# 1979–80 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1979–80 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

For the 1979-80 season, head coach Lou Henson returned everyone from a team that finished with 19 wins. The team gave the head coach his first of 11, 20-win seasons at Illinois. That year, Illinois made its first postseason appearance since 1963, finishing third in the NIT. During the course of the season, the Illini would defeat eventual NCAA Tournament Champion, Louisville

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| 11/30/1979* no, no | | at No. 15 BYU | W 86-76 | 1-0 | Marriott Center (23,042) Provo, UT |
| 12/4/1979* no, no | | Missouri Show-Me Classic | L 66-67 $^{OT}$ | 1-1 | Assembly Hall (14,004) Champaign, IL |
| 12/6/1979* no, no | | Kent State | W 74-65 | 2-1 | Assembly Hall (13,090) Champaign, IL |
| 12/8/1979* no, no | | Long Beach State | W 77-60 | 3-1 | Assembly Hall (14,075) Champaign, IL |
| 12/10/1979* no, no | | at TCU | W 79-64 | 4-1 | Daniel–Meyer Coliseum (4,110) Fort Worth, TX |
| 12/11/1979* no, no | | Missouri-St. Louis | W 91-65 | 5-1 | Assembly Hall (13,021) Champaign, IL |
| 12/14/1979* no, no | | Kentucky State Illini Classic | W 94-65 | 6-1 | Assembly Hall (14,363) Champaign, IL |
| 12/15/1979* no, no | | Illinois State Illini Classic | W 47-40 | 7-1 | Assembly Hall (16,257) Champaign, IL |
| 12/22/1979* no, no | | Marquette | L 78-80 | 7-2 | Assembly Hall (12,618) Champaign, IL |
| 12/28/1979* no, no | | vs. Army Rainbow Classic | W 75-48 | 8-2 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-) Honolulu, HI |
| 12/29/1979* no, no | | vs. No. 12 Louisville Rainbow Classic | W 77-64 | 9-2 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-) Honolulu, HI |
| 12/30/1979* no, no | | at Hawaii Rainbow Classic | W 94-82 | 10-2 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center (-) Honolulu, HI |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/3/1980 no, no | No. 20 | No. 10 Iowa Rivalry | L 71-72 | 10-3 (0-1) | Assembly Hall (10,839) Champaign, IL |
| 1/5/1980 no, no | No. 20 | Northwestern Rivalry | W 81-71 | 11-3 (1-1) | Assembly Hall (9,174) Champaign, IL |
| 1/10/1980 no, no | | at No. 10 Purdue | L 66-74 | 11-4 (1-2) | Mackey Arena (12,982) West Lafayette, IN |
| 1/12/1980 no, no | | at Minnesota | L 75-79 | 11-5 (1-3) | Williams Arena (15,381) Minneapolis, MN |
| 1/17/1980 no, no | | Michigan | W 80-69 | 12-5 (2-3) | Assembly Hall (14,746) Champaign, IL |
| 1/19/1980 no, no | | at Wisconsin | W 69-64 | 13-5 (3-3) | Wisconsin Field House (10,386) Madison, WI |
| 1/24/1980 no, no | | No. 4 Ohio State | L 76-79 | 13-6 (3-4) | Assembly Hall (16,383) Champaign, IL |
| 1/26/1980 no, no | | Michigan State | W 74-65 | 14-6 (4-4) | Assembly Hall (16,490) Champaign, IL |
| 1/31/1980 no, no | | at No. 18 Indiana Rivalry | L 54-60 | 14-7 (4-5) | Assembly Hall (16,723) Bloomington, IN |
| 2/2/1980 no, no | | at Michigan State | L 59-68 | 14-8 (4-6) | Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004) East Lansing, MI |
| 2/7/1980 no, no | | Wisconsin | W 67-50 | 15-8 (5-6) | Assembly Hall (13,873) Champaign, IL |
| 2/9/1980 no, no | | No. 20 Indiana Rivalry | W 89-68 | 16-8 (6-6) | Assembly Hall (16,614) Champaign, IL |
| 2/14/1980 no, no | | at Michigan | L 76-78 | 16-9 (6-7) | Crisler Center (9,738) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 2/16/1980 no, no | | at No. 9 Ohio State | L 57-71 | 16-10 (6-8) | St. John Arena (13,591) Columbus, OH |
| 2/21/1980 no, no | | Minnesota | W 60-58 $^{OT}$ | 17-10 (7-8) | Assembly Hall (14,592) Champaign, IL |
| 2/23/1980 no, no | | No. 15 Purdue | L 69-72 | 17-11 (7-9) | Assembly Hall (16,647) Champaign, IL |
| 2/28/1980 no, no | | at Northwestern Rivalry | W 90-66 | 18-11 (8-9) | McGaw Memorial Hall (5,426) Evanston, IL |
| 3/1/1980 no, no | | at Iowa Rivalry | L 71-75 | 18-12 (8-10) | Iowa Field House (13,365) Iowa City, IA |
| National Invitation Tournament ||||||
| 3/5/1980* no, no | | Loyola Chicago NIT First round | W 105-87 | 19-12 | Assembly Hall (13,326) Champaign, IL |
| 3/10/1980* no, no | | Illinois State NIT Second round | W 75-65 | 20-12 | Assembly Hall (16,193) Champaign, IL |
| 3/13/1980* no, no | | Murray State NIT Quarterfinals | W 65-63 | 21-12 | Assembly Hall (15,070) Champaign, IL |
| 3/17/1980* no, no | | vs. Minnesota NIT Semifinals | L 63-65 | 21-13 | Madison Square Garden (11,223) New York, NY |
| 3/19/1980* no, no | | vs. UNLV NIT Third-place game | W 84-74 | 22-13 | Madison Square Garden (-) New York, NY |
| *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 |
| Eddie Johnson | 35 | 1215 | 266 | 78 | 310 | 71 | 7 | 13 | 610 |
| Mark Smith | 35 | 1026 | 187 | 161 | 214 | 95 | 11 | 35 | 535 |
| Reno Gray | 35 | 858 | 131 | 57 | 47 | 109 | 2 | 39 | 319 |
| James Griffin | 35 | 676 | 119 | 36 | 154 | 25 | 39 | 18 | 274 |
| Perry Range | 35 | 809 | 90 | 63 | 85 | 64 | 2 | 36 | 243 |
| Derek Holcomb | 31 | 636 | 72 | 36 | 164 | 44 | 46 | 15 | 180 |
| Neil Bresnahan | 35 | 599 | 67 | 27 | 121 | 64 | 11 | 14 | 161 |
| Rob Judson | 31 | 595 | 59 | 32 | 44 | 47 | 0 | 15 | 150 |
| Kevin Bontempts | 30 | 363 | 15 | 26 | 28 | 67 | 1 | 16 | 56 |
| Levi Cobb | 25 | 140 | 20 | 7 | 36 | 14 | 2 | 9 | 47 |
| Quinn Richardson | 16 | 101 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 17 | 0 | 4 | 23 |
| Kevin Westervelt | 18 | 34 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 16 |

## Awards and honors

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

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |
| Neil Bresnahan | Golden State Warriors | 6 | 117 |