# 1996–97 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1996–97 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

On March 21, 1996, a new era in Illinois basketball began when Director of Athletics Ron Guenther introduced Lon Kruger as the University’s 14th men’s basketball coach. Kruger came to Illinois from the University of Florida and carried a list of impressive credentials, including guiding Florida to the Final Four in 1994. In his first year at Illinois, Kruger guided Illinois to a 22-10 record and the second round of the NCAA tournament. Over the course of the season, Illinois defeated five ranked opponents, including No. 7 Minnesota, 96-90, at the Assembly Hall. Illinois also traveled to Bloomington and handed Indiana a 78-74 loss, the first win for Illinois at Assembly Hall in Bloomington since 1990. During the course of the year, Kiwane Garris etched his name in the Illinois record book with one of the best season performances by any Illini player in history. He finished his career second on the all-time scoring list with 1,948 points and set the single-season record for free throws made and attempted. Garris averaged 19.4 points and missed being the Big Ten’s leading scorer by three one-hundredths of a point.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| 11/22/1996* no, no | | at Illinois-Chicago | W 68-63 | 1-0 | UIC Pavilion (8,715) Chicago, IL |
| 11/25/1996* no, no | | Delaware State | W 92-51 | 2-0 | Assembly Hall (10,993) Champaign, IL |
| 11/29/1996* no, no | | vs. TCU Big Island Invitational | W 73-67 | 3-0 | Afook-Chinen Auditorium (1,000) Hilo, HI |
| 11/30/1996* no, no | | vs. Louisville Big Island Invitational | L 60-70 | 3-1 | Afook-Chinen Auditorium (1,000) Hilo, HI |
| 12/1/1996* no, no | | vs. Virginia Tech Big Island Invitational | W 92-68 | 4-1 | Afook-Chinen Auditorium (1,000) Hilo, HI |
| 12/3/1996* no, no | | at California | L 88-89 $^{2ot}$ | 4-2 | Harmon Gym (6,578) Berkeley, CA |
| 12/6/1996* no, no | | Columbia Illini Classic | W 84-59 | 5-2 | Assembly Hall (11,847) Champaign, IL |
| 12/7/1996* no, no | | Tennessee State Illini Classic | W 86-73 | 6-2 | Assembly Hall (12,160) Champaign, IL |
| 12/11/1996* no, no | No. 12 | Chicago State | W 94-57 | 7-2 | Assembly Hall (8,757) Champaign, IL |
| 12/14/1996* no, no | | Coppin State | W 91-55 | 8-2 | Assembly Hall (14,269) Champaign, IL |
| 12/21/1996* no, no | | vs. No. 24 UCLA | W 79-63 | 9-2 | United Center (15,331) Chicago, IL |
| 12/28/1996* no, no | | vs. Missouri Braggin' Rights | W 85-69 | 10-2 | Scottrade Center (22,371) St. Louis, MO |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/2/1997 no, no | No. 24 | Purdue | L 69-75 | 10-3 (0-1) | Assembly Hall (15,364) Champaign, IL |
| 1/4/1997 no, no | No. 24 | at Ohio State | W 72-64 | 11-3 (1-1) | St. John Arena (10,503) Columbus, OH |
| 1/9/1996 no, no | No. 25 | at No. 16 Michigan | L 74-88 | 11-4 (1-2) | Crisler Arena (13,265) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 1/11/1997 no, no | No. 25 | Penn State | W 85-70 | 12-4 (2-2) | Assembly Hall (14,251) Champaign, IL |
| 1/14/1997 no, no | | No. 7 Minnesota | W 96-90 | 13-4 (3-2) | Assembly Hall (12,326) Champaign, IL |
| 1/22/1997 no, no | | at Michigan State | W 66-63 | 14-4 (4-2) | Breslin Student Events Center (12,975) East Lansing, MI |
| 1/25/1997 no, no | | Wisconsin | L 56-73 | 14-5 (4-3) | Assembly Hall (15,448) Champaign, IL |
| 1/29/1997 no, no | | at Iowa Rivalry | L 65-82 | 14-6 (4-4) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA |
| 2/2/1997 no, no | | at No. 17 Indiana Rivalry | W 78-74 | 15-6 (5-4) | Assembly Hall (17,341) Bloomington, IN |
| 2/5/1997 no, no | | Northwestern Rivalry | W 70-58 | 16-6 (6-4) | Assembly Hall (12,430) Champaign, IL |
| 2/9/1997 no, no | | No. 25 Iowa Rivalry | W 66-51 | 17-6 (7-4) | Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL |
| 2/12/1997 no, no | No. 20 | at Wisconsin | L 45-62 | 17-7 (7-5) | Wisconsin Field House (11,500) Madison, WI |
| 2/15/1997 no, no | No. 20 | Michigan State | W 79-68 | 18-7 (8-5) | Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL |
| 2/22/1997 no, no | No. 23 | at No. 2 Minnesota | L 66-67 | 18-8 (8-6) | Williams Arena (14,554) Minneapolis, MN |
| 2/25/1997 no, no | No. 21 | at Penn State | W 87-65 | 19-8 (9-6) | Bryce Jordan Center (12,697) University Park, PA |
| 3/2/1997 no, no | No. 21 | No. 24 Michigan | W 70-51 | 20-8 (10-6) | Assembly Hall (16,450) Champaign, IL |
| 3/5/1997 no, no | No. 15 | Ohio State | W 90-83 | 21-8 (11-6) | St. John Arena (13,702) Columbus, OH |
| 3/8/1997 no, no | No. 15 | at Purdue | L 69-77 | 21-9 (11-7) | Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| 3/14/1997* no, no | (6 S) No. 19 | vs. (11 S) Southern California First Round | W 90-77 | 22-9 | Charlotte Coliseum (11,206) Charlotte, NC |
| 3/16/1997* no, no | (6 S) No. 19 | vs. (14 S) UT Chattanooga Second Round | L 63-75 | 22-10 | Charlotte Coliseum (14,864) Charlotte, NC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Player stats

| Player | Games Played | 2 pt. Field Goals | 3 pt. Field Goals | Free Throws | Rebounds | Assists | Blocks | Steals | Points |
| Kiwane Garris | 32 | 95 | 76 | 204 | 113 | 180 | 2 | 52 | 622 |
| Chris Gandy | 32 | 120 | 14 | 69 | 181 | 18 | 21 | 28 | 352 |
| Kevin Turner | 32 | 58 | 62 | 21 | 75 | 66 | 1 | 32 | 323 |
| Matt Heldman | 32 | 42 | 64 | 47 | 110 | 66 | 1 | 41 | 322 |
| Bryant Notree | 32 | 82 | 10 | 58 | 118 | 42 | 1 | 22 | 252 |
| Jarrod Gee | 32 | 86 | 0 | 23 | 123 | 21 | 10 | 14 | 195 |
| Brian Johnson | 32 | 58 | 1 | 53 | 121 | 64 | 14 | 20 | 172 |
| Victor Chukwudebe | 32 | 37 | 0 | 12 | 69 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 86 |
| Jerry Hester | 5 | 20 | 6 | 13 | 28 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 71 |
| Halim Abdullah | 26 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 25 | 0 | 16 | 33 |
| Herb Caldwell | 17 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| David Freeman | 17 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Jelani Boline | 15 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Jeff Reichardt | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## NCAA basketball tournament

* Southeast regional
** Illinois 90, Southern Cal 77
** Tennessee-Chattanooga 75, Illinois 63

## Awards and honors

* Kiwane Garris
** Associated Press All-American Honorable Mention
** Team Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |