The 1988–89 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.
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. Despite Battle's 29-point, 11-rebound effort, Illinois fell to eventual national-champion Michigan, 83–81.
Roster
Schedule SourceUniversity of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1988-89 , FightingIllini.com
!colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season
!colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"|Big Ten regular season
!colspan=9 style="text-align: center; background:#DF4E38"|NCAA tournament
Player stats PlayerGames PlayedMinutes Played2 pt. Field Goals3 pt. Field GoalsFree ThrowsReboundsAssistsBlocksStealsPointsNick Anderson3611252382499285723257647Kenny Battle3611052099151174641389596Lowell Hamilton 36943219050204243121488Kendall Gill2468110538467091651370Marcus Liberty 36748114657141421038303Stephen Bardo361000652976144148834293Larry Smith 366956334073157528175P.J. Bowman 29284622928261787Ervin Small 363922602776501077Andy Kaufmann 12136115142081551Mike MacDonald 23607011010115Brian O'Connell 4510230004Eddie Manzke 182500120001 Head Coach Lou Henson (14th year at Illinois) All-Time Illini Rosters
Awards and honors Stephen Bardo Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Nick Anderson Team Most Valuable Player 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 PlayerNBA ClubRoundPickKendall GillCharlotte Hornets15Nick AndersonOrlando Magic1 11Kenny BattleDetroit Pistons2 27
Rankings
References