1993–94 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1993–94 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1993–94 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Illini Classic, Champion
NCAA men's Division I tournament, first round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	17–11 (10–8 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson
Assistant coaches	Dick Nagy Jimmy Collins Mark Coomes
MVP	Deon Thomas
Captain	Tom Michael Deon Thomas T.J. Wheeler
Home arena	Assembly Hall
Seasons ← 1992–93 1994–95 →

1993–94 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 3 Purdue	14	–	4		.778			29	–	5		.853
No. 11 Michigan	13	–	5		.722			24	–	8		.750
No. 18 Indiana	12	–	6		.667			21	–	9		.700
No. 23 Minnesota	10	–	8		.556			21	–	12		.636
Michigan State	10	–	8		.556			20	–	12		.625
Illinois	10	–	8		.556			17	–	11		.607
Wisconsin	8	–	10		.444			18	–	11		.621
Penn State	6	–	12		.333			13	–	14		.481
Ohio State	6	–	12		.333			13	–	16		.448
Northwestern	5	–	13		.278			15	–	14		.517
Iowa	5	–	13		.278			11	–	16		.407
Rankings from AP Poll *Minnesota vacated all NCAA tournament games due to sanctions against the program. Disputed record (22-13)

"1993-94 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

Regular season

The 1993-94 season saw Illinois again advance to the NCAA tournament and in the process, senior Deon Thomas broke a 13-year-old record and became the school’s all-time leading scorer. Thomas scored his record-breaking 1,693rd point in the championship game of the Illini/Pepsi Classic against American University and he went on to finish his career with 2,129 points. Also during this season, a young upstart freshman, Kiwane Garris, would begin his assault on the all-time scoring list. He notched 446 points as a freshman and would be the catalyst on the Illini team over the next few years.

Roster

1993–94 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 3 Greg Phillips 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr Aurora Christian High School Aurora, Illinois G 22 Kiwane Garris 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Fr Westinghouse High School Chicago, Illinois G 24 Richard Keene 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Collinsville High School Collinsville, Illinois F/C 25 Deon Thomas (C) 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 240 lb (109 kg) RS Sr Simeon High School Chicago, Illinois F 30 Robert Bennett 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr Julian High School Chicago, Illinois C 31 Brett Robisch   6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 225 lb (102 kg) RS Fr Calvary Academy Springfield, Illinois F 32 Tom Michael (C) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) RS Sr Carlyle High School Hoffman, Illinois F 34 Brian Johnson   6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) RS Fr Maine West High School Des Plaines, Illinois F/C 35 Shelly Clark 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 260 lb (118 kg) Jr South Shore High School Chicago, Illinois F 40 Jerry Hester 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Fr Manual High School Peoria, Illinois G 42 Gene Cross 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Rich Central High School Olympia Fields, Illinois G 44 T.J. Wheeler (C) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Christopher High School Buckner, Illinois F 45 Chris Gandy 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 205 lb (93 kg) RS Fr Bradley-Bourbonnais High School Kankakee, Illinois C 52 Steve Roth 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 255 lb (116 kg) Jr East High School Belleville, Illinois	Head coach Lou Henson (New Mexico A&M) (19th year) Assistant coach(es) Dick Nagy (New Mexico State University) (15th year) Jimmy Collins (New Mexico State University) (11th year) Mark Coomes (New Mexico State University) (9th year) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt All-Time Illini Rosters Roster

