# 1949–50 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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

## 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.

### Roster
## Schedule

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

## Player stats

| Player | Games Played | Field Goals | Free Throws | Points |
| Wally Osterkorn | 22 | 125 | 83 | 333 |
| Bill Erickson | 22 | 78 | 73 | 229 |
| Burdette Thurlby | 21 | 57 | 52 | 166 |
| Don Sunderlage | 22 | 54 | 45 | 153 |
| Rod Fletcher | 19 | 39 | 24 | 102 |
| Roy Gatewood | 17 | 38 | 18 | 94 |
| Mack Follmer | 22 | 34 | 13 | 81 |
| Van Anderson | 19 | 25 | 14 | 64 |
| Walt Kersulis | 19 | 23 | 14 | 60 |
| Ted Beach | 19 | 20 | 13 | 53 |
| Cliff Fulton | 17 | 7 | 7 | 21 |
| Herb Gerecke | 6 | 3 | 5 | 11 |
| Seymour Gantman | 7 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| Jim Cottrell | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| John Marks | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Glen Trugillo | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Ron Alde | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

* Bill Erickson
** Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1950)
* Wally Osterkorn
** Team Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Round | Pick | Player | NBA Club |
| 2 | 15 | Wally Osterkorn | Chicago Stags |
| 7 | 83 | Bill Erickson | Tri-Cities Blackhawks |