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1988–89 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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1988–89 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Illini Classic, Champion
Rainbow Classic, Champion [1]
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 3
APNo. 3
Record31–5 (14–4 Big Ten)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
MVPNick Anderson
Captains
Home arenaAssembly Hall
Seasons
1988–89 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
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

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

Regular season

[edit]

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

[edit]
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
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) 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
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster

Schedule

[edit]

Source[3]

Date
time, TV 		Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/26/1988*
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 9 Illinois-Chicago W 85-59  1-0
 Assembly Hall (13,800)
Champaign, IL
11/29/1988*
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 7 Metro State W 86-55  2-0
 Assembly Hall (13,911)
Champaign, IL
12/3/1988*
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 7 Ole Miss W 91-79  3-0
 Assembly Hall (14,386)
Champaign, IL
12/6/1988*
8:30 p.m., ESPN 		No. 7 No. 19 Florida W 97-67  4-0
 Assembly Hall (15,020)
Champaign, IL
12/9/1988*
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 7 Duquesne
Illini Classic 		W 112-81  5-0
 Assembly Hall (14,532)
Champaign, IL
12/10/1988*
8 p.m., WCIA 		No. 7 Arkansas-Little Rock
Illini Classic 		W 107-88  6-0
 Assembly Hall (14,887)
Champaign, IL
12/17/1988*
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 6 Tennessee Tech W 105-77  7-0
 Assembly Hall (12,794)
Champaign, IL
12/19/1988*
8 p.m., WCIA 		No. 6 vs. No. 10 Missouri
Braggin' Rights 		W 87-84  8-0
 St. Louis Arena (18,561)
St. Louis, MO
12/22/1988*
7:30 p.m., WCIA 		No. 5 at Louisiana State W 127-100  9-0
 Pete Maravich Assembly Center (14,192)
Baton Rouge, LA
12/28/1988*
10 p.m., none 		No. 4 vs. Tulsa
Rainbow Classic 		W 85-58  10-0
 Neal S. Blaisdell Center (3,173)
Honolulu, HI
12/29/1988*
6 p.m., none 		No. 4 vs. No. 17 Georgia Tech
Rainbow Classic 		W 80-75  11-0
 Neal S. Blaisdell Center (5,775)
Honolulu, HI
12/31/1988*
12:15 a.m., none 		No. 4 at Hawaii
Rainbow Classic 		W 96-87  12-0
 Neal S. Blaisdell Center (6,379)
Honolulu, HI
Big Ten regular season
1/7/1989
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 3 Michigan State W 71-54  13-0
(1-0) 		Assembly Hall (16,497)
Champaign, IL
1/12/1989
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 2 Wisconsin W 103-80  14-0
(2-0) 		Assembly Hall (14,433)
Champaign, IL
1/14/1989
12 p.m., WCIA 		No. 2 No. 6 Michigan W 96-84  15-0
(3-0) 		Assembly Hall (14,499)
Champaign, IL
1/19/1989
9 p.m., ESPN 		No. 2 at Northwestern
Rivalry 		W 75-70  16-0
(4-0) 		McGaw Hall (8,117)
Evanston, IL
1/22/1989*
12 p.m., ABC 		No. 2 Georgia Tech W 103-92 2OT 17-0
 Assembly Hall (16,561)
Champaign, IL
1/26/1989
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 1 at Minnesota L 62-69  17-1
(4-1) 		Williams Arena (13,766)
Minneapolis, MN
1/28/1989
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 1 No. 16 Indiana
Rivalry 		W 75-65  18-1
(5-1) 		Assembly Hall (16,563)
Champaign, IL
2/2/1989
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 2 at Purdue L 72-76  18-2
(5-2) 		Mackey Arena (14,123)
West Lafayette, IN
2/5/1989
3 p.m., ABC 		No. 2 at No. 9 Iowa
Rivalry 		L 82-86  18-3
(5-3) 		Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500)
Iowa City, IA
2/9/1980
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 7 No. 16 Ohio State W 62-60  19-3
(6-3) 		Assembly Hall (16,439)
Champaign, IL
2/11/1989
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 7 Northwestern
Rivalry 		W 86-69  20-3
(7-3) 		Assembly Hall (16,471)
Champaign, IL
2/16/1989
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 5 at Michigan State W 75-56  21-3
(8-3) 		Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004)
East Lansing, MI
2/18/1989
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 5 at Wisconsin L 52-72  21-4
(8-4) 		Wisconsin Field House (11,886)
Madison, WI
2/20/1989
8:30 p.m., ESPN 		No. 5 Purdue W 102-75  22-4
(9-4) 		Assembly Hall (16,415)
Champaign, IL
2/26/1989
3 p.m., ABC 		No. 10 at Ohio State W 94-71  23-4
(10-4) 		St. John Arena (13,276)
Columbus, OH
3/2/1989
7 p.m., WCIA 		No. 8 Minnesota W 63-58  24-4
(11-4) 		Assembly Hall (16,455)
Champaign, IL
3/5/1989
3 p.m., ABC 		No. 8 at No. 3 Indiana
Rivalry 		W 70-67  25-4
(12-4) 		Assembly Hall (17,311)
Bloomington, IN
3/8/1989
9 p.m., ESPN 		No. 4 No. 15 Iowa
Rivalry 		W 118-94  26-4
(13-4) 		Assembly Hall (16,552)
Champaign, IL
3/11/1989
3 p.m., ABC 		No. 4 at No. 8 Michigan W 89-73  27-4
(14-4) 		Crisler Arena (13,609)
Ann Arbor, MI
NCAA tournament
3/16/1989*
6 p.m., CBS 		(1 MW) No. 3 vs. (16 MW) McNeese State
First Round 		W 77-71  28-4
 Hoosier Dome (37,242)
Indianapolis, IN
3/18/1989*
1:20 p.m., CBS 		(1 MW) No. 3 vs. (9 MW) No. 18 Ball State
Second Round 		W 72-60  29-4
 Hoosier Dome (37,444)
Indianapolis, IN
3/24/1989*
7 p.m., CBS 		(1 MW) No. 3 vs. (4 MW) No. 12 Louisville
Regional semifinals 		W 83-69  30-4
 Metrodome (33,560)
Minneapolis, MN
3/26/1989*
1 p.m., CBS 		(1 MW) No. 3 vs. (2 MW) No. 7 Syracuse
Regional Finals 		W 89-86  31-4
 Metrodome (33,469)
Minneapolis, MN
4/1/1989*
7 p.m., CBS 		(1 MW) No. 3 vs. (3 S) No. 10 Michigan
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

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

Awards and honors

[edit]

Team players drafted into the NBA

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

[12]

Rankings

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

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Rainbow Classic History". Archived from the original on March 18, 2005. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
  2. ^ Cotton, Anthony (April 2, 1989). "Michigan Survives Dogfight With Illini". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  3. ^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1988-89 Archived February 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
  4. ^ Season Stats[usurped]
  5. ^ Season Stats[usurped]
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "pg. 122 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved January 18, 2012.
  7. ^ Season Stats[usurped]
  8. ^ Season Stats[usurped]
  9. ^ Season Stats[usurped]
  10. ^ All-Time Illini Rosters Archived 2013-12-16 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  12. ^ 1989 NBA draft[usurped]
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