1955–56 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1955–56 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1955–56 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 10
Record	18–4 (11-3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harry Combes (9th season);
Assistant coach	Howie Braun (19th season)
MVP	Bruce Brothers
Captain	Paul Judson
Home arena	Huff Hall
	Seasons ← 1954–55 1956–57 →

1955–56 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 4 Iowa	13	–	1	.929	20	–	6	.769
No. 10 Illinois	11	–	3	.786	18	–	4	.818
Ohio State	9	–	5	.643	16	–	6	.727
Purdue	9	–	5	.643	16	–	6	.727
Michigan State	7	–	7	.500	13	–	9	.591
Indiana	6	–	8	.429	13	–	9	.591
Minnesota	6	–	8	.429	11	–	11	.500
Michigan	4	–	10	.286	9	–	13	.409
Wisconsin	4	–	10	.286	6	–	16	.273
Northwestern	1	–	13	.071	2	–	20	.091

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1955–56 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Harry Combes, for the ninth consecutive year at Illinois, directed a team that would finish no worse than third place in the Big Ten. His 164 wins and 44 losses overall with a 94 and 30 record in the conference gave Combes three "Final Four" finishes as well as three conference championships. Combes' team, recruited by assistant coach Howie Braun, was exclusively recruited from the state of Illinois.

The 1955-56 team had talented lettermen return including the leading scorers George Bon Salle and team "captain" Paul Judson. It also saw the return of Bruce Brothers, Bill Ridley, Bill Altenberger, Hiles Stout, and future Illini head coach, Harv Schmidt. The team also added future NBA all-star Don Ohl as a sophomore. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 11 wins and 3 losses, finishing in 2nd place in the Big Ten. Unfortunately the Illini would lose four total games with two of the four coming in the final three days of the season. The Illini's final Associated Press ranking placed them at "#7", however; they maintained a "#2" national ranking for the final month of the regular season. The starting lineup included George Bon Salle at the center position, Bill Ridley and Paul Judson at guard and Harv Schmidt, Bruce Brothers and Don Ohl at the forward slots.^[1]

Roster

1955–56 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F	8	Jim Chengary	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	So	Bowen High School	Chicago, Illinois
F	10	Hiles Stout	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Jr	Central High School	Peoria, Illinois
G	11	Bill Ridley	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	Sr	Taylorville High School	Taylorville, Illinois
G	20	Bill Altenberger	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	179 lb (81 kg)	Jr	Senior High School	East St. Louis, Illinois
C	22	George Bon Salle	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Jr	Loyola Academy	Chicago, Illinois
C	24	Ted Caiazza	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	So	Lyons Township High School	LaGrange, Illinois
G	30	Phil Judson	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Sr	Alden-Hebron High School	Hebron, Illinois
F	32	Bruce Brothers	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Sr	Quincy Senior High School	Quincy, Illinois
F	33	Harvard Schmidt	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Jr	Kankakee High School	Kankakee, Illinois
G	34	Paul Judson (C)	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	172 lb (78 kg)	Sr	Alden-Hebron High School	Hebron, Illinois
F	35	Larry Breyfogle	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	So	Lawrenceville High School	Lawrenceville, Illinois
G	43	John Paul	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	So	St. Edward High School	Elgin, Illinois
G	44	Don Ohl	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	So	Edwardsville High School	Edwardsville, Illinois

Head coach

Harry Combes (University of Illinois) (9th year)

Assistant coach(es)

Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (19th year)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state^[3]
Non-Conference regular season
12/6/1955*	No. 8	Butler	W 107–75	1-0	Huff Hall (4,535) Champaign, IL
12/10/1955*	No. 8	at Missouri Rivalry	L 73–74	1-1	Brewer Fieldhouse (5,800) Columbia, MO
12/13/1955*		at Notre Dame	W 103–93	2-1	Notre Dame Fieldhouse (4,300) Notre Dame, IN
12/17/1955*		Washington (St. Louis)	W 75–74	3-1	Huff Hall (4,444) Champaign, IL
12/19/1955*		DePaul	W 97–79	4-1	Huff Hall (4,747) Champaign, IL
12/23/1955*	No. 17	Oklahoma	W 82–58	5-1	Huff Hall (3,390) Champaign, IL
12/29/1955*	No. 9	Drake	W 102–66	6-1	Huff Hall (3,713) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/2/1956	No. 9	No. 16 Michigan State	W 73–65	7-1 (1-0)	Huff Hall (5,192) Champaign, IL
1/9/1956	No. 6	Wisconsin	W 96–77	8-1 (2-0)	Huff Hall (6,069) Champaign, IL
1/14/1956	No. 8	at No. 12 Indiana Rivalry	W 96–72	9-1 (3-0)	The Fieldhouse (10,056) Bloomington, IN
1/16/1956	No. 8	at Purdue	W 92–76	10-1 (4-0)	Lambert Fieldhouse (9,500) West Lafayette, IN
1/28/1956*	No. 5	at DePaul	W 80–66	11-1	Chicago Stadium (15,254) Chicago, IL
1/30/1956	No. 5	at Minnesota	W 95–84	12-1 (5-0)	Williams Arena (9,805) Minneapolis, MN
2/6/1956	No. 6	Indiana Rivalry	W 92–89	13-1 (6-0)	Huff Hall (6,912) Champaign, IL
2/11/1956	No. 6	Ohio State	W 111–64	14-1 (7-0)	Huff Hall (6,154) Champaign, IL
2/13/1956	No. 6	Michigan	W 89–66	15-1 (8-0))	Huff Hall (6,135) Champaign, IL
2/18/1956	No. 3	at Michigan State	W 96–76	16-1 (9-0)	Jenison Fieldhouse (9,094) East Lansing, MI
2/20/1956	No. 3	Purdue	W 102–77	17-1 (10-0)	Huff Hall (6,135) Champaign, IL
2/25/1956	No. 2	at Ohio State	L 84–87	17-2 (10-1)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (8,539) Columbus, OH
2/27/1956	No. 2	Minnesota	W 97–81	18-2 (11-1)	Huff Hall (5,765) Champaign, IL
3/3/1956	No. 2	at No. 10 Iowa Rivalry	L 72–96	18-3 (11-2)	Iowa Field House (15,200) Iowa City, IA
3/5/1956	No. 2	at Northwestern Rivalry	L 82–83	18-4 (11-3)	McGaw Memorial Hall (8,500) Evanston, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
George BonSalle	22	156	118	430
Paul Judson	22	160	84	404
Bill Ridley	21	109	104	322
Harv Schmidt	22	113	69	295
Bruce Brothers	22	51	58	160
Don Ohl	22	57	33	147
Hiles Stout	22	35	42	112
Bill Altenberger	18	19	15	53
Ted Caiazza	5	8	4	20
Phil Judson	6	7	4	18
Jim Chengary	9	7	0	14
Larry Breyfogle	9	5	1	11
John Paul	12	5	0	10

^[4]

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick
Paul Judson	Syracuse Nationals	2	13

^[6]

Rankings

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 1955-56, FightingIllini.com
^ Schedule
^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 19, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
^ 1956 NBA Draft^[usurped]

[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 1955-56, FightingIllini.com

[3] Schedule

[4] "Season Stats". Archived from the original on March 19, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.

[5] "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2013.

[6] 1956 NBA Draft^[usurped]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

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