# 1963–64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1963–64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

The 1963-64 Fighting Illini basketball team, playing in their first full season in Assembly Hall, dropped back from its previous championship season with a losing finish in the Big Ten and a mediocre overall record. Head coach Harry Combes guided the Illini to a 10-3 record after the first 13 games of the season only to see the team reverse trends and go 3-8 the rest of the way. Once again the Illini played in a mid-season tournament, playing in the Los Angeles Basketball Classic. During the tournament the Illini would face eventual national champion, UCLA.
The 1963-64 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer and team "MVP" Skip Thoren. It also saw the return of team captain Bill Edwards, juniors Tal Brody, Bogie Redmon, Bill McKeown as well as sophomores Don Freeman, Jim Vopicka and Larry Hinton to their lineup. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 6 wins and 8 losses, finishing in a 6th place tie in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 13 wins and 11 losses. The starting lineup included Skip Thoren at the center position, Tal Brody and Jim Vopicka at guard and Don Freeman and Bogie Redmon at the forward slots.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| 11/30/1963* no, no | at Butler | W 59-52 | 1-0 | Hinkle Fieldhouse (11,400) Indianapolis, IN |
| 12/4/1963* no, no | St. Louis | L 78-81 | 2-0 | Assembly Hall (14,327) Champaign, IL |
| 12/9/1963* no, no | at Oklahoma | L 104-105 | 1-2 | McCasland Field House (3,800) Norman, OK |
| 12/14/1963* no, no | Notre Dame | W 79-68 | 2-2 | Assembly Hall (14,238) Champaign, IL |
| 12/19/1963* no, no | Butler | W 74-53 | 3-2 | Assembly Hall (13,681) Champaign, IL |
| 12/26/1963* no, no | vs. West Virginia Los Angeles Basketball Classic | W 92-86 | 4-2 | Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (5,104) Los Angeles, CA |
| 12/27/1963* no, no | vs. Pittsburgh Los Angeles Basketball Classic | W 83-76 | 5-2 | Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (14,267) Los Angeles, CA |
| 12/28/1963* no, no | at No. 4 UCLA Los Angeles Basketball Classic | L 79-83 | 5-3 | Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (13,060) Los Angeles, CA |
| 12/31/1963* no, no | vs. Notre Dame | W 87-78 | 6-3 | Chicago Stadium (13,571) Chicago, IL |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/4/1964 no, no | Michigan State | W 87-66 | 7-3 (1-0) | Assembly Hall (14,141) Champaign, IL |
| 1/11/1964 no, no | at Iowa Rivalry | W 87-70 | 8-3 (2-0) | Iowa Field House (8,800) Iowa City, IA |
| 1/25/1964* no, no | vs. Arizona State | W 97-78 | 9-3 | Chicago Stadium (19,000) Chicago, IL |
| 2/1/1964 no, no | Northwestern Rivalry | W 73-71 | 10-3 (3-0) | Assembly Hall (10,093) Champaign, IL |
| 2/3/1964 no, no | at Indiana Rivalry | L 96-104 | 10-4 (3-1) | New Fieldhouse (8,002) Bloomington, IN |
| 2/8/1964 no, no | No. 2 Michigan | L 82-93 | 10-5 (3-2) | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 2/10/1964 no, no | at Ohio State | L 92-110 | 10-6 (3-3) | St. John Arena (11,351) Columbus, OH |
| 2/15/1964 no, no | at Minnesota | L 81-92 | 10-7 (3-4) | Williams Arena (12,461) Minneapolis, MN |
| 2/17/1964 no, no | at Michigan State | L 82-85 | 10-8 (3-5) | Jenison Fieldhouse (6,124) East Lansing, MI |
| 2/22/1964 no, no | Minnesota | W 86-78 | 11-8 (4-5) | Assembly Hall (15,676) Champaign, IL |
| 2/24/1964 no, no | at Purdue | L 90-105 | 11-9 (4-6) | Lambert Fieldhouse (8,184) West Lafayette, IN |
| 2/28/1964 no, no | at No. 3 Michigan | L 83-89 | 11-10 (4-7) | Yost Field House (7,875) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 3/2/1964 no, no | Ohio State | L 74-86 | 11-11 (4-8) | Assembly Hall (8,643) Champaign, IL |
| 3/7/1964 no, no | Wisconsin | W 97-73 | 12-11 (5-8) | Assembly Hall (15,826) Champaign, IL |
| 3/9/1964 no, no | Iowa Rivalry | W 90-67 | 13-11 (6-8) | Assembly Hall (13,676) Champaign, IL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Player stats

| Player | Games Played | Field Goals | Free Throws | Rebounds | Points |
| Skip Thoren | 24 | 187 | 114 | 331 | 488 |
| Tal Brody | 24 | 157 | 91 | 97 | 405 |
| Don Freeman | 24 | 130 | 81 | 231 | 341 |
| Bogie Redmon | 24 | 97 | 37 | 148 | 231 |
| Jim Vopicka | 24 | 56 | 24 | 62 | 136 |
| Bill McKeown | 15 | 46 | 17 | 34 | 109 |
| Larry Hinton | 23 | 36 | 18 | 54 | 90 |
| Bill Edwards | 20 | 32 | 24 | 24 | 88 |
| Mel Blackwell | 17 | 14 | 14 | 33 | 42 |
| Bob Brown | 16 | 14 | 12 | 7 | 40 |
| Larry Bauer | 12 | 11 | 6 | 24 | 28 |
| John Love | 16 | 6 | 2 | 17 | 14 |
| Jeff Ferguson | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Dan Lee | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Bob Meadows | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

* Tal Brody
** Converse Honorable Mention All-American
** Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American
* Duane "Skip" Thoren
** Converse Honorable Mention All-American
** Team Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |
| No Player Selected | | | |