The 1964–65 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.
Regular season Head coach Harry Combes Fighting Illini basketball team returned to their winning ways for the 1964–65 season. Even though they were not ranked in the pre-season top 20 of college basketball teams, they peaked at #6 during the course of the season in the Associated Press and finished the season ranked #16 in the coaches poll. During the course of the season, the Illini would play in two mid-season tournaments and participate 24 regular season games, the most since 1908 when they played in 26. The tournaments the Illini would participate in would be the ECAC Quaker City Tournament in Philadelphia and a return trip to the Kentucky Invitational Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky. The highlight of the season would happen in the season opener when the Illini would defeat the previous season's national champion UCLA Bruins by a score of 110–83. The 1965 Bruins would finish with a 28–2 record and their second national championship.
The 1964–65 team utilized several returning lettermen including the leading scorer, team "MVP" and captain, Skip Thoren. It also saw the return of team seniors Tal Brody, Bogie Redmon, Bill McKeown as well as Juniors Don Freeman, Jim Vopicka and Larry Hinton to their lineup. It also included sophomores Jim Dawson, Bob Johansen and future Dallas Cowboy, Preston Pearson. The Illini finished the season with a conference record of 10 wins and 4 losses, finishing in 3rd place in the Big Ten. They would finish with an overall record of 18 wins and 6 losses. The starting lineup included Skip Thoren at the center position, Tal Brody and Jim Dawson 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 1964-65 , FightingIllini.com
!colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season
!colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"|Big Ten regular season
Player stats Player Games played Field goals Free throws Rebounds PointsSkip Thoren 2421995349533Tal Brody 2418395108463Don Freeman 2417884226440Bogie Redmon 2415555192365Bill McKeown 941173999Jim Dawson 2238114187Jim Vopicka 2334196187Bob Johansen 1956223456Larry Hinton 1836141736Preston Pearson 171641816Deon Flessner 13451413Bob Brown 1326810Jerry Mettile 93288
Awards and honors Bogie Redmon Converse Honorable Mention All-American Tal Brody Helms 1st Team All-American Converse 2nd Team All-American Sporting News 2nd Team All-American Duane "Skip" Thoren Helms 1st Team All-American Converse 2nd Team All-American Associated Press 2nd Team All-American United Press 3rd Team All-American Basketball News 3rd Team All-American National Association of Basketball Coaches 3rd Team All-American Team Most Valuable Player
Team players drafted into the NBA Player NBA club Round PickTal BrodyBaltimore Bullets24Skip ThorenBaltimore Bullets44Bogie RedmonBaltimore Bullets102Roger TaylorBaltimore Bullets171
Rankings
References