1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	9–9 (4-8 Big Ten)
Head coach	Douglas Mills (2nd season);
Assistant coaches	Howie Braun (1st season); Wally Roettger (3rd season);
Captain	Lou Boudreau
Home arena	Huff Hall
	Seasons ← 1936–37 1938–39 →

1937–38 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Purdue	10	–	2	.833	18	–	2	.900
Minnesota	9	–	3	.750	16	–	4	.800
Ohio State	7	–	5	.583	12	–	8	.600
Northwestern	7	–	5	.583	10	–	10	.500
Michigan	6	–	6	.500	12	–	8	.600
Iowa	6	–	6	.500	11	–	9	.550
Wisconsin	5	–	7	.417	10	–	10	.500
Illinois	4	–	8	.333	9	–	9	.500
Indiana	4	–	8	.333	10	–	10	.500
Chicago	2	–	10	.167	6	–	12	.333

The 1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1937-38 season for second year head coach Doug Mills took a major step backward after finishing in a first place tie a year earlier. Mills' Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team dropped to a tie for eighth place in the Big Ten during his sophomore season. This team featured future major league baseball hall of fame shortstop and manager, Lou Boudreau. Even though they returned 6 letterman, the Illini finished the season with a conference record of 4 wins and 8 losses (the worst of Mills' career at Illinois). The team finished the season with an overall record of 9 wins 9 losses. Along with team captain Boudreau, the Illini also featured a starting lineup of Lewis Dehner at the center position, Joe Frank and William Hapac at forward and George Wardley, Tom Nisbit and Colin Handlon at guard.^[1]

Roster

1937–38 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	3	Colin Handlon	—	—	So	Connersville, Indiana
F	6	Harry Lasater Jr.	—	—	So	Fairfield, Illinois
C	8	Lewis Dehner	—	—	Jr	Lincoln, Illinois
G	10	Carlos Davies	—	—	So	Streator, Illinois
F	11	Charles Phillips	—	—	So	Ridgway, Illinois
G	15	George Wardley	—	—	Jr	Gary, Indiana
F	17	Joe Frank	—	—	So	Urbana, Illinois
G	18	Tom Nisbet	—	—	Jr	Chicago, Illinois
F	19	William Hapac	—	—	So	Cicero, Illinois
F	21	Lou Boudreau (C)	—	—	Jr	Harvey, Illinois
F	22	William Bennis	—	—	Sr	Freeport, Illinois
G	28	Jack Hodges	—	—	Jr	Rock Island, Illinois
G	27	Orval Spurlin	—	—	So	Kinmundy, Illinois
F	33	Thomas Bouzeos	—	—	So	Chicago, Illinois
F	55	Carter Cooley	—	—	Jr	Chicago, Illinois

Head coach

Douglas Mills (University of Illinois) (2nd year)

Assistant coach(es)

Wally Roettger (University of Illinois) (3rd year)
Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (1st year)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/7/1937*	Carroll	W 48–25	1–0	Huff Hall (6,500) Champaign, IL
12/11/1937*	at Augustana	W 43–27	2–0	Old Main Gymnasium (5,000) Rock Island, IL
12/15/1937*	Washington (St. Louis)	W 40–36	3–0	Huff Hall (6,800) Champaign, IL
12/18/1937*	at St. John's	W 60–45	4–0	Madison Square Garden (17,000) New York, NY
12/20/1937*	at Temple	L 38–51	4–1	Municipal Auditorium (4,000) Philadelphia, PA
12/28/1937*	Notre Dame	W 33–32	5–1	Huff Hall (8,500) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/4/1938	at Indiana Rivalry	L 46–51	5–2 (0–1)	IU Fieldhouse (6,000) Bloomington, IN
1/8/1938	at Michigan	L 37–45	5–3 (0–2)	Yost Field House (-) Ann Arbor, MI
1/10/1938	Purdue	W 51–43	6–3 (1–2)	Huff Hall (7,100) Champaign, IL
1/15/1938	University of Chicago	W 50–34	7–3 (2–2)	Huff Hall (7,100) Champaign, IL
1/17/1938	Minnesota	L 29–41	7–4 (2–3)	Huff Hall (7,100) Champaign, IL
1/22/1938	at Ohio State	L 26–46	7–5 (2–4)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (7,500) Columbus, OH
2/7/1938	at Purdue	L 13–23	7–6 (2–5)	Lambert Fieldhouse (5,000) West Lafayette, IN
2/12/1938	at Minnesota	L 23–28	7–7 (2–6)	Williams Arena (6,800) Minneapolis, MN
2/19/1938	Ohio State	W 42–34	8–7 (3–6)	Huff Hall (7,000) Champaign, IL
2/21/1938	at University of Chicago	L 39–43	8–8 (3–7)	Henry Crown Field House (5,000) Chicago, IL
2/28/1938	Michigan	W 36–32	9–8 (4–7)	Huff Hall (7,000) Champaign, IL
3/4/1938	Indiana Rivalry	L 35–45	9–9 (4–8)	Huff Hall (7,000) Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Source^[2]

Awards and honors

References

^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1937–38 pg.79, FightingIllini.com

[1] Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7

[2] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1937–38 pg.79, FightingIllini.com

[1]

[2]

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)
Rivalries	Indiana Iowa Missouri Northwestern
Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics