1917–18 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1917–18 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1917–18 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	9–6 (6–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ralph Jones
Assistant coach	David M. Bullock (Trainer)^[1]
Captain	George Halas Earl Anderson
Home arena	Kenney Gym
Seasons ← 1916–17 1918–19 →

1917–18 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Wisconsin	9	–	3		.750			14	–	3		.824
Minnesota	7	–	3		.700			13	–	3		.813
Northwestern	5	–	3		.625			7	–	4		.636
Illinois	6	–	6		.500			9	–	6		.600
Chicago	6	–	6		.500			14	–	10		.583
Purdue	5	–	5		.500			11	–	5		.688
Ohio State	5	–	5		.500			12	–	7		.632
Indiana	3	–	3		.500			10	–	4		.714
Iowa	4	–	6		.400			6	–	8		.429
Michigan	0	–	10		.000			6	–	12		.333
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

Under the direction of coach Ralph Jones, the 1917–18 season for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team, was unusual because World War I was happening in Europe. Co-captain George Halas, for example, left the team in January 1918 to help out with the war effort.^[2] In only the second season of having 10 members, the Big Ten Conference continued their 12-game schedule of home and road competitions. The Illini finished their season with an overall record of 9 wins and 6 losses and a 6 win 6 loss conference mark. The starting lineup included co-captain Earl Anderson and B.E. Mittleman at the forward positions, J.S. Probst and P.C. Taylor at center, and co-captain George Halas and Burt Ingwersen as guards.^[3] Anderson would be named a consensus All-American for the season.

Roster

1917–18 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown F Earl Anderson (C) — — Sr Charleston, Illinois G George Halas (C) — — Sr Chicago, Illinois C John S. Probst — — So East Aurora, Illinois C Paul C. Taylor — — So New Orleans, Louisiana G Charles W. Vail — — Fr Chicago, Illinois F Burt Ingwersen — — So Urbana, Illinois G/F William K. Kopp — — Fr Beverly Farms, Massachusetts F Benjamin F. Mittleman — — Jr East Farmingdale, New York F James Garfield Stevens — — Jr Alfred, New York G Raymond Christian Haas — — So Evansville, Indiana	Head coach Ralph Jones (Indianapolis YMCA Training School) (6th year) Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt All-Time Illini Rosters Roster

Source^[4]

Schedule

Source^[5]

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/15/1917* no, no	vs Millikin University	W 40–13	1-0 (0-0)	Kenney Gym (199) Urbana, IL
12/19/1917* no, no	@ Millikin University	W 31–13	2-0 (0-0)	Millikin Gymnasium (-) Decatur, IL
1/5/1918* no, no	vs Wabash College	W 24–9	3-0 (0-0)	Kenney Gym (-) Urbana, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/9/1918 no, no	vs Purdue	W 27–17	4-0 (1-0)	Kenney Gym (635) Urbana, IL
1/14/1918 no, no	vs Minnesota	W 28–17	5-0 (2-0)	Kenney Gym (1,008) Urbana, IL
1/19/1918 no, no	vs Wisconsin	L 21–22	5-1 (2-1)	Kenney Gym (1,108) Urbana, IL
2/2/1918 no, no	@ University of Chicago	L 19–23	5-2 (2-2)	Bartlett Gymnasium (-) Chicago, IL
2/9/1918 no, no	vs Northwestern	W 38–22	6-2 (3-2)	Kenney Gym (925) Urbana, IL
2/11/1918 no, no	vs Ohio State	W 35–21	7-2 (4-2)	Kenney Gym (673) Urbana, IL
2/16/1918 no, no	@ Purdue	L 26–29	7-3 (4-3)	Memorial Gymnasium (-) West Lafayette, IN
2/18/1918 no, no	@ Ohio State	W 26–23	8-3 (5-3)	The Armory (-) Columbus, OH
2/23/1918 no, no	@ Wisconsin	L 15–23	8-4 (5-4)	University of Wisconsin Armory and Gymnasium (-) Madison, WI
2/25/1918 no, no	@ Minnesota	L 22–35	8-5 (5-5)	University of Minnesota Armory (-) Minneapolis, MN
3/2/1918 no, no	@ Northwestern	L 14–29	8-6 (5-6)	Patten Gymnasium (-) Evanston, IL
3/6/1918 no, no	vs University of Chicago	W 20–17	9-6 (6-6)	Kenney Gym (518) Urbana, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Earl Anderson^[6]	15	67	67	201
Bert Ingwersen^[7]	15	24	1	49
Paul Taylor^[8]	14	24	0	48
J.S. Probst^[9]	10	15	0	30
Benjamin Mittleman^[10]	7	13	0	26
Charles Vail^[11]	11	8	0	16
J.G. Stevens^[12]	7	5	0	10
George Halas^[13]	5	1	0	2

Awards and honors

George Halas was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1963), for his role in the development of the National Football League as well as for his coaching and playing for the Chicago Bears.

Earl Anderson was named a Consensus All-American for the 1917-18 season.

References

1. National Athletic Trainer Association
2. A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.17 ISBN 1-58261-793-7
3. Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
4. FightingIllini.com
5. University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1917-18 2013-12-17 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
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