The 1949–50 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season The 1949-50 season looked to have solid promise based on the fact that the team had 3 returning starters from a "Final Four" team a year earlier. Unfortunately for the Fighting Illini men's basketball team, the conference season proved to be more difficult than expected. With 5 of the team's 8 losses coming at the hands of conference competition, the Illini, not only placed in a third place tie in the Big Ten, they also missed out on the opportunity to play in a post-season tournament. Head coach Harry Combes had guided the team a year earlier to a Big Ten championship, a third place finish in the 1949 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and a final AP ranking of No. 4 in the nation. The 1949-50 team compiled an overall record of 14 wins and 8 losses with a conference record of 7 wins and 5 losses. The starting lineup included captain William Erickson, Roy Gatewood and Donald Sunderlage as forwards, Rodney Fletcher, and Burdette Thurlby at guard and Walter Osterkorn and Mack Follmer rotating at the center position.Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC

Roster

Schedule

SourceUniversity of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1949-50 , FightingIllini.com

!colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season

!colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"|Big Ten regular season

Rankings

Player stats Player Games played Field goals Free throws PointsWally Osterkorn 2212583333Bill Erickson 227873229Burdette Thurlby 215752166Don Sunderlage 225445153Rod Fletcher 193924102Roy Gatewood17381894Mack Follmer 22341381Van Anderson19251464Walt Kersulis 19231460Ted Beach19201353Cliff Fulton 177721Herb Gerecke 63511Seymour Gantman 7339Jim Cottrell 4124John Marks 1102Glen Trugillo2102Ron Alde 1000

Awards and honors Bill Erickson Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1950) Wally Osterkorn Team Most Valuable Player

Team players drafted into the NBA Round Pick Player NBA club 2 15 Wally OsterkornChicago Stags7 83 Bill EricksonTri-Cities Blackhawks

Rankings

References