# 1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1970–71 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

Head coach Harv Schmidt, in only his fourth season at the helm of the Fighting Illini men's basketball team, saw the longest losing streak of his career, 8 games. After starting the year by winning 9 of their first 12 games and 10 of their first 14, the Illini started their losing streak at Ohio State on February 13, and continue for a month. The agonizing month ended March 13, 1971, when the Illini visited Indiana in the season finale. The Fighting Illini finished the season with an 11-12 record, tied for 5th place in the conference with a 5-9 record.
The Illini added sophomore forward Nick Weatherspoon for the season. Weatherspoon finished his inaugural season by scoring 381 points, averaging 16.5 points per game, and collected 246 rebounds. By the completion of his time at Illinois, Weatherspoon was their all-time leading scorer.
The 1970-71 team's starting lineup included Weatherspoon and Fred Miller at the forward spots, Jim Krelle and Rick Howat as guards and Greg Jackson at center.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| 12/1/1970* no, no | | Butler | W 113-102 | 1 - 0 | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 12/5/1970* no, no | | Oklahoma | L 72-74 | 1 - 1 | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 12/8/1970* no, no | | Vanderbilt | W 96-79 | 2 - 1 | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 12/12/1970* no, no | | at Iowa State | W 78-63 | 3 - 1 | Iowa State Armory (6,000) Ames, IA |
| 12/14/1970* no, no | | Northern Michigan | W 82-70 | 4 - 1 | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 12/26/1970* no, no | | vs. No. 13 Villanova Rainbow Classic | L 76-89 | 4-2 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center (7,500) Honolulu, HI |
| 12/30/1970* no, no | | vs. St. Louis Rainbow Classic | W 78-60 | 5-2 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center (1,414) Honolulu, HI |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/9/1971 no, no | | Michigan State | W 89-61 | 6 - 2 (1 - 0) | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 1/12/1971 no, no | | Wisconsin | W 84-82 | 7 - 2 (2 - 0) | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 1/16/1971 no, no | | at Michigan State | W 69-67 | 8 - 2 (3 - 0) | Jenison Fieldhouse (7,323) East Lansing, MI |
| 1/29/1971* no, no | No. 18 | vs. No. 3 Southern California | L 68-81 | 8 - 3 | Chicago Stadium (15,000) Chicago, IL |
| 1/30/1971* no, no | No. 18 | vs. No. 7 Notre Dame | W 69-66 $^{OT}$ | 9 - 3 | Chicago Stadium (17,000) Chicago, IL |
| 2/2/1971 no, no | No. 15 | at Iowa Rivalry | L 84-92 | 9 - 4 (3 - 1) | Iowa Field House (13,105) Iowa City, IA |
| 2/6/1971 no, no | No. 15 | Minnesota | W 93-78 | 10 - 4 (4 - 1) | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 2/13/1971 no, no | | at Ohio State | L 72-92 | 10 - 5 (4 - 2) | St. John Arena (13,489) Columbus, OH |
| 2/16/1971 no, no | | Purdue | L 70-73 | 10 - 6 (4 - 3) | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 2/20/1971 no, no | | Indiana Rivalry | L 86-88 | 10 - 7 (4 - 4) | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 2/23/1971 no, no | | at Wisconsin | L 84-88 | 10 - 8 (4 - 5) | Wisconsin Field House (5,878) Madison, WI |
| 2/27/1971 no, no | | at Minnesota | L 64-80 | 10 - 9 (4 - 6) | Williams Arena (7,317) Minneapolis, MN |
| 3/2/1971 no, no | | Michigan | L 74-75 | 10 - 10 (4 - 7) | Assembly Hall (16,128) Champaign, IL |
| 3/6/1971 no, no | | at Purdue | L 93-99 | 10 - 11 (4 - 8) | Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN |
| 3/9/1971 no, no | | Northwestern Rivalry | L 70-85 | 10 - 12 (4 - 9) | Assembly Hall (5,885) Champaign, IL |
| 3/13/1971 no, no | | at Indiana Rivalry | L 67-87 | 11 - 12 (5 - 9) | Assembly Hall (7,286) Bloomington, IN |
| *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 |
| Rick Howat | 23 | 190 | 94 | 67 | 474 |
| Nick Weatherspoon | 23 | 151 | 79 | 246 | 381 |
| Greg Jackson | 23 | 113 | 49 | 157 | 275 |
| Fred Miller | 22 | 79 | 65 | 109 | 223 |
| Nick Conner | 23 | 74 | 33 | 162 | 181 |
| Jim DeDecker | 22 | 37 | 16 | 40 | 90 |
| Jim Krelle | 17 | 31 | 12 | 38 | 74 |
| Alvin O'Neal | 16 | 24 | 7 | 33 | 55 |
| Jed Foster | 21 | 19 | 15 | 40 | 53 |
| Larry Cohen | 17 | 16 | 4 | 12 | 36 |
| Bob Shapland | 12 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 14 |
| Tom Dezort | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Jim Rucks | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Sam Scaletta | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |

## Awards and honors

* Rick Howat
** Team Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |