1988–89 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1988–89 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1988–89 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Illini Classic, Champion Rainbow Classic, Champion ^[1]
NCAA men's Division I tournament, Final Four
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3
Record	31–5 (14–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson
Assistant coaches	Dick Nagy Jimmy Collins Mark Coomes Scott Nagy
MVP	Nick Anderson
Captain	Kenny Battle Lowell Hamilton
Home arena	Assembly Hall
Seasons ← 1987–88 1989–90 →

1988–89 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 8 Indiana	15	–	3		.833			27	–	8		.771
No. 3 Illinois	14	–	4		.778			31	–	5		.861
No. 10 Michigan	12	–	6		.667			30	–	7		.811
No. 14 Iowa	10	–	8		.556			23	–	10		.697
Minnesota	9	–	9		.500			19	–	12		.613
Wisconsin	8	–	10		.444			18	–	12		.600
Purdue	8	–	10		.444			15	–	16		.484
Ohio State	6	–	12		.333			19	–	15		.559
Michigan State	6	–	12		.333			18	–	15		.545
Northwestern	2	–	16		.111			9	–	19		.321
Rankings from AP Poll

Regular season

The 1988-89 team may have been the most talented team ever assembled at the University of Illinois. The team was so athletic that they could "run and alley-oop" baskets using even the non-starting players, and a record number of 100+ game scores reflected this fact. The players known as the “Flying Illini,” included all the important pieces from the 1987-88 squad (Kenny Battle, Kendall Gill, Steve Bardo, Lowell Hamilton, Nick Anderson and Larry Smith) as well as junior college All-American P.J. Bowman and former high school All-American Marcus Liberty. The Fighting Illini won their first 16 games and were ranked No. 2 in the nation going into a nationally televised game against Georgia Tech, whom Illinois had already beaten, 80-75, at the Rainbow Classic in December. The Yellow Jackets led, 47-31, but Illinois managed to surge back to force overtime, eventually needing two extra periods to win the game. Along with the No. 1 ranking the next day came some bad news. Illinois’ catalyst, Gill, had broken a bone in his foot and would miss the next 12 games. Hurt by the loss of Gill, Illinois lost three of the next four games and its No. 1 ranking. The Illini rallied to finish second in the Big Ten with a 14-4 record and with Gill back in the lineup, the Illini were awarded a No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA tournament. After rolling to victories over McNeese State and Ball State at the Hoosier Dome, a powerpacked regional in Minneapolis with Missouri, Louisville and Syracuse, stood in the way of Illinois’ trip to the Final Four. Louisville fell victim to Illinois, losing 83-69, which set up a regional final matchup with Syracuse. The Fighting Illini held off Syracuse to advance to the Final Four in Seattle where Illinois faced Michigan, a team it had beaten twice already in conference play, in the national semifinals. Michigan was inspired by the firing of their coach prior to the tournament, and won a game that contained 33 lead changes.^[2] Despite Battle’s 29-point, 11-rebound effort, Illinois fell to eventual national-champion Michigan, 83-81.

Roster

1988–89 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 10 P.J. Bowman 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Jr Centennial High School Champaign, Illinois G 13 Kendall Gill 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Rich Central High School Matteson, Illinois G 15 Travis Smith 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Gallatin High School Ridgway, Illinois F/C 21 Rodney Jones 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr West Philadelphia High School Philadelphia, PA G 22 Eddie Manzke 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Marist High School Orland Park, Illinois G 23 Larry Smith 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Alton High School Alton, Illinois F 24 Ervin Small 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr Simeon High School Chicago, Illinois G/F 25 Nick Anderson 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr Simeon High School Chicago, Illinois G 30 Marcus Liberty 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 190 lb (86 kg) RS So King High School Chicago, Illinois G/F 32 Brian O'Connell 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Jr Schaumburg High School Schaumburg, Illinois F 33 Kenny Battle (C) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) RS Sr West Aurora High School Aurora, Illinois F 34 Andy Kaufmann 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Fr Jacksonville High School Jacksonville, Illinois G/F 35 Stephen Bardo 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Carbondale Community High School Carbondale, Illinois F 50 Mike MacDonald 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Sr Streamwood High School Streamwood, Illinois F/C 45 Lowell Hamilton (C) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Sr Providence St. Mel High School Chicago, Illinois	Head coach Lou Henson (New Mexico State University) (14th year) Assistant coach(es) Jimmy Collins (New Mexico State) (6th year) Dick Nagy (Hardin-Simmons University) (8th year) Mark Coomes (New Mexico State) (4th year) Scott Nagy GA (Delta State University) (1st year) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt All-Time Illini Roster

