# 1982–83 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1982–83 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illiniois.

## Regular season

One of Illinois’ best groups arrived on campus for the 1982-83 season. Guards Bruce Douglas and Doug Altenberger, and forwards Scott Meents and Efrem Winters joined sophomores George Montgomery and Anthony Welch to form the nucleus for a team that would win 95 games during the next four seasons. During this season, the Fighting Illini became the nation’s 25th team to cap the 1,000-win mark with a 72-70 victory over Texas A&M in the Great Alaska Shootout. Later that year, Derek Harper was selected First-Team All-Big Ten, falling one vote shy of being a unanimous pick, before leaving school early for the NBA draft. He was a first round selection of the Dallas Mavericks.

### Roster
## Schedule and Results

Source
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| 11/26/1982* no, no | | vs. Vanderbilt Great Alaska Shootout | L 47-58 | 0-1 | Buckner Fieldhouse (3,500) Anchorage, AK |
| 11/27/1982* no, no | | vs. Texas A&M Great Alaska Shootout | W 72-70 | 1-1 | Buckner Fieldhouse (3,500) Anchorage, AK |
| 11/28/1982* no, no | | vs. Florida Great Alaska Shootout | W 68-55 | 2-1 | Buckner Fieldhouse (2,500) Anchorage, AK |
| 12/2/1982* no, no | | Valparaiso | W 94-59 | 3-1 | Assembly Hall (11,184) Champaign, IL |
| 12/4/1982* no, no | | Western Michigan | W 75-59 | 4-1 | Assembly Hall (12,874) Champaign, IL |
| 12/19/1982* no, no | | at Kansas State | W 59-55 | 5-1 | Ahearn Field House (11,220) Manhattan, KS |
| 12/11/1982* no, no | | at No. 2 Kentucky | L 57-76 | 5-2 | Rupp Arena (23,872) Lexington, KY |
| 12/13/1982* no, no | | Vanderbilt | W 79-77 $^{2ot}$ | 6-2 | Assembly Hall (10,341) Champaign |
| 12/17/1982* no, no | | Southern Illinois Illini Classic | W 79-61 | 7-2 | Assembly Hall (10,119) Champaign |
| 12/18/1982* no, no | | Illinois State Illini Classic | W 67-60 | 8-2 | Assembly Hall (14,328) Champaign, IL |
| 12/23/1982* no, no | | at Oklahoma | L 75-101 | 8-3 | Lloyd Noble Center (8,713) Norman, OK |
| 12/31/1982* no, no | | Loyola (Chicago) | W 73-72 | 9-3 | Assembly Hall (10,152) Champaign, IL |
| 1/3/1982* no, no | | vs. Iowa State | W 74-57 | 10-3 | Rosemont Horizon (7,628) Rosemont, IL |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/6/1983 no, no | | at Minnesota | L 49-75 | 10-4 (0-1) | Williams Arena (15,543) Minneapolis, MN |
| 1/8/1983 no, no | | at Wisconsin | W 61-54 | 11-4 (1-1) | Wisconsin Field House (7,401) Madison, WI |
| 1/13/1983 no, no | | No. 4 Indiana Rivalry | L 55-69 | 11-5 (1-2) | Assembly Hall (14,827) Champaign, IL |
| 1/5/1983 no, no | | No. 20 Ohio State | W 63-55 | 12-5 (2-2) | Assembly Hall (13,015) Champaign, IL |
| 1/19/1983 no, no | | at Purdue | L 62-63 | 12-6 (2-3) | Mackey Arena (13,502) West Lafayette, IN |
| 1/27/1983 no, no | | at Michigan State | W 78-71 | 13-6 (3-3) | Jenison Fieldhouse (7,018) East Lansing, MI |
| 1/29/1983 no, no | | at Michigan | W 87-74 | 14-6 (4-3) | Crisler Arena (12,876) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 2/3/1983 no, no | | No. 13 Iowa Rivalry | W 62-61 | 15-6 (5-3) | Assembly Hall (15,181) Champaign, IL |
| 2/5/1983 no, no | | Northwestern Rivalry | W 78-62 | 16-6 (6-3) | Assembly Hall (14,684) Champaign, IL |
| 2/10/1983 no, no | | at Northwestern Rivalry | L 55-58 | 16-7 (6-4) | Alumni Hall (5,223) Chicago, IL |
| 2/12/1983 no, no | | at No. 20 Iowa Rivalry | L 66-68 | 16-8 (6-5) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,450) Iowa City, IA |
| 2/17/1983 no, no | | Michigan | W 91-71 | 17-8 (7-5) | Assembly Hall (12,716) Champaign, IL |
| 2/19/1983 no, no | | Michigan State | W 69-61 | 18-8 (8-5) | Assembly Hall (14,123) Champaign, IL |
| 2/23/1983 no, no | | Purdue | L 54-56 | 18-9 (8-6) | Assembly Hall (13,507) Champaign, IL |
| 2/27/1983 no, no | | at No. 14 Ohio State | W 74-73 | 19-9 (9-6) | St. John Arena (11,979) Columbus, OH |
| 3/5/1983 no, no | | at No. 11 Indiana Rivalry | L 55-67 | 19-10 (9-7) | Assembly Hall (17,328) Bloomington, IN |
| 3/10/1983 no, no | | Wisconsin | W 71-64 | 20-10 (10-7) | Assembly Hall (12,947) Champaign, IL |
| 3/13/1983 no, no | | Minnesota | W 70-67 $^{2ot}$ | 21-10 (11-7) | Assembly Hall (15,386) Champaign, IL |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| 3/17/1983* no, no | (7 W) | vs. (10 W) Utah First Round | L 49-52 | 21-11 | BSU Pavilion (11,200) Boise, ID |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Player stats

| Player | Games Played | Minutes Played | 2 pt. Field Goals | 3 pt. Field Goals | Free Throws | Rebounds | Assists | Blocks | Steals | Points |
| Derek Harper | 32 | 1182 | 185 | 13 | 83 | 112 | 118 | 18 | 72 | 792 |
| Efrem Winters | 31 | 977 | 159 | 0 | 67 | 213 | 20 | 31 | 14 | 385 |
| Anthony Welch | 32 | 1085 | 158 | 0 | 61 | 201 | 44 | 15 | 17 | 377 |
| Bruce Douglas | 32 | 1016 | 117 | 1 | 64 | 87 | 189 | 5 | 78 | 301 |
| George Montgomery | 32 | 643 | 72 | 0 | 40 | 146 | 22 | 7 | 15 | 184 |
| Bryan Leonard | 30 | 495 | 51 | 0 | 20 | 104 | 22 | 9 | 10 | 122 |
| Doug Altenberger | 31 | 428 | 29 | 1 | 35 | 40 | 23 | 0 | 15 | 96 |
| Scott Meents | 29 | 237 | 34 | 0 | 13 | 35 | 27 | 14 | 6 | 81 |
| Jay Daniels | 18 | 250 | 28 | 0 | 15 | 29 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 71 |
| Kevin Bontemps | 27 | 138 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 20 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 30 |
| Reggie Woodward | 14 | 29 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16 |
| Don Klusendorf | 13 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Dee Maras | 12 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |

## Awards and honors

* Derek Harper
** Associated Press 2nd team All-American
** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
** Team Most Valuable Player
* Bruce Douglas
** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |
| Derek Harper | Dallas Mavericks | 1 | 11 |