The most significant recruit in the three years of Head Coach Lou Henson's tenure at Illinois came prior to the 1978-79 season. Eddie Johnson was considered to be the most significant piece to reviving the Illini basketball program, a program that had not been to a post-season tournament for 16 years. Johnson, who played at Chicago Westinghouse High School, was one of the state's top senior and a Parade Magazine All-American. During his senior year at Westinghouse, Johnson, along with teammate Mark Aguirre, became part of a team that went 29-0, losing only in the Public League Final to Wendell Phillips. Prior to choosing Illinois, Johnson visited Southern Cal, Iowa, Michigan and DePaul, but with the encouragement of assistant coach Tony Yates, he selected Illinois.
Along with Johnson, Henson recruited Mark Smith from Peoria Richwoods High School. By season's end, Smith would develop into the team's second leading scorer, finishing the season with 312 points. The team's starting lineup included Neil Bresnahan and Levi Cobb as forwards, Audie Matthews and Reno Gray at the guard positions, and Rich Adams playing center.
Roster
1977–78 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
1977, illinois, fighting, illini, basketball, team, represented, university, illinois, 1977, illinois, fighting, illini, basketballconferencebig, conferencerankingcoachesno, rankedapno, rankedrecord13, head, coachlou, hensonassistant, coachestony, yates, mark,. The 1977 78 Illinois Fighting Illini men s basketball team represented the University of Illinois 1977 78 Illinois Fighting Illini men s basketballConferenceBig Ten ConferenceRankingCoachesNo Not rankedAPNo Not rankedRecord13 14 7 11 Big Ten Head coachLou HensonAssistant coachesTony Yates Mark Bial Les WothkeMVPAudie MatthewsCaptainAudie MatthewsHome arenaAssembly HallSeasons 1976 771978 79 1977 78 Big Ten Conference men s basketball standingsvte Conf OverallTeam W L PCT W L PCTNo 4 Michigan State 15 3 833 25 5 833No 13 Indiana 12 6 667 21 8 724Minnesota 12 6 667 17 10 630Michigan 11 7 611 16 11 593Purdue 11 7 611 16 11 593Ohio State 9 9 500 16 11 593Illinois 7 11 389 13 14 481Iowa 5 13 278 12 15 444Northwestern 4 14 222 8 19 296Wisconsin 4 14 222 8 19 296Rankings from AP Poll Contents 1 Regular season 1 1 Roster 2 Schedule 3 Player stats 4 Awards and honors 5 Team players drafted into the NBA 6 Rankings 7 ReferencesRegular season EditThe most significant recruit in the three years of Head Coach Lou Henson s tenure at Illinois came prior to the 1978 79 season Eddie Johnson was considered to be the most significant piece to reviving the Illini basketball program a program that had not been to a post season tournament for 16 years Johnson who played at Chicago Westinghouse High School was one of the state s top senior and a Parade Magazine All American During his senior year at Westinghouse Johnson along with teammate Mark Aguirre became part of a team that went 29 0 losing only in the Public League Final to Wendell Phillips Prior to choosing Illinois Johnson visited Southern Cal Iowa Michigan and DePaul but with the encouragement of assistant coach Tony Yates he selected Illinois Along with Johnson Henson recruited Mark Smith from Peoria Richwoods High School By season s end Smith would develop into the team s second leading scorer finishing the season with 312 points The team s starting lineup included Neil Bresnahan and Levi Cobb as forwards Audie Matthews and Reno Gray at the guard positions and Rich Adams playing center Roster Edit 1977 78 Illinois Fighting Illini men s basketball teamPlayers CoachesPos Name Height Weight Year Previous school HometownG 10 Reno Gray 6 ft 2 in 1 88 m 170 lb 77 kg Jr Hales Franciscan High School Chicago IllinoisF 12 Ken Ferdinand 6 ft 6 in 1 98 m 200 lb 91 kg Jr Urbana High School Urbana IllinoisG 20 Matt Meyer 6 ft 0 in 1 83 m 165 lb 75 kg Jr Foreman High School Mantino IllinoisG 21 Steve Lanter 6 ft 4 in 1 93 m 175 lb 79 kg RS So Mascoutah Community High School Belleville IllinoisG 23 Larry Lubin 6 ft 0 in 1 83 m 175 lb 79 kg Jr New Trier High School Glencoe IllinoisF 24 Tom Gerhardt 6 ft 6 in 1 98 m 210 lb 95 kg Sr De La Salle High School Chicago IllinoisG 30 Rob Judson 6 ft 2 in 1 88 m 170 lb 77 kg So Zion Benton High School Zion IllinoisF 31 Neil Bresnahan 6 ft 6 in 1 98 m 200 lb 91 kg So Fenwick High School Oak Park IllinoisF 32 Levi Cobb 6 ft 6 in 1 98 m 205 lb 93 kg So Morgan Park High School Chicago IllinoisF 33 Eddie Johnson 6 ft 7 in 2 01 m 210 lb 95 kg Fr Westinghouse High School Chicago IllinoisF 40 Rich Adams 6 ft 9 in 2 06 m 205 lb 93 kg Sr Colerain High School Cincinnati OhioG F 41 Mike Jones 6 ft 4 in 1 93 m 185 lb 84 kg Fr Joliet Central