# 1977–78 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1977–78 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

The most significant recruit of the first three years of Head Coach Lou Henson's tenure at Illinois arrived this season. Eddie Johnson was considered to be the most significant piece to reviving the Illini basketball program, a program that had not been to a post-season tournament for 16 years. Johnson, who played at Chicago Westinghouse High School, was one of the state's top seniors and a Parade Magazine All-American. During his senior year at Westinghouse, Johnson, along with teammate Mark Aguirre, became part of a team that went 29-0, losing only in the Public League Final to Wendell Phillips. Prior to choosing Illinois, Johnson visited Southern Cal, Iowa, Michigan and DePaul, but with the encouragement of assistant coach Tony Yates, he selected Illinois.
Along with Johnson, Henson recruited Mark Smith from Peoria Richwoods High School. By season's end, Smith would develop into the team's second leading scorer, finishing the season with 312 points. The team's starting lineup included Neil Bresnahan and Levi Cobb as forwards, Audie Matthews and Reno Gray 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 |||||
| 11/25/1977* no, no | Charlotte | L 64-68 | 0-1 | Assembly Hall (8,655) Champaign, IL |
| 11/28/1977* no, no | Arizona | W 113-107 | 1-1 | Assembly Hall (7,356) Champaign, IL |
| 12/1/1977* no, no | Southern California | W 82-59 | 2-1 | Assembly Hall (8,941) Champaign, IL |
| 12/3/1977* no, no | at South Carolina | W 84-68 | 3-1 | Carolina Coliseum (9,116) Columbia, SC |
| 12/6/1977* no, no | Missouri Show-Me Classic | W 96-85 | 4-1 | Assembly Hall (6,010) Champaign, IL |
| 12/16/1977* no, no | BYU | W 81-74 | 5-1 | Assembly Hall (8,612) Champaign, IL |
| 12/28/1977* no, no | vs. Washington State Far West Classic | L 75-82 | 5-2 | Veterans Memorial Coliseum (9,762) Portland, OR |
| 12/29/1977* no, no | at Oregon Far West Classic | W 86-80 | 6-2 | Veterans Memorial Coliseum (6,432) Portland, OR |
| 12/30/1977* no, no | vs. Washington Far West Classic | L 68-81 | 6-3 | Veterans Memorial Coliseum (6,542) Portland, OR |
| Big Ten regular season |||||
| 1/5/1978 no, no | at Purdue | L 85-95 | 6-4 (0-1) | Mackey Arena (11,253) West Lafayette, IN |
| 1/7/1978 no, no | at No. 11 Indiana Rivalry | W 65-64 | 7-4 (1-1) | Assembly Hall (16,903) Bloomington, IN |
| 1/12/1978 no, no | No. 12 Michigan State | L 70-82 | 7-5 (1-2) | Assembly Hall (10,300) Champaign, IL |
| 1/14/1978 no, no | Michigan | W 65-61 | 8-5 (2-2) | Assembly Hall (8,795) Champaign, IL |
| 1/19/1978 no, no | at Minnesota | L 66-70 | 8-6 (2-3) | Williams Arena (15,134) Minneapolis, MN |
| 1/21/1978 no, no | Northwestern Rivalry | W 73-64 | 9-6 (3-3) | Assembly Hall (9,616) Champaign, IL |
| 1/26/1978 no, no | at Iowa Rivalry | W 70-61 | 10-6 (4-3) | Iowa Field House (11,000) Iowa City, IA |
| 1/30/1978 no, no | Ohio State | L 84-87 | 10-7 (4-4) | Assembly Hall (9,285) Champaign, IL |
| 2/2/1978 no, no | Wisconsin | W 74-71 | 11-7 (5-4) | Assembly Hall (7,802) Champaign, IL |
| 2/4/1978 no, no | at Ohio State | L 65-70 | 11-8 (5-5) | St. John Arena (13,489) Columbus, OH |
| 2/9/1978 no, no | at Northwestern Rivalry | L 61-72 | 11-9 (5-6) | McGaw Memorial Hall (3,268) Evanston, IL |
| 2/11/1978 no, no | at Wisconsin | L 73-80 | 11-10 (5-7) | Wisconsin Field House (7,802) Madison, WI |
| 2/16/1978 no, no | Minnesota | L 69-75 | 11-11 (5-8) | Assembly Hall (8,098) Champaign, IL |
| 2/18/1978 no, no | Iowa Rivalry | W 77-76 | 12-11 (6-8) | Assembly Hall (9,441) Champaign, IL |
| 2/23/1978 no, no | at Michigan | L 96-107 | 12-12 (6-9) | Crisler Center (13,589) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 2/25/1978 no, no | at No. 10 Michigan State | L 67-89 | 12-13 (6-10) | Jenison Fieldhouse (9,886) East Lansing, MI |
| 3/2/1978 no, no | Indiana Rivalry | L 68-77 | 12-14 (6-11) | Assembly Hall (7,222) Champaign, IL |
| 3/2/1978 no, no | Purdue | W 67-66 | 13-14 (7-11) | Assembly Hall (11,938) 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 | Blocks | Steals | Points |
| Audie Matthews | 27 | 780 | 136 | 55 | 87 | 50 | 0 | 12 | 327 |
| Mark Smith | 27 | 680 | 111 | 90 | 163 | 36 | 7 | 37 | 312 |
| Rich Adams | 27 | 618 | 108 | 58 | 133 | 37 | 32 | 25 | 274 |
| Eddie Johnson | 27 | 469 | 100 | 20 | 84 | 16 | 8 | 11 | 220 |
| Rob Judson | 27 | 605 | 76 | 45 | 49 | 57 | 1 | 20 | 197 |
| Neil Bresnahan | 27 | 670 | 94 | 31 | 195 | 68 | 2 | 21 | 219 |
| Reno Gray | 20 | 434 | 90 | 6 | 29 | 66 | 1 | 18 | 186 |
| Levi Cobb | 27 | 610 | 72 | 28 | 131 | 23 | 10 | 17 | 172 |
| Mike Jones | 27 | 232 | 35 | 2 | 16 | 20 | 2 | 8 | 72 |
| Ken Ferdinand | 15 | 80 | 13 | 5 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 31 |
| Larry Lubin | 17 | 112 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 19 | 0 | 6 | 24 |
| Tom Gerhardt | 21 | 105 | 4 | 2 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| Matt Meyer | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

* Eddie Johnson
** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
* Audie Matthews
** Team Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |
| Rich Adams | San Antonio Spurs | 4 | 86 |
| Audie Matthews | Detroit Pistons | 6 | 117 |