The 1963–64 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.
Regular season The 1963-64 Fighting Illini basketball team, playing in their first full season in Assembly Hall, dropped back from its previous championship season with a losing finish in the Big Ten and a mediocre overall record. Head coach Harry Combes guided the Illini to a 10-3 record after the first 13 games of the season only to see the team reverse trends and go 3-8 the rest of the way. Once again the Illini played in a mid-season tournament, playing in the Los Angeles Basketball Classic. During the tournament the Illini would face eventual national champion, UCLA.
The 1963-64 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer and team "MVP" Skip Thoren. It also saw the return of team captain Bill Edwards, juniors Tal Brody, Bogie Redmon, Bill McKeown as well as sophomores Don Freeman, Jim Vopicka and Larry Hinton to their lineup. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 6 wins and 8 losses, finishing in a 6th place tie in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 13 wins and 11 losses. The starting lineup included Skip Thoren at the center position, Tal Brody and Jim Vopicka at guard and Don Freeman and Bogie Redmon at the forward slots.Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC
Roster
Schedule
SourceUniversity of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1963-64 , FightingIllini.com Schedule |- !colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season |- align="center" bgcolor=""
!colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"|Big Ten regular season
Player stats Player Games Played Field goals Free Throws Rebounds PointsSkip Thoren 24187114331488Tal Brody 241579197405Don Freeman 2413081231341Bogie Redmon 249737148231Jim Vopicka 24562462136Bill McKeown 15461734109Larry Hinton 2336185490Bill Edwards 2032242488Mel Blackwell 1714143342Bob Brown 161412740Larry Bauer 121162428John Love 16621714Jeff Ferguson 20404Dan Lee 10010Bob Meadows 10000
Awards and honors Tal Brody Converse Honorable Mention All-American Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American Duane "Skip" Thoren Converse Honorable Mention All-American Team Most Valuable Player
Team players drafted into the NBA Player NBA club Round PickNo Player Selected
Rankings
References