# 1989–90 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1989–90 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

Coming off the Final Four season a year earlier, Illinois went 21-8 overall, 11-7 in the Big Ten in 1990. Kendall Gill, a senior, became the first player since Ken Norman in 1987 to average 20 points per game. Gill was named a First-Team All-American by UPI. Gill led the Big Ten in scoring and was a finalist for the John Wooden Player of the Year Award. He was the fifth overall pick in the NBA draft, going to the Charlotte Hornets.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| 11/28/1989* no, no | No. 8 | at Mississippi | W 83-72 | 1-0 | Tad Smith Coliseum (8,439) Oxford, Mississippi |
| 12/2/1989* no, no | No. 8 | Chicago State | W 82-62 | 2-0 | Assembly Hall (15,940) Champaign, Illinois |
| 12/5/1989* no, no | No. 7 | at No. 25 Florida | W 74-69 | 3-0 | O'Connell Center (11,929) Gainesville, Florida |
| 12/8/1989* no, no | No. 7 | Indiana State Illini Classic | W 93-59 | 4-0 | Assembly Hall (16,111) Champaign, Illinois |
| 12/9/1989* no, no | No. 7 | Metro State Illini Classic | W 96-62 | 5-0 | Assembly Hall (16,016) Champaign |
| 12/16/1989* no, ABC | No. 5 | Temple | W 78-61 | 6-0 | Assembly Hall (16,034) Champaign |
| 12/20/1989* no, no | No. 5 | vs. No. 4 Missouri Braggin' Rights | W 101-93 | 7-0 | St. Louis Arena (18,398) St. Louis, Missouri |
| 12/23/1989* no, no | No. 5 | Wisconsin-Green Bay | W 71-47 | 8-0 | Assembly Hall (15,530) Champaign, Illinois |
| 12/29/1989* no, no | No. 4 | vs. Grambling Old Style Classic | W 97-73 | 9-0 | Rosemont Horizon (10,009) Rosemont, Illinois |
| 12/30/1989* no, no | No. 4 | vs. No. 15 Memphis State Old Style Classic | W 83-71 | 10-0 | Rosemont Horizon (13,103) Rosemont, Illinois |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/4/1990 no, no | No. 4 | Wisconsin | W 73-59 | 11-0 (1-0) | Assembly Hall (15,636) Champaign, Illinois |
| 1/6/1990 no, no | No. 4 | at Minnesota | L 74-91 | 11-1 (1-1) | Williams Arena (16,545) Minneapolis |
| 1/13/1990 no, no | No. 8 | at Northwestern Rivalry | W 85-78 | 12-1 (2-1) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, Illinois |
| 1/15/1990 no, ESPN | No. 7 | No. 6 Michigan | L 70-74 | 12-2 (2-2) | Assembly Hall (16,136) Champaign, Illinois |
| 1/18/1990 no, no | No. 7 | Michigan State | W 73-64 | 13-2 (3-2) | Assembly Hall (16,037) Champaign, Illinois |
| 1/20/1990 no, no | No. 7 | at No. 24 Purdue | L 68-81 | 13-3 (3-3) | Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, Indiana |
| 1/25/1990 no, no | No. 10 | at Wisconsin | W 66-63 | 14-3 (4-3) | Wisconsin Field House (11,666) Madison, Wisconsin |
| 1/27/1990 no, no | No. 10 | Ohio State | W 92-81 | 15-3 (5-3) | Assembly Hall (16,154) Champaign, Illinois |
| 1/29/1990 no, no | No. 10 | at Iowa Rivalry | L 67-69 | 15-4 (5-4) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, Iowa |
| 2/4/1990 no, no | No. 11 | No. 22 Indiana Rivalry | W 70-65 | 16-4 (6-4) | Assembly Hall (16,289) Champaign, Illinois |
| 2/8/1990 no, no | No. 12 | No. 17 Minnesota | W 99-72 | 17-4 (7-4) | Assembly Hall (16,105) Champaign, Illinois |
| 2/11/1990 no, no | No. 12 | at No. 7 Michigan | L 79-93 | 17-5 (7-5) | Crisler Arena (13,609) Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| 2/14/1990 no, no | No. 15 | Northwestern Rivalry | W 88-75 | 18-5 (8-5) | Assembly Hall (16,108) Champaign, Illinois |
| 2/17/1990 no, no | No. 15 | at No. 21 Michigan State | L 63-70 | 18-6 (8-6) | Breslin Student Events Center (15,138) East Lansing, Michigan |
| 2/21/1990 no, no | No. 19 | No. 9 Purdue | W 90-78 | 19-6 (9-6) | Assembly Hall (16,218) Champaign, Illinois |
| 2/21/1990 no, no | No. 19 | at Ohio State | L 80-86 | 19-7 (9-7) | St. John Arena (13,276) Columbus, Ohio |
| 3/4/1990 no, no | No. 18 | Iowa Rivalry | W 118-85 | 20-7 (10-7) | Assembly Hall (16,219) Champaign, Illinois |
| 3/11/1990 no, no | No. 20 | at Indiana Rivalry | W 69-63 | 21-7 (11-7) | Assembly Hall (17,228) Bloomington, Indiana |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| 3/15/1990* no, no | (5 MW) No. 18 | vs. (12 MW) Dayton First Round | L 86-88 | 21-8 | Frank Erwin Center (11,578) Austin, Texas |
| *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 |
| Kendall Gill | 29 | 1000 | 188 | 23 | 136 | 143 | 96 | 16 | 63 | 581 |
| Marcus Liberty | 29 | 958 | 195 | 8 | 103 | 206 | 39 | 26 | 32 | 517 |
| Andy Kaufmann | 29 | 682 | 69 | 22 | 81 | 93 | 54 | 5 | 27 | 285 |
| Steve Bardo | 29 | 944 | 71 | 28 | 55 | 178 | 137 | 14 | 37 | 281 |
| Rodney Jones | 29 | 542 | 88 | 0 | 40 | 126 | 9 | 18 | 17 | 216 |
| Ervin Small | 29 | 577 | 74 | 1 | 49 | 151 | 12 | 5 | 23 | 200 |
| P.J. Bowman | 29 | 571 | 16 | 23 | 21 | 35 | 73 | 2 | 16 | 122 |
| Andy Kpedi | 19 | 201 | 17 | 0 | 20 | 54 | 2 | 11 | 4 | 54 |
| Brooks Taylor | 24 | 154 | 12 | 0 | 13 | 25 | 24 | 5 | 10 | 37 |
| Ken Gibson | 20 | 54 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 34 |
| Tim Geers | 20 | 104 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 19 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 33 |
| Travis Smith | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |

## Awards and honors

* Kendall Gill
** Consensus 2nd team All-American
** United Press International 1st team All-American
** Associated Press 3rd team All-American
** National Association of Basketball Coaches 3rd team All-American
** Team Most Valuable Player
** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
* Deon Thomas
** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)

## NCAA basketball tournament

* Midwest
** Dayton 88, Illinois 86

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |
| Kendall Gill | Charlotte Hornets | 1 | 5 |
| Stephen Bardo | Atlanta Hawks | 2 | 41 |
| Marcus Liberty | Denver Nuggets | 2 | 42 |