# 1972–73 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1972–73 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

Head coach Harv Schmidt entered his sixth season with the Fighting Illini with high expectations. The 1971-72 team returned one of the top senior athletes in the country, Nick Weatherspoon. As a sophomore, Weatherspoon scored 381 points, averaging 16.5 points per game, while collecting 246 rebounds. His junior year was even better, scoring 500 total points, averaging 20.8 points and pulling down 262 rebounds. Nothing, however, would be better than Weatherspoon's senior year. During this season he would score 600 points, averaging 25.0 points per game, while amassing 295 total rebounds. Weatherspoon remains as number 11 on the all-time leading scores list at the University of Illinois, only surpassed by players that completed four years of varsity basketball. His three year average of 20.9 points per game and 11.3 rebounds per game still remain number one for the Fighting Illini.
The 1972-73 team's starting lineup included Weatherspoon and Rick Schmidt at the forward spots, Jeff Dawson and Otho Tucker as guards and Nick Conner at center. The roster included the teams first 7 foot tall player, Bill Rucks a freshman from Waukegan High School.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Opponent | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season |||||
| 12/2/1972* no, no | DePauw | W 100-68 | 1 - 0 | Assembly Hall (8,755) Champaign, IL |
| 12/4/1972* no, no | Valparaiso | W 80-62 | 2 - 0 | Assembly Hall (8,326) Champaign, IL |
| 12/9/1973* no, no | at Detroit | L 77-79 $^{ot}$ | 2 - 1 | Calihan Hall (2,651) Detroit, MI |
| 12/13/1972* no, no | Iowa State | W 74-60 | 3 - 1 | Assembly Hall (8,501) Champaign, IL |
| 12/19/1972* no, no | Furman | W 86-81 | 4 - 1 | Assembly Hall (9,418) Champaign, IL |
| 12/22/1972* no, no | at Southern California | L 72-75 | 4 - 2 | Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (3,472) Los Angeles, CA |
| 12/29/1972* no, no | vs. Temple Sugar Bowl Classic | W 82-77 | 5 - 2 | Municipal Auditorium (6,975) New Orleans, LA |
| 12/30/1972* no, no | vs. No. 1 UCLA Sugar Bowl Classic | L 64-71 | 5 - 3 | Municipal Auditorium (7,123) New Orleans, LA |
| Big Ten regular season |||||
| 1/6/1973 no, no | at Purdue | L 80-91 | 5 - 4 (0 - 1) | Mackey Arena (11,684) West Lafayette, IN |
| 1/8/1973 no, no | Wisconsin | W 76-74 | 6 - 4 (1 - 1) | Assembly Hall (8,607) Champaign, IL |
| 1/13/1973 no, no | Iowa Rivalry | W 80-78 | 7 - 4 (2 - 1) | Assembly Hall (9,916) Champaign, IL |
| 1/25/1973* no, no | Notre Dame | W 87-84 | 8 - 4 | Chicago Stadium (15,817) Chicago, IL |
| 1/27/1973* no, no | South Carolina | L 76-86 | 8 - 5 | Assembly Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL |
| 2/3/1973 no, no | Michigan | W 76-75 | 9 - 5 (3 - 1) | Assembly Hall (11,117) Champaign, IL |
| 2/5/1973 no, no | at Northwestern Rivalry | W 84-77 | 10 - 5 (4 - 1) | McGaw Memorial Hall (4,726) Evanston, IL |
| 2/10/1973 no, no | at Wisconsin | L 88-99 | 10 - 6 (4 - 2) | Wisconsin Field House (8,231) Madison, WI |
| 2/12/1973 no, no | at No. 4 Indiana Rivalry | L 67-87 | 10 - 7 (4 - 3) | Assembly Hall (14,156) Bloomington, IN |
| 2/17/1973 no, no | Ohio State | W 79-68 | 11 - 7 (5 - 3) | Assembly Hall (11,892) Champaign, IL |
| 2/19/1973 no, no | No. 4 Minnesota | L 52-72 | 11 - 8 (5 - 4) | Assembly Hall (11,367) Champaign, IL |
| 2/24/1973 no, no | Michigan State | L 82-90 | 12 - 8 (6 - 4) | Assembly Hall (10,677) Champaign, IL |
| 2/26/1973 no, no | at Michigan | W 96-89 | 13 - 8 (7 - 4) | Crisler Center (8,235) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 3/3/1973 no, no | at Ohio State | L 64-65 | 13 - 9 (7 - 5) | St. John Arena (13,489) Columbus, OH |
| 3/5/1973 no, no | Northwestern Rivalry | W 77-76 | 14 - 9 (7 - 5) | Assembly Hall (10,857) Champaign, IL |
| 3/10/1973 no, no | at Iowa Rivalry | L 76-93 | 14 - 10 (8 - 6) | Iowa Field House (12,353) Iowa City, IA |
| *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 | Points |
| Nick Weatherspoon | 24 | 880 | 247 | 106 | 295 | 600 |
| Jeff Dawson | 24 | 930 | 182 | 83 | 68 | 447 |
| Nick Conner | 24 | 845 | 136 | 43 | 221 | 315 |
| Otho Tucker | 24 | 822 | 92 | 53 | 79 | 237 |
| Jed Foster | 24 | 487 | 38 | 37 | 99 | 113 |
| Rick Schmidt | 23 | 471 | 39 | 10 | 90 | 88 |
| C.J. Schroeder | 20 | 163 | 9 | 14 | 28 | 32 |
| Dave Roberts | 15 | 8 | 94 | 9 | 7 | 25 |
| Don Deputy | 7 | 27 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| Bill Rucks | 5 | 31 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 11 |
| Larry Cohen | 3 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Garvin Roberts | 8 | 38 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Jim Rucks | 3 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |

## Awards and honors

* Nick Weatherspoon
** 1st Team All-American (Helms), Honorable Mention (Converse)
** Team Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |
| Nick Weatherspoon | Capitol Bullets | 1 | 13 |
| Jeff Dawson | Golden State Warriors | 8 | 11 |
| Nick Conner | Buffalo Braves | 10 | 2 |