# 1983–84 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1983–84 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illiniois.

## Regular season

The 1983–84 season brought Illinois its 12th Big Ten Conference championship in a season where Illinois had four overtime games including an epic four-overtime 75–66 victory over Michigan. The next game was a two-overtime win at Iowa, Lou Henson’s 400th victory as a college head coach. The Illini recorded a 26-5 mark and were 15-3 in Big Ten play, tying Purdue for the league title. This season also marked Illinois’ first back-to-back 20 win seasons since 1951–52. The Illini would go on to record a total of nine consecutive 20-win seasons from 1982–83 to 1990–91. Illinois advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals before dropping a heart-breaking 54–51 loss to Kentucky on its home court, causing the NCAA to put a rule in place not allowing a school to play in a tournament game on its home court. Rumors also were floated that the outcome was predetermined, with home team time clock operations being implicated in part.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| 11/25/1983* no, no | | vs. Utah Tribune Charities Holiday Classic | W 99-65 | 1-0 | Rosemont Horizon (5,463) Rosemont, IL |
| 11/26/1983* no, no | | vs. Loyola (Chicago) Tribune Charities Holiday Classic | W 70-53 | 2-0 | Rosemont Horizon (5,854) Rosemont, IL |
| 12/2/1983* no, no | | Western Illinois Illini Classic | W 65-49 | 3-0 | Assembly Hall (10,365) Champaign, IL |
| 12/3/1983* no, no | | Southern Mississippi Illini Classic | W 78-47 | 4-0 | Assembly Hall (11,841) Champaign, IL |
| 12/6/1983* no, no | | at Vanderbilt | W 69-55 | 5-0 | Memorial Gymnasium (15,204) Nashville, TN |
| 12/10/1983* no, no | | West Texas State | W 69-58 | 6-0 | Assembly Hall (10,430) Champaign, IL |
| 12/12/1983* no, no | | Loyola (Chicago) | W 74-69 | 7-0 | Assembly Hall (10,488) Champaign, IL |
| 12/21/1983* no, no | | Cal State Northridge | W 78-57 | 8-0 | Assembly Hall (8,253) Champaign, IL |
| 12/24/1983* no, no | | No. 2 Kentucky | L 54-56 | 8-1 | Assembly Hall (10,732) Champaign, IL |
| 12/28/1983* no, no | No. 20 | vs. Missouri Braggin' Rights | W 66-60 | 9-1 | St. Louis Arena (17,844) St. Louis, MO |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/5/1984 no, no | No. 14 | Minnesota | W 80-53 | 10-1 (1-0) | Assembly Hall (11,012) Champaign, IL |
| 1/7/1984 no, no | No. 14 | at Wisconsin | W 63-62 $^{OT}$ | 11-1 (2-0) | Wisconsin Field House (7,569) Madison, WI |
| 1/11/1984 no, no | No. 9 | at Indiana Rivalry | L 68-73 $^{OT}$ | 11-2 (2-1) | Assembly Hall (17,223) Bloomington, IN |
| 1/14/1984 no, no | No. 9 | at Ohio State | W 55-53 | 12-2 (3-1) | St. John Arena (12,657) Columbus, OH |
| 1/21/1984 no, no | No. 10 | No. 19 Purdue | W 76-52 | 13-2 (4-1) | Assembly Hall (16,166) Champaign, IL |
| 1/26/1984 no, no | No. 9 | Michigan State | W 46-40 | 14-2 (5-1) | Assembly Hall (14,035) Champaign, IL |
| 1/28/1984 no, no | No. 9 | Michigan | W 75-66 $^{4OT}$ | 15-2 (6-1) | Assembly Hall (15,952) Champaign, IL |
| 2/2/1984 no, no | No. 8 | at Iowa Rivalry | W 54-52 $^{2OT}$ | 16-2 (7-1) | Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,450) Iowa City, IA |
| 2/4/1984 no, no | No. 8 | at Northwestern Rivalry | W 71-52 | 17-2 (8-1) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL |
| 2/8/1984 no, no | No. 8 | Northwestern Rivalry | W 73-49 | 18-2 (9-1) | Assembly Hall (11,513) Champaign, IL |
| 2/12/1984 no, no | No. 8 | Iowa Rivalry | W 73-53 | 19-2 (10-1) | Assembly Hall (16,166) Champaign, IL |
| 2/16/1984 no, no | No. 7 | at Michigan | L 60-62 | 19-3 (10-2) | Crisler Center (13,511) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 2/19/1984 no, no | No. 8 | at Michigan State | W 70-53 | 20-3 (11-2) | Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004) East Lansing, MI |
| 2/25/1984 no, no | No. 6 | at No. 13 Purdue | L 55-59 | 20-4 (11-3) | Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN |
| 3/1/1984 no, no | No. 10 | Ohio State | W 73-58 | 21-4 (12-3) | Assembly Hall (14,911) Champaign, IL |
| 3/4/1984 no, no | No. 10 | Indiana Rivalry | W 70-53 | 22-4 (13-3) | Assembly Hall (16,166) Champaign, IL |
| 3/8/1984 no, no | No. 7 | at Minnesota | W 53-41 | 23-4 (14-3) | Williams Arena (14,729) Minneapolis, MN |
| 3/10/1984 no, no | No. 7 | Wisconsin | W 81-57 | 24-4 (15-3) | Assembly Hall (16,116) Champaign, IL |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| 3/18/1984* no, no | (2 ME) No. 6 | vs. (7 ME) Villanova Second Round | W 64-56 | 25-4 | U.S. Cellular Arena (10,788) Milwaukee, WI |
| 3/22/1984* no, no | (2 ME) No. 6 | vs. (3 ME) No. 11 Maryland Regional semifinals | W 72-70 | 26-4 | Rupp Arena (23,525) Lexington, KY |
| 3/24/1984* no, no | (2 ME) No. 6 | at (1 ME) No. 3 Kentucky Regional Finals | L 51-54 | 26-5 | Rupp Arena (23,525) Lexington, KY |
| *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 | Blocks | Steals | Points |
| Efrem Winters | 31 | 1039 | 182 | 92 | 205 | 54 | 21 | 19 | 456 |
| Bruce Douglas | 31 | 1113 | 159 | 81 | 136 | 177 | 5 | 73 | 399 |
| Doug Altenberger | 31 | 1125 | 143 | 66 | 15 | 68 | 4 | 39 | 352 |
| George Montgomery | 31 | 967 | 124 | 53 | 224 | 53 | 17 | 27 | 301 |
| Quinn Richardson | 31 | 1029 | 94 | 50 | 61 | 93 | 0 | 23 | 238 |
| Scott Meents | 28 | 465 | 61 | 23 | 91 | 33 | 25 | 9 | 145 |
| Tom Schafer | 29 | 302 | 28 | 23 | 43 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 79 |
| Tony Wysinger | 30 | 192 | 15 | 27 | 14 | 23 | 0 | 11 | 57 |
| Reggie Woodward | 14 | 43 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 28 |
| Don Klusendorf | 19 | 55 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 18 |
| Anthony Welch | 2 | 25 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Dee Maras | 6 | 30 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Drag Marinkovich | 4 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Joe Klauke | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Tom Siegel | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Stephan Freeman | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

* Bruce Douglas
** United Press International 3rd team All-American
** Big Ten Player of the Year
** Team Co-Most Valuable Player
** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
* Quinn Richardson
** Team Co-Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

* No one from the Fighting Illini was selected in the 1984 NBA draft.