1978–79 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1978–79 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1978–79 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Kentucky Invitational Tournament, Champion
Glacier Bowl Classic, Champion
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	19–11 (7–11 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson (4th season);
Assistant coaches	Tony Yates (5th season); Mark Bial (2nd season); Les Wothke (4th season);
MVP	Mark Smith
Captain	Larry Lubin
Home arena	Assembly Hall
	Seasons ← 1977–78 1979–80 →

1978–79 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 3 Michigan State	13	–	5	.722	26	–	6	.813
No. 15 Purdue	13	–	5	.722	27	–	8	.771
No. 20 Iowa	13	–	5	.722	20	–	8	.714
Ohio State	12	–	6	.667	19	–	12	.613
Indiana	10	–	8	.556	22	–	12	.647
Michigan	8	–	10	.444	15	–	12	.556
Illinois	7	–	11	.389	19	–	11	.633
Wisconsin	6	–	12	.333	12	–	15	.444
Minnesota	6	–	12	.333	11	–	16	.407
Northwestern	2	–	16	.111	6	–	21	.222

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978–79 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

In 1978-79 season, Illinois finished seventh in the Big Ten, but went 19-11 overall, including ascension to No. 2 in the national polls after starting the year 15-0. During this season, Illinois upset top-ranked Michigan State and Magic Johnson, 57-55, in one of the school’s most memorable games. It was during this season that Illinois also led the nation in field-goal percentage defense (.404).

Roster

1978–79 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	10	Reno Gray	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	RS Jr	Hales Franciscan High School	Chicago, Illinois
G	12	Kevin Westervelt	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Jr	Richwoods High School	Peoria, Illinois
C	13	James Griffin	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	Dunbar High School	Grandview, Texas
G	15	Cletis Hubbard	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Dunbar High School	Ft. Worth, Texas
G	20	Matt Meyer	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Sr	Foreman High School	Mantino, Illinois
G	21	Steve Lanter	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	RS Jr	Mascoutah Community High School	Belleville, Illinois
G	22	Perry Range	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	South Beloit High School	South Beloit, Illinois
G	23	Larry Lubin (C)	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Sr	New Trier High School	Glencoe, Illinois
G	30	Rob Judson	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Jr	Zion-Benton High School	Zion, Illinois
F	31	Neil Bresnahan	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jr	Fenwick High School	Oak Park, Illinois
F	32	Levi Cobb	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jr	Morgan Park High School	Chicago, Illinois
F	33	Eddie Johnson	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	So	Westinghouse High School	Chicago, Illinois
F	42	Mark Smith	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	So	Richwoods High School	Peoria, Illinois
F	43	Bryan Leonard	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Fr	Belleville High School-East	Belleville, Illinois
C	44	Derek Holcomb	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	So	Richwoods High School	Peoria, Illinois

Head coach

Lou Henson (New Mexico State University) (4th year)

Assistant coach(es)