High School Joliet IllinoisF 42 Mark Smith 6 ft 7 in 2 01 m 195 lb 88 kg Fr Richwoods High School Peoria IllinoisF 42 Rick Leighty 6 ft 7 in 2 01 m 195 lb 88 kg Fr Richwoods High School Peoria IllinoisG F 43 Audie Matthews C 6 ft 5 in 1 96 m 185 lb 84 kg Sr Bloom High School Chicago Heights Illinois Head coachLou Henson New Mexico State University 3rd year Assistant coach es Tony Yates University of Cincinnati 4th year Les Wothke Greenville University 3rd year Mark Bial University of Illinois 1st year Legend C Team captain S Suspended I Ineligible W Walk on Injured Current redshirtAll Time Illini RosterSource 1 2 Schedule EditSource 3 Datetime TV Opponent Result Record Site attendance city stateNon Conference regular season11 25 1977 no no UNC Charlotte L 64 68 0 1 Assembly Hall 8 655 Champaign IL11 28 1977 no no Arizona W 113 107 1 1 Assembly Hall 7 356 Champaign IL12 1 1977 no no Southern California W 82 59 2 1 Assembly Hall 8 941 Champaign IL12 3 1977 no no South Carolina W 84 68 3 1 Carolina Coliseum 9 116 Columbia SC12 6 1977 no no Missouri Show Me Classic W 96 85 4 1 Assembly Hall 6 010 Champaign IL12 16 1977 no no BYU W 81 74 5 1 Assembly Hall 8 612 Champaign IL12 28 1977 no no Washington State Far West Classic L 75 82 5 2 Veterans Memorial Coliseum 9 762 Portland OR12 29 1977 no no Oregon Far West Classic W 86 80 6 2 Veterans Memorial Coliseum 6 432 Portland OR12 30 1977 no no Washington Far West Classic L 68 81 6 3 Veterans Memorial Coliseum 6 542 Portland ORBig Ten regular season1 5 1978 no no Purdue L 85 95 6 4 0 1 Mackey Arena 11 253 West Lafayette IN1 7 1978 no no Indiana 11 Rivalry W 65 64 7 4 1 1 Assembly Hall 16 903 Bloomington IN1 12 1978 no no Michigan State 12 L 70 82 7 5 1 2 Assembly Hall 10 300 Champaign IL1 14 1978 no no Michigan W 65 61 8 5 2 2 Assembly Hall 8 795 Champaign IL1 19 1978 no no Minnesota L 66 70 8 6 2 3 Williams Arena 15 134 Minneapolis MN1 21 1978 no no Northwestern W 73 64 9 6 3 3 Assembly Hall 9 616 Champaign IL1 26 1978 no no Iowa Rivalry W 70 61 10 6 4 3 Iowa Field House 11 000 Iowa City IA1 30 1978 no no Ohio State L 84 87 10 7 4 4 Assembly Hall 9 285 Champaign IL2 2 1978 no no Wisconsin W 74 71 11 7 5 4 Assembly Hall 7 802 Champaign IL2 4 1978 no no Ohio State L 65 70 11 8 5 5 St John Arena 13 489 Columbus OH2 9 1978 no no Northwestern L 61 72 11 9 5 6 McGaw Memorial Hall 3 268 Evanston IL2 11 1978 no no Wisconsin L 73 80 11 10 5 7 Wisconsin Field House 7 802 Madison WI2 16 1978 no no Minnesota L 69 75 11 11 5 8 Assembly Hall 8 098 Champaign IL2 18 1978 no no Iowa Rivalry W 77 76 12 11 6 8 Assembly Hall 9 441 Champaign IL2 23 1978 no no Michigan L 96 107 12 12 6 9 Crisler Center 13 589 Ann Arbor MI2 25 1978 no no Michigan State 10 L 67 89 12 13 6 10 Jenison Fieldhouse 9 886 East Lansing MI3 2 1978 no no Indiana Rivalry L 68 77 12 14 6 11 Assembly Hall 7 222 Champaign IL3 2 1978 no no Purdue W 67 66 13 14 7 11 Assembly Hall 11 938 Champaign IL Non conference game Rankings from AP Poll Tournament seedings in parentheses All times are in Central Time Player stats EditPlayer Games Played Minutes Played Field Goals Free Throws Rebounds Assists Blocks Steals PointsAudie Matthews 4 27 780 136 55 87 50 0 12 327Mark Smith 5 27 680 111 90 163 36 7 37 312Rich Adams 6 27 618 108 58 133 37 32 25 274Eddie Johnson 7 27 469 100 20 84 16 8 11 220Rob Judson 8 27 605 76 45 49 57 1 20 197Neil Bresnahan 9 27 670 94 31 195 68 2 21 219Reno Gray 10 20 434 90 6 29 66 1 18 186Levi Cobb 11 27 610 72 28 131 23 10 17 172Mike Jones 27 232 35 2 16 20 2 8 72Ken Ferdinand 15 80 13 5 18 2 2 2 31Larry Lubin 17 112 8 8 9 19 0 6 24Tom Gerhardt 21 105 4 2 22 3 0 1 10Matt Meyer 6 5 0 0 1 1 0 0 0Awards and honors EditEddie Johnson Fighting Illini All Century team 2005 Audie Matthews Team Most Valuable Player 12 Team players drafted into the NBA EditPlayer NBA Club Round PickRich Adams San Antonio Spurs 4 86Audie Matthews Detroit Pistons 6 117 13 Rankings EditMain article 1977 78 NCAA Division I men s basketball rankingsReferences Edit Men s Basketball Roster All Time Illini Rosters Archived 2010 04 22 at the Wayback Machine University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1977 78 Archived 2013 06 25 at the Wayback Machine FightingIllini com pg 119 Season Stats pg 119 Season Stats pg 119 Season Stats pg 119 Season Stats pg 119 Season Stats pg 119 Season Stats pg 119 Season Stats pg 119 Season Stats List of MVPs PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2014 10 30 Retrieved 2013 01 15 1978 NBA Draft Archived 2010 03 18 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1977 78 Illinois Fighting Illini men 27s basketball team amp oldid 1087760163, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