Source^{[3] [4]}

Schedule

Source^[5]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/26/1988* no, no	No. 9	vs. Illinois-Chicago	W 85-59	1-0	Assembly Hall (13,800) Champaign, IL
11/29/1988* no, no	No. 7	vs. Metro State	W 86-55	2-0	Assembly Hall (13,911) Champaign, IL
12/3/1988* no, no	No. 7	vs. Mississippi	W 91-79	3-0	Assembly Hall (14,386) Champaign, IL
12/6/1988* no, no	No. 7	vs. Florida (#19)	W 97-67	4-0	Assembly Hall (15,020) Champaign, IL
12/9/1988* no, no	No. 7	vs. Duquesne Illini Classic	W 112-81	5-0	Assembly Hall (14,532) Champaign, IL
12/10/1988* no, no	No. 7	vs. Arkansas-Little Rock Illini Classic	W 107-88	6-0	Assembly Hall (14,887) Champaign, IL
12/17/1988* no, no	No. 6	@ Tennessee Tech	W 105-77	7-0	Assembly Hall (12,794) Champaign, IL
12/19/1988* no, no	No. 6	vs. Missouri (#10) Braggin' Rights	W 87-84	8-0	St. Louis Arena (18,561) St. Louis, MO
12/22/1988* no, no	No. 5	@ Louisiana State	W 127-100	9-0	Pete Maravich Assembly Center (14,192) Baton Rouge, LA
12/28/1988* no, no	No. 4	vs. Tulsa Rainbow Classic	W 85-58	10-0	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (3,173) Honolulu, HI
12/29/1988* no, no	No. 4	vs. Georgia Tech (#17) Rainbow Classic	W 80-75	11-0	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (5,775) Honolulu, HI
12/28/1988* no, no	No. 4	@ Hawaii Rainbow Classic	W 96-87	12-0	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (6,379) Honolulu, HI
Big Ten regular season
1/7/1989 no, no	No. 3	vs. Michigan State	W 71-54	13-0 (1-0)	Assembly Hall (16,497) Champaign, IL
1/12/1989 no, no	No. 2	vs. Wisconsin	W 103-80	14-0 (2-0)	Assembly Hall (14,433) Champaign, IL
1/14/1989 no, no	No. 2	vs. Michigan (#6)	W 96-84	15-0 (3-0)	Assembly Hall (14,499) Champaign, IL
1/19/1989 no, no	No. 2	@ Northwestern	W 75-70	16-0 (4-0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL
1/22/1989* no, no	No. 2	vs. Georgia Tech	W 103-92 ^2OT	17-0	Assembly Hall (16,561) Champaign, IL
1/26/1989 no, no	No. 1	@ Minnesota	L 62-69	17-1 (4-1)	Williams Arena (13,766) Minneapolis, MN
1/28/1989 no, no	No. 1	vs. Indiana (#16) Rivalry	W 75-65	18-1 (5-1)	Assembly Hall (16,563) Champaign, IL
2/2/1989 no, no	No. 2	@ Purdue	L 72-76	18-2 (5-2)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
2/5/1989 no, no	No. 2	@ Iowa (#9) Rivalry	L 82-86	18-3 (5-3)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA
2/9/1980 no, no	No. 7	vs. Ohio State (#16)	W 62-60	19-3 (6-3)	Assembly Hall (16,439) Champaign, IL
2/11/1989 no, no	No. 7	vs. Northwestern	W 86-69	20-3 (7-3)	Assembly Hall (16,471) Champaign, IL
2/16/1989 no, no	No. 5	@ Michigan State East Lansing, MI	W 75-56	21-3 (8-3)	{{{site_stadium}}} (10,004) Jenison Fieldhouse
2/18/1989 no, no	No. 5	@ Wisconsin	L 52-72	21-4 (8-4)	Wisconsin Field House (11,886) Madison, WI
2/20/1989 no, no	No. 5	vs. Purdue	W 102-75	22-4 (9-4)	Assembly Hall (16,415) Champaign, IL
2/26/1989 no, no	No. 10	@ Ohio State	W 94-71	23-4 (10-4)	St. John Arena (13,276) Columbus, OH
3/2/1989 no, no	No. 8	vs. Minnesota	W 63-58	24-4 (11-4)	Assembly Hall (16,455) Champaign, IL
3/5/1989 no, no	No. 8	vs. Indiana (#3) Rivalry	W 70-67	25-4 (12-4)	Assembly Hall (17,311) Bloomington, IN
3/8/1989 no, no	No. 4	vs. Iowa (#15) Rivalry	W 118-94	26-4 (13-4)	Assembly Hall (16,552) Champaign, IL
3/11/1989 no, no	No. 4	@ Michigan (#8)	W 89-73	27-4 (14-4)	Crisler Center (13,609) Ann Arbor, MI
NCAA tournament^[6]
3/16/1989* no, no	No. 3	vs. McNeese State first round	W 77-71	28-4	RCA Dome (37,242) Indianapolis, IN
3/18/1989* no, no	No. 3	vs. Ball State (#18) second round	W 72-60	29-4	RCA Dome (37,444) Indianapolis, IN
3/24/1989* no, no	No. 3	vs. Louisville (#12) Regional semifinals	W 83-69	30-4	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (33,560) Minneapolis, MN
3/26/1989* no, no	No. 3	vs. Syracuse (#7) Regional Finals	W 89-86	31-4	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (33,469) Minneapolis, MN
4/1/1989* no, no	No. 3	vs. Michigan (#10) National semifinals	L 81-83	31-5	Kingdome (39,187) Seattle, WA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Minutes Played	2 pt. Field Goals	3 pt. Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Nick Anderson^[7]	36	1125	238	24	99	285	72	32	57	647
Kenny Battle^[8]	36	1105	209	9	151	174	64	13	89	596
Lowell Hamilton^[9]	36	943	219	0	50	204	24	31	21	488
Kendall Gill^[10]	24	681	105	38	46	70	91	6	51	370
Marcus Liberty^[11]	36	748	114	6	57	141	42	10	38	303
Stephen Bardo^[12]	36	1000	65	29	76	144	148	8	34	293
Larry Smith^[13]	36	695	63	3	40	73	157	5	28	175
P.J. Bowman^[14]	29	284	6	22	9	28	26	1	7	87
Ervin Small^[15]	36	392	26	0	27	76	5	0	10	77
Andy Kaufmann^[16]	12	136	11	5	14	20	8	1	5	51
Mike MacDonald^[17]	23	60	7	0	1	10	1	0	1	15
Brian O'Connell^[18]	4	5	1	0	2	3	0	0	0	4
Eddie Manzke^[19]	18	25	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	1