Tony Yates (University of Cincinnati) (5th year)
Les Wothke (Greenville University) (4th year)
Mark Bial (University of Illinois) (2nd year)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Source^[1]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/24/1978* no, no		Texas-Arlington	W 109-74	1-0	Assembly Hall (9,097) Champaign, IL
11/28/1978* no, no		Denver	W 81-57	2-0	Assembly Hall (10,092) Champaign, IL
12/2/1978* no, no		at Tulane	W 65-60	3-0	Devlin Fieldhouse (3,542) New Orleans, LA
12/5/1978* no, no		at Missouri Show-Me Classic	W 69-57	4-0	Hearnes Center (6,002) Columbia, MO
12/8/1978* no, no		South Carolina	W 64-57	5-0	Assembly Hall (12,156) Champaign, IL
12/9/1978* no, no		Centenary	W 86-60	6-0	Assembly Hall (10,082) Champaign, IL
12/16/1978* no, no	No. 18	at Kent State	W 82-44	7-0	Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center (1,020) Kent, OH
12/22/1978* no, no	No. 15	vs. No. 8 Syracuse Kentucky Invitational Tournament	W 64-61	8-0	Rupp Arena (21,000) Lexington, KY
12/23/1978* no, no	No. 15	vs. No. 7 Texas A&M Kentucky Invitational Tournament	W 71-57	9-0	Rupp Arena (23,272) Lexington, KY
12/28/1978* no, no	No. 6	vs. Western Michigan Glacier Bowl Classic	W 84-79	10-0	Buckner Fieldhouse (-) Anchorage, AK
12/29/1978* no, no	No. 6	vs. Ozarks Glacier Bowl Classic	W 88-82	11-0	Buckner Fieldhouse (-) Anchorage, AK
12/30/1978* no, no	No. 6	at Alaska-Anchorage Glacier Bowl Classic	W 92-80	12-0	Buckner Fieldhouse (-) Anchorage, AK
Big Ten regular season
1/4/1979 no, no	No. 4	at Indiana Rivalry	W 65-61	13-0 (1-0)	Assembly Hall (16,104) Bloomington, IN
1/6/1979 no, no	No. 4	at Northwestern Rivalry	W 75-56	14-0 (2-0)	McGaw Memorial Hall (7,122) Evanston, IL
1/11/1979 no, no	No. 4	No. 1 Michigan State	W 57-55	15-0 (3-0)	Assembly Hall (16,209) Champaign, IL
1/13/1979 no, no	No. 4	Ohio State	L 66-69 ^OT	15-1 (3-1)	Assembly Hall (12,088) Champaign, IL
1/18/1979 no, no	No. 4	at Wisconsin	W 81-74	16-1 (4-1)	Wisconsin Field House (12,204) Madison, WI
1/20/1979 no, no	No. 4	Purdue	L 57-69	16-2 (4-2)	Assembly Hall (16,458) Champaign, IL
1/25/1979 no, no	No. 8	at Iowa Rivalry	L 52-58	16-3 (4-3)	Iowa Field House (13,355) Iowa City, IA
1/27/1979 no, no	No. 8	Michigan	L 54-56	16-4 (4-4)	Assembly Hall (16,473) Champaign, IL
2/1/1979 no, no	No. 14	Minnesota	W 67-57	17-4 (5-4)	Assembly Hall (14,383) Champaign, IL
2/3/1979 no, no	No. 14	at Michigan	L 65-74	17-5 (5-5)	Crisler Center (13,609) Ann Arbor, MI
2/8/1979 no, no	No. 20	at Purdue	L 65-71	17-6 (5-6)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
2/10/1979 no, no	No. 20	at Minnesota	W 59-57	18-6 (6-6)	Williams Arena (16,615) Minneapolis, MN
2/15/1979 no, no		Wisconsin	W 81-64	19-6 (7-6)	Assembly Hall (12,880) Champaign, IL
2/17/1979 no, no		No. 14 Iowa Rivalry	L 53-67	19-7 (7-7)	Assembly Hall (9,441) Champaign, IL
2/22/1979 no, no		at No. 14 Ohio State	L 55-73	19-8 (7-8)	St. John Arena (13,489) Columbus, OH
2/24/1979 no, no		at No. 7 Michigan State	L 62-76	19-9 (7-9)	Jenison Fieldhouse (10,004) East Lansing, MI
3/1/1979 no, no		Northwestern Rivalry	L 64-71	19-10 (7-10)	Assembly Hall (12,390) Champaign, IL
3/3/1979 no, no		Indiana Rivalry	L 60-72	19-11 (7-11)	Assembly Hall (16,503) Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Minutes Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Mark Smith^[2]	30	897	160	84	173	121	23	53	404
Eddie Johnson^[3]	30	786	168	26	170	52	4	18	362
Rob Judson^[4]	30	918	123	35	68	61	3	33	281
Neil Bresnahan^[5]	30	840	105	40	236	75	7	32	250
James Griffin^[6]	30	426	105	19	98	7	29	12	229
Derek Holcomb^[7]	29	818	90	34	190	49	86	17	214
Levi Cobb^[8]	30	504	68	24	122	29	4	19	160
Steve Lanter	27	473	35	16	38	52	1	15	72
Perry Range^[9]	24	180	21	14	25	12	0	8	56
Bryan Leonard	16	45	6	11	11	1	4	2	23
Larry Lubin	22	88	6	0	4	9	1	6	12
Kevin Westervelt	8	15	2	5	3	0	0	0	9
Cletis Hubbard	8	22	2	2	2	4	0	1	6
Matt Meyer	6	9	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Dave Schulter	2	5	0	0	1	1	0	0	0

Awards and honors

Eddie Johnson
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Mark Smith
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[10]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick

^[11]

Rankings

References

^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1978-79 Archived 2013-02-27 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
^ "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
^ "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
^ "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
^ "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
^ "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
^ "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
^ "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
^ "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
^ 1979 NBA Draft Archived 2011-05-20 at the Wayback Machine

[1] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1978-79 Archived 2013-02-27 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com

[2] "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.

[3] "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.

[4] "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.

[5] "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.

[6] "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.

[7] "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.

[8] "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.

[9] "pg. 119 Season Stats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.

[10] "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.

[11] 1979 NBA Draft Archived 2011-05-20 at the Wayback Machine

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)
Rivalries	Indiana Iowa Missouri Northwestern
Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics