# 1991–92 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1991–92 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

Illinois’ consecutive 20-win season streak was snapped in 1992 when the Illini posted its first losing record in 14 years, going 13-15. Despite their losing record, the Illini outscored their opponents by over 100 points during the season (1,954 - 1,843). To emphasize how close the Illini were to a successful season, of the eleven Big Ten conference games that they lost, eight were by nine points or less, of which four games were lost by three points or fewer. Based on the allegations of recruiting violations from Iowa assistant coach Bruce Pearl, the most satisfying win during the conference season took place on February 23, 1992, when the Illini would defeat the Hawkeyes in an overtime thriller at Assembly Hall.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| 11/25/1991* no, no | Penn State | L 50-65 | 0-1 | Assembly Hall (12,183) Champaign, IL |
| 11/30/1991* no, no | Louisiana-Monroe | W 95-79 | 1-1 | Assembly Hall (11,856) Champaign, IL |
| 12/3/1991* no, no | Tennessee State | W 78-56 | 2-1 | Assembly Hall (11,274) Champaign, IL |
| 12/6/1991* no, no | Hawaii Illini Classic | W 69-63 | 3-1 | Assembly Hall (11,524) Champaign, IL |
| 12/7/1991* no, no | Washington Illini Classic | W 76-55 | 4-1 | Assembly Hall (11,939) Champaign, IL |
| 12/10/1991* no, no | at Temple | L 56-92 | 4-2 | McGonigle Hall (3,623) Philadelphia, PA |
| 12/21/1991* no, no | Maryland Baltimore County | W 84-71 | 5-2 | Assembly Hall (11,576) Champaign, IL |
| 12/23/1991* no, no | vs. No. 16 Missouri Braggin' Rights | L 44-61 | 5-3 | St. Louis Arena (18,034) St. Louis, MO |
| 12/30/1991* no, no | Illinois-Chicago | W 84-75 $^{ot}$ | 6-3 | Assembly Hall (11,200) Champaign, IL |
| 1/4/1992* no, no | No. 5 Connecticut | L 66-70 | 6-4 | Assembly Hall (12,376) Champaign, IL |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/8/1992 no, no | Purdue | W 74-72 $^{ot}$ | 7-4 (1-0) | Assembly Hall (12,674) Champaign, IL |
| 1/11/1992 no, no | at No. 9 Michigan State | L 75-77 | 7-5 (1-1) | Breslin Student Events Center (15,138) East Lansing, MI |
| 1/15/1992 no, no | at Iowa Rivalry | L 69-74 | 7-6 (1-2) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA |
| 1/18/1992 no, no | No. 15 Michigan | L 61-68 | 7-7 (1-3) | Assembly Hall (15,985) Champaign, IL |
| 1/22/1992 no, no | Wisconsin | W 74-67 | 8-7 (2-3) | Assembly Hall (11,758) Champaign, IL |
| 1/25/1992 no, no | at Minnesota | L 53-54 | 8-8 (2-4) | Williams Arena (16,126) Minneapolis, MN |
| 1/30/1992 no, no | No. 10 Ohio State | L 72-74 | 8-9 (2-5) | Assembly Hall (12,558) Champaign, IL |
| 2/1/1992 no, no | at Northwestern Rivalry | L 43-46 | 8-10 (2-6) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL |
| 2/4/1992 no, no | No. 6 Indiana Rivalry | L 65-76 | 8-11 (2-7) | Assembly Hall (15,590) Champaign, IL |
| 2/11/1992 no, no | at Purdue | W 76-71 $^{ot}$ | 9-11 (3-7) | Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN |
| 2/15/1992 no, no | Minnesota | W 74-58 | 10-11 (4-7) | Assembly Hall (14,322) Champaign, IL |
| 2/20/1992 no, no | at Wisconsin | L 78-92 | 10-12 (4-8) | Wisconsin Field House (9,403) Madison, WI |
| 2/23/1992 no, no | Iowa Rivalry | W 77-72 $^{ot}$ | 11-12 (5-8) | Assembly Hall (16,281) Champaign, IL |
| 2/26/1992 no, no | Northwestern Rivalry | W 92-65 | 12-12 (6-8) | Assembly Hall (12,012) Champaign, IL |
| 3/1/1992 no, no | at No. 2 Indiana Rivalry | L 70-76 | 12-13 (6-9) | Assembly Hall (14,224) Bloomington, IN |
| 3/7/1992 no, no | No. 13 Michigan State | W 80-71 | 13-13 (7-9) | Assembly Hall (14,087) Champaign, IL |
| 3/11/1992 no, no | at No. 5 Ohio State | L 70-82 | 13-14 (7-10) | St. John Arena (13,276) Columbus, OH |
| 3/14/1992 no, no | at No. 14 Michigan | L 59-68 | 13-15 (7-11) | Crisler Arena (13,605) Ann Arbor, MI |
| *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 |
| Deon Thomas | 28 | 946 | 199 | 0 | 144 | 193 | 20 | 44 | 25 | 542 |
| Tom Michael | 28 | 865 | 41 | 75 | 43 | 130 | 39 | 10 | 8 | 350 |
| Rennie Clemons | 28 | 930 | 93 | 11 | 93 | 106 | 137 | 7 | 42 | 312 |
| T.J. Wheeler | 27 | 780 | 55 | 29 | 81 | 111 | 72 | 3 | 18 | 278 |
| Scott Pierce | 28 | 518 | 54 | 1 | 52 | 97 | 26 | 9 | 9 | 163 |
| Robert Bennett | 28 | 504 | 55 | 2 | 17 | 105 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 133 |
| Brooks Taylor | 27 | 694 | 25 | 9 | 33 | 121 | 90 | 13 | 31 | 109 |
| Marc Davidson | 26 | 218 | 16 | 1 | 8 | 32 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 43 |
| Will Tuttle | 22 | 123 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 26 |
| Steve Roth | 16 | 35 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| Doug Clarida | 13 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Tim Geers | 6 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Matt Williams | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Mike Duis | 15 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Gene Cross | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Schnaderbeck | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

* Deon Thomas
** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
** Team Most Valuable Player