# 1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

Head coach Harry Combes Fighting Illini basketball team returned to their winning ways for the 1964-65 season. Even though they were not ranked in the pre-season top 20 of college basketball teams, they peaked at #6 during the course of the season in the Associated Press and finished the season ranked #16 in the coaches poll. During the course of the season, the Illini would play in two mid-season tournaments and participate 24 regular season games, the most since 1908 when they played in 26. The tournaments the Illini would participate in would be the ECAC Quaker City Tournament in Philadelphia and a return trip to the Kentucky Invitational Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky. The highlight of the season would happen in the season opener when the Illini would defeat the previous season's national champion UCLA Bruins by a score of 110-83. The 1965 Bruins would finish with a 28-2 record and their second national championship.
The 1964-65 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer, team "MVP" and captain, Skip Thoren. It also saw the return of team seniors Tal Brody, Bogie Redmon, Bill McKeown as well as Juniors Don Freeman, Jim Vopicka and Larry Hinton to their lineup. It also included sophomores Jim Dawson, Bob Johansen and future Dallas Cowboy, Preston Pearson. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 10 wins and 4 losses, finishing in 3rd place in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 18 wins and 6 losses. The starting lineup included Skip Thoren at the center position, Tal Brody and Jim Dawson at guard and Don Freeman and Bogie Redmon at the forward slots.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| 12/4/1964* no, no | | No. 2 UCLA | W 110-83 | 1-0 | Assembly Hall (11,873) Champaign, IL |
| 12/5/1964* no, no | | at St. Louis | L 64-79 | 1-1 | Kiel Auditorium (9,230) St. Louis, MO |
| 12/8/1964* no, no | | Bowling Green | W 100-62 | 2-1 | Assembly Hall (9,889) Champaign, IL |
| 12/12/1964* no, no | | Washington (St. Louis) | W 103-59 | 3-1 | Assembly Hall (9,027) Champaign, IL |
| 12/15/1964 no, no | | at Wisconsin | W 70-56 | 4-1 (1-0) | Wisconsin Field House (9,538) Madison, WI |
| 12/18/1964* no, no | | vs. Dayton Kentucky Invitational Tournament | W 104-86 | 5-1 | Memorial Coliseum (11,800) Lexington, KY |
| 12/19/1964* no, no | | at No. 8 Kentucky Kentucky Invitational Tournament | W 91-86 | 6-1 | Memorial Coliseum (11,800) Lexington, KY |
| 12/26/1964* no, no | No. 7 | vs. NYU ECAC Quaker City Tournament | W 102-79 | 7-1 | Palestra (9,500) Philadelphia, PA |
| 12/28/1964* no, no | No. 7 | at St. Joseph's ECAC Quaker City Tournament | L 71-75 | 7-2 | Palestra (9,500) Philadelphia, PA |
| 12/29/1964* no, no | No. 6 | at Villanova ECAC Quaker City Tournament | W 74-65 | 8-2 | Palestra (9,500) Philadelphia, PA |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/4/1965 no, no | No. 6 | No. 2 Indiana Rivalry | W 88-81 | 9-2 (2-0) | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 1/9/1965 no, no | | at No. 3 Michigan | L 83-89 | 9-3 (2-1) | Yost Field House (7,600) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 1/16/1965 no, no | | Minnesota | W 75-72 | 10-3 (3-1) | Assembly Hall (10,789) Champaign, IL |
| 1/30/1965* no, no | | vs. Notre Dame | W 101-87 | 11-3 | Chicago Stadium (16,746) Chicago, IL |
| 2/6/1965 no, no | | Purdue | W 121-93 | 12-3 (4-1) | Assembly Hall (8,828) Champaign, IL |
| 2/8/1965 no, no | | at Ohio State | W 86-71 | 13-3 (5-1) | St. John Arena (7,626) Columbus, OH |
| 2/13/1965 no, no | No. 10 | at Minnesota | L 90-105 | 13-4 (5-2) | Williams Arena (8,184) Minneapolis, MN |
| 2/16/1965 no, no | | Ohio State | W 95-72 | 14-4 (6-2) | Assembly Hall (8,751) Champaign, IL |
| 2/20/1965 no, no | | at Michigan State | W 100-89 | 15-4 (7-2) | Jenison Fieldhouse (8,643) East Lansing, MI |
| 2/23/1965 no, no | | Iowa Rivalry | W 97-80 | 16-4 (8-2) | Assembly Hall (13,387) Champaign, IL |
| 2/27/1965 no, no | | No. 1 Michigan | L 79-80 | 16-5 (8-3) | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 3/2/1965 no, no | | at Northwestern Rivalry | W 93-70 | 17-5 (9-3) | McGaw Memorial Hall (5,500) Evanston, IL |
| 3/6/1965 no, no | | at Iowa Rivlary | L 84-94 | 17-6 (9-4) | Iowa Field House (10,500) Iowa City, IA |
| 3/9/1965 no, no | | Michigan State | W 121-89 | 18-6 (10-4) | Assembly Hall (10,456) 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 | 219 | 95 | 349 | 533 |
| Tal Brody | 24 | 183 | 95 | 108 | 463 |
| Don Freeman | 24 | 178 | 84 | 226 | 440 |
| Bogie Redmon | 24 | 155 | 55 | 192 | 365 |
| Bill McKeown | 9 | 41 | 17 | 39 | 99 |
| Jim Dawson | 22 | 38 | 11 | 41 | 87 |
| Jim Vopicka | 23 | 34 | 19 | 61 | 87 |
| Bob Johansen | 19 | 56 | 22 | 34 | 56 |
| Larry Hinton | 18 | 36 | 14 | 17 | 36 |
| Preston Pearson | 17 | 16 | 4 | 18 | 16 |
| Deon Flessner | 13 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 13 |
| Bob Brown | 13 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Jerry Mettile | 9 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 8 |

## Awards and honors

* Bogie Redmon
** Converse Honorable Mention All-American
* Tal Brody
** Helms 1st Team All-American
** Converse 2nd Team All-American
** Sporting News 2nd Team All-American
* Duane "Skip" Thoren
** Helms 1st Team All-American
** Converse 2nd Team All-American
** Associated Press 2nd Team All-American
** United Press 3rd Team All-American
** Basketball News 3rd Team All-American
** National Association of Basketball Coaches 3rd Team All-American
** Team Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |
| Tal Brody | Baltimore Bullets | 2 | 4 |
| Skip Thoren | Baltimore Bullets | 4 | 4 |
| Bogie Redmon | Baltimore Bullets | 10 | 2 |
| Roger Taylor | Baltimore Bullets | 17 | 1 |