# 1936–37 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1936–37 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

New head coach Doug Mills took over the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team for the 1936–37 season replacing Craig Ruby. Mills was a player for the Illini from 1927 to 1930 and served as the assistant coach for the 1935–36 season. Mills' service toward the University of Illinois would continue until 1947 as head coach and until 1966 as athletic director. Along with future head coach Harry Combes, the Illini returned 7 lettermen from a team that had finished in a third place tie in the Big Ten the year before. Even though they lost 2 home games during conference play, the Illini finished the season in a tie for the conference championship with a record of 10 wins and 2 losses. The team finished the season with an overall record of 14 wins 4 losses. Along with Combes, the Illini also featured future major league baseball hall of fame shortstop and manager, Lou Boudreau. The starting lineup included captain Robert Riegel at the center position, Boudreau and Combes at forward and Wilbur Henry, James Vopicka and Tom Nisbet at guard. Following that season, the men's gymnasium got a new name, George Huff Gymnasium, after former Illinois athletic director George Huff, who died on October 1, 1936. During the championship season, Boudreau led the team in scoring with 8.7 points per game.

### Roster
## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Opponent | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season |||||
| 12/8/1936* no, no | Carroll | W 51–34 | 1–0 | Huff Hall (6,500) Champaign, IL |
| 12/12/1936* no, no | Depauw | W 44–24 | 2–0 | Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL |
| 12/19/1936* no, no | Notre Dame | W 44–29 | 3–0 | Huff Hall (7,000) Champaign, IL |
| 12/23/1936* no, no | at DePaul | L 25–31 | 3–1 | DePaul Auditorium (6,000) Chicago, IL |
| 12/30/1936* no, no | at Bradley | W 43–33 | 4–1 | Hewitt Gymnasium (3,800) Peoria, IL |
| Big Ten regular season |||||
| 1/4/1937 no, no | Northwestern Rivalry | L 38–47 | 4–2 (0–1) | Huff Hall (7,328) Champaign, IL |
| 1/9/1937 no, no | at Wisconsin | W 31–28 | 5–2 (1–1) | Wisconsin Field House (6,700) Madison, WI |
| 1/11/1937 no, no | Indiana Rivalry | W 40–31 | 6–2 (2–1) | Huff Hall (7,000) Champaign, IL |
| 1/16/1937 no, no | Iowa Rivalry | W 42–28 | 7–2 (3–1) | Huff Hall (6,810) Champaign, IL |
| 1/18/1937 no, no | at Purdue | W 38–37 | 8–2 (4–1) | Jefferson High School (5,600) West Lafayette, IN |
| 1/23/1937 no, no | University of Chicago | W 28–23 | 9–2 (5–1) | Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL |
| 2/6/1937* no, no | at Notre Dame | L 33–41 | 9–3 | Notre Dame Fieldhouse (–) Notre Dame, IN |
| 2/13/1937 no, no | at University of Chicago | W 34–26 | 10–3 (6–1) | Henry Crown Field House (3,000) Chicago, IL |
| 2/15/1937 no, no | Purdue | L 34–61 | 10–4 (6–2) | Huff Hall (7,600) Champaign, IL |
| 2/20/1937 no, no | at Indiana Rivalry | W 42–25 | 11–4 (7–2) | IU Fieldhouse (5,000) Bloomington, IN |
| 2/22/1937 no, no | Wisconsin | W 48–31 | 12–4 (8–2) | Huff Hall (9,000) Champaign, IL |
| 2/27/1937 no, no | at Iowa Rivalry | W 40–29 | 13–4 (9–2) | Iowa Field House (9,000) Iowa City, IA |
| 3/6/1937 no, no | at Northwestern Rivalry | W 32–26 | 14–4 (10–2) | Patten Gymnasium (6,000) Evanston, IL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. |||||
Source

## Awards and honors

* Harry Combes
** Omaha World Newspaper 2nd team All-American