Source^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/1/1993* no, no	No. 16	vs. LaSalle	W 99-73	1-0	Assembly Hall (12,831) Champaign, IL
12/4/1993* no, no	No. 16	vs. Illinois-Chicago	W 101-80	2-0	Assembly Hall (16,321) Champaign, IL
12/7/1993* no, no	No. 16	@ Marquette	L 65-74	2-1	Bradley Center (14,195) Milwaukee, WI
12/10/1993* no, no	No. 16	vs. Morehead State Illini Classic	W 110-75	3-1	Assembly Hall (13,914) Champaign, IL
12/11/1993* no, no	No. 16	vs. American Illini Classic	W 108-84	4-1	Assembly Hall (14,523) Champaign, IL
12/18/1993* no, no	No. 19	vs. Chicago State	W 121-52	5-1	Assembly Hall (14,023) Champaign, IL
12/20/1993* no, no	No. 19	vs. Jackson State	W 79-63	6-1	Assembly Hall (11,997) Champaign, IL
12/22/1993* no, no	No. 19	vs. Missouri Braggin' Rights	L 107-108 ^3ot	6-2	St. Louis Arena (18,273) St. Louis, MO
1/2/1994* no, no	No. 22	vs. Texas	W 83-78	7-2	Assembly Hall (16,129) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/8/1994 no, no	No. 21	@ Michigan State	L 74-79	7-3 (0-1)	Breslin Student Events Center (12,118) East Lansing, MI
1/12/1994 no, no	No. NR	vs. Northwestern	W 81-53	8-3 (1-1)	Assembly Hall (14,229) Champaign, IL
1/15/1994 no, no	No. NR	@ Ohio State	W 83-75	9-3 (2-1)	St. John Arena (13,276) Columbus, OH
1/19/1994 no, no	No. NR	vs. Iowa Rivalry	W 105-90	10-3 (3-1)	Assembly Hall (16,011) Champaign, IL
1/23/1994 no, no	No. NR	vs. #15 Michigan	L 70-74	10-4 (3-2)	Assembly Hall (16,321) Champaign, IL
1/25/1994 no, no	No. NR	@ #16 Wisconsin	L 56-66	10-5 (3-3)	Wisconsin Field House (11,500) Madison, WI
1/30/1994 no, no	No. NR	vs. #11 Indiana Rivalry	W 88-81	11-5 (4-3)	Assembly Hall (16,321) Champaign, IL
2/2/1994 no, no	No. NR	@ Penn State	W 83-65	12-5 (5-3)	Rec Hall (7,103) University Park, PA
2/9/1994 no, no	No. 24	vs. Michigan State	W 72-64	13-5 (6-3)	Assembly Hall (14,676) Champaign, IL
2/12/1994 no, no	No. 24	@ Northwestern	L 68-79	13-6 (6-4)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL
2/15/1994 no, no	No. NR	vs. Ohio State	W 80-68	14-6 (7-4)	Assembly Hall (15,096) Champaign, IL
2/19/1994 no, no	No. NR	@ Iowa Rivalry	L 69-83	14-7 (7-5)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA
2/22/1994 no, no	No. NR	@ #3 Michigan	L 70-79	14-8 (7-6)	Crisler Arena (13,548) Ann Arbor, MI
2/27/1994 no, no	No. NR	vs. Wisconsin	W 76-65	15-8 (8-6)	Assembly Hall (16,321) Champaign, IL
3/1/1994 no, no	No. NR	@ #17 Indiana Rivalry	L 77-82	15-9 (8-7)	Assembly Hall (17,066) Bloomington, IN
3/5/1994 no, no	No. NR	vs. Penn State	W 84-59	16-9 (9-7)	Assembly Hall (16,321) Champaign, IL
3/9/1994 no, no	No. NR	@ #20 Minnesota	W 90-75	17-9 (10-7)	Williams Arena (15,267) Minneapolis, MN
3/13/1994 no, no	No. NR	@ #6 Purdue	L 77-87	17-10 (10-8)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
NCAA tournament^[3]
3/18/1994* no, no	No. 18	vs. Georgetown first round	L 77-84	17-11	Myriad Gardens (13,336) Oklahoma City, OK
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	2 pt. Field Goals	3 pt. Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Deon Thomas^[4]	28	206	1	133	194	43	37	23	548
Kiwane Garris^[5]	28	104	29	151	98	107	1	33	446
T.J. Wheeler^[6]	26	69	30	61	119	97	3	22	289
Shelly Clark^[7]	26	97	0	54	166	33	6	15	248
Jerry Hester^[8]	28	66	21	32	111	43	6	19	227
Richard Keene^[9]	28	33	48	14	97	113	4	30	224
Robert Bennett^[10]	28	49	0	43	103	10	6	16	141
Tom Michael^[11]	26	11	30	11	45	21	4	4	123
Chris Gandy	19	23	1	15	36	5	8	3	64
Steve Roth	16	10	0	5	25	2	4	3	25
Gene Cross	15	1	2	5	3	5	0	2	13

Awards and honors

• Deon Thomas
  • Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American
  • Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
  • Team Most Valuable Player ^[12]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick
Deon Thomas	Dallas Mavericks	2	1

^[13]

Rankings

Main article: 1993–94 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

1. FightingIllini.com
2. University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1993-94 2014-02-21 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
3. 1994 NCAA Tournament
4. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
5. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
6. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
7. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
8. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
9. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
10. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
11. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
12. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
13. 1994 NBA draft 2012-02-09 at the Wayback Machine