• Head Coach Lou Henson (14th year at Illinois) ^[20]

Awards and honors

• Stephen Bardo
  • Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year
• Nick Anderson
  • Team Most Valuable Player ^[21]
  • NCAA Tournament Regional Most Outstanding Player
  • Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
• Kenny Battle
  • Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
• Kendall Gill
  • Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick
Kendall Gill	Charlotte Hornets	1	5
Nick Anderson	Orlando Magic	1	11
Kenny Battle	Detroit Pistons	2	27

^[22]

Rankings

Main article: 1988–89 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

1. . Archived from the original on 2005-03-18. Retrieved 2013-03-18.
2. Cotton, Anthony (April 2, 1989). "Michigan Survives Dogfight With Illini". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
3. Men's Basketball Roster
4. All-Time Illini Rosters 2010-04-22 at the Wayback Machine
5. University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1988-89 February 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
6. 1989 NCAA Tournament
7. Season Stats 2010-11-21 at the Wayback Machine
8. Season Stats 2007-11-30 at the Wayback Machine
9. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2012-01-18.
10. Season Stats 2007-10-30 at the Wayback Machine
11. Season Stats 2007-11-11 at the Wayback Machine
12. Season Stats 2007-11-30 at the Wayback Machine
13. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2012-01-18.
14. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2012-01-18.
15. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2012-01-18.
16. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2012-01-18.
17. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2012-01-18.
18. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2012-01-18.
19. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2012-01-18.
20. All-Time Illini Rosters 2013-12-16 at the Wayback Machine
21. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-30. Retrieved 2013-01-15.
22. 1989 NBA draft 2010-03-17 at the Wayback Machine