No. 5 Michigan | L 61-66 | 10 - 8 (2 - 4) | Crisler Arena (13,609) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 1/24/1977 no, no | Northwestern Rivalry | W 71-68 | 11 - 8 (3 - 4) | Assembly Hall (5,810) Champaign, IL |
| 1/29/1977 no, no | at No. 18 Purdue | L 63-66 | 11 - 9 (3 - 5) | Mackey Arena (12,800) West Lafayette, IN |
| 2/3/1977 no, no | Wisconsin | W 82-72 | 12 - 9 (4 - 5) | Assembly Hall (6,144) Champaign, IL |
| 2/5/1977 no, no | No. 18 Purdue | W 71-70 | 13 - 9 (5 - 5) | Assembly Hall (9,700) Champaign, IL |
| 2/10/1977 no, no | at Northwestern Rivalry | W 65-63 | 14 - 9 (6 - 5) | McGaw Memorial Hall (3,966) Evanston, IL |
| 2/12/1977 no, no | at Wisconsin | L 50-62 | 13 - 8 (6 - 6) | Wisconsin Field House (7,589) Madison, WI |
| 2/17/1977 no, no | Indiana Rivalry | W 73-69 | 14 - 8 (7 - 6) | Assembly Hall (11,172) Champaign, IL |
| 2/19/1977 no, no | Ohio State | L 60-64 | 14 - 9 (7 - 7) | Assembly Hall (8,849) Champaign, IL |
| 2/24/1977 no, no | at Iowa Rivalry | L 64-76 | 14 - 10 (7 - 8) | Iowa Field House (9,875) Iowa City, IA |
| 2/26/1977 no, no | at No. 13 Minnesota | L 70-72 | 15 - 10 (8 - 8) | Williams Arena (15,163) Minneapolis, MN |
| 3/3/1977 no, no | No. 3 Michigan | L 72-87 | 15 - 11 (8 - 9) | Assembly Hall (10,524) Champaign, IL |
| 3/5/1977 no, no | Michigan State | L 61-62 | 15 - 12 (8 - 10) | Assembly Hall (8,021) Champaign, IL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. |||||

## Player stats

| Player | Games Played | Minutes Played | Field Goals | Free Throws | Rebounds | Assists | Points |
| Audie Matthews | 30 | 1023 | 202 | 75 | 151 | 75 | 479 |
| Rich Adams | 30 | 846 | 171 | 45 | 171 | 62 | 387 |
| Levi Cobb | 30 | 942 | 126 | 54 | 192 | 57 | 306 |
| Ken Ferdinand | 28 | 521 | 109 | 43 | 108 | 27 | 261 |
| Neil Bresnahan | 28 | 684 | 80 | 46 | 138 | 31 | 206 |
| Steve Lanter | 30 | 966 | 76 | 39 | 49 | 103 | 191 |
| Rick Leighty | 26 | 408 | 45 | 11 | 72 | 37 | 101 |
| Rob Judson | 14 | 162 | 20 | 14 | 5 | 19 | 54 |
| Larry Lubin | 25 | 185 | 14 | 3 | 23 | 27 | 31 |
| Tom Gerhardt | 23 | 184 | 6 | 4 | 34 | 14 | 16 |
| Rick Kirby | 17 | 102 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 16 |
| Jeff Berry | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Bushell | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeff Carter | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Meyer | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

* Audie Matthews
** Team Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |