# 1917–18 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1917–18 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

Under the direction of coach Ralph Jones, the 1917–18 season for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team, was unusual because World War I was happening in Europe. Co-captain George Halas, for example, left the team in January 1918 to help out with the war effort. In only the second season of having 10 members, the Big Ten Conference continued their 12-game schedule of home and road competitions. The Illini finished their season with an overall record of 9 wins and 6 losses and a 6-win 6-loss conference mark. The starting lineup included co-captain Earl Anderson and B.E. Mittleman at the forward positions, J.S. Probst and P.C. Taylor at center, and co-captain George Halas and Burt Ingwersen as guards. Anderson would be named a consensus All-American for the season.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Opponent | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season |||||
| 12/15/1917* no, no | Millikin | W 40–13 | 1-0 | Kenney Gym (199) Urbana, IL |
| 12/19/1917* no, no | at Millikin University | W 31–13 | 2-0 | Millikin Gymnasium (-) Decatur, IL |
| 1/5/1918* no, no | Wabash College | W 24–9 | 3-0 | Kenney Gym (-) Urbana, IL |
| Big Ten regular season |||||
| 1/9/1918 no, no | Purdue | W 27–17 | 4-0 (1-0) | Kenney Gym (635) Urbana, IL |
| 1/14/1918 no, no | Minnesota | W 28–17 | 5-0 (2-0) | Kenney Gym (1,008) Urbana, IL |
| 1/19/1918 no, no | Wisconsin | L 21–22 | 5-1 (2-1) | Kenney Gym (1,108) Urbana, IL |
| 2/2/1918 no, no | at University of Chicago | L 19–23 | 5-2 (2-2) | Bartlett Gymnasium (-) Chicago, IL |
| 2/9/1918 no, no | Northwestern Rivalry | W 38–22 | 6-2 (3-2) | Kenney Gym (925) Urbana, IL |
| 2/11/1918 no, no | Ohio State | W 35–21 | 7-2 (4-2) | Kenney Gym (673) Urbana, IL |
| 2/16/1918 no, no | at Purdue | L 26–29 | 7-3 (4-3) | Memorial Gymnasium (-) West Lafayette, IN |
| 2/18/1918 no, no | at Ohio State | W 26–23 | 8-3 (5-3) | The Armory (-) Columbus, OH |
| 2/23/1918 no, no | at Wisconsin | L 15–23 | 8-4 (5-4) | University of Wisconsin Armory and Gymnasium (-) Madison, WI |
| 2/25/1918 no, no | at Minnesota | L 22–35 | 8-5 (5-5) | University of Minnesota Armory (-) Minneapolis, MN |
| 3/2/1918 no, no | at Northwestern Rivalry | L 14–29 | 8-6 (5-6) | Patten Gymnasium (-) Evanston, IL |
| 3/6/1918 no, no | University of Chicago | W 20–17 | 9-6 (6-6) | Kenney Gym (518) Urbana, 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 |
| Earl Anderson | 15 | 67 | 67 | 201 |
| Bert Ingwersen | 15 | 24 | 1 | 49 |
| Paul Taylor | 14 | 24 | 0 | 48 |
| J.S. Probst | 10 | 15 | 0 | 30 |
| Benjamin Mittleman | 7 | 13 | 0 | 26 |
| Charles Vail | 11 | 8 | 0 | 16 |
| J.G. Stevens | 7 | 5 | 0 | 10 |
| George Halas | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 |

## Awards and honors

George Halas was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1963), for his role in the development of the National Football League as well as for his coaching and playing for the Chicago Bears.
Earl Anderson was named a Consensus All-American for the 1917-18 season.