1942–43 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1942–43 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Premo-Porretta National Champion Big Ten champion
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	17–1 (12–0 Big Ten)
Head coach	Douglas R. Mills (7th season)
Assistant coaches	Howie Braun (6th season) Wally Roettger (8th season)
MVP	Andy Phillip
Captain	Arthur Mathisen
Home arena	Huff Hall
Seasons← 1941–42 1943–44 →

1942–43 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Illinois	12	–	0	1.000	17	–	1	.944
Indiana	11	–	2	.846	18	–	2	.900
Northwestern	7	–	5	.583	8	–	9	.471
Wisconsin	6	–	6	.500	12	–	9	.571
Purdue	6	–	6	.500	9	–	11	.450
Minnesota	5	–	7	.417	8	–	9	.471
Ohio State	5	–	7	.417	8	–	9	.471
Michigan	4	–	8	.333	10	–	8	.556
Iowa	3	–	9	.250	7	–	10	.412
Chicago	0	–	9	.000	0	–	21	.000

The 1942–43 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1942–43 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois. The Illinois Fighting Illini finished the season with a record of 17 wins and 1 loss. The season was cut short as three of the five starters headed off to active duty in the armed forces. Illinois won the Big Ten Conference Title and had finished the regular season as the nations' top ranked team. Paced by a group of players known as the Whiz Kids, the team consisted of 20-year-old All-America forward Andy Phillip and teenagers Ken Menke, Gene Vance, Jack Smiley and team captain Art Mathisen. These players were so dominant in the Big Ten, that only Northwestern's Otto Graham could crack the all-conference team.

The Army drafted Mathisen, Menke and Smiley. That left only Vance and Phillip, both good enough to be selected to Illinois' All-Century team. Head coach Doug Mills made a decision in February 1943 that all five always supported: the club did not participate in either the NCAA or NIT tournament. Wyoming's NCAA championship that season may not have happened had Illinois’ season not coincided with World War II. The team was retroactively named the national champion by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.

Four of the five, minus Mathisen, returned to Illinois and tried to recapture the glory for one more season in 1946–47 after the war ended, but the chemistry had changed as well as their talent. Illinois went 14–6.

The final living Whiz Kid, Gene Vance, died in 2012.

Roster

1942–43 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	3	Frank Bohac	—	—	So	Braidwood, Illinois
G	4	Bishop Barrick	—	—	Jr	Stillman Valley, Illinois
C	5	Raymond Bergeson	—	—	Jr	Bridgeton, New Jersey
G	6	Clifton Fulton	—	—	So	Pittsburg, Kansas
F	7	Raymond Grierson	—	—	So	Champaign, Illinois
F	8	Edwin Parker	—	—	Sr	Taft, California
G	9	Kenneth Parker	—	—	Sr	Granite City, Illinois
G	10	Gordon Hortin	—	—	So	Evansville, Indiana
G	11	John Kjellstrom	—	—	So	Hebron, Illinois
F	12	Ken Menke	—	—	Jr	Dundee, Illinois
C	13	Alton Shirley	—	—	So	Edmond, Oklahoma
F	14	Oliver Shoaff	—	—	So	Mt. Carmel, Illinois
G	15	Arthur Smiley	—	—	Jr	Waterman, Illinois
F	16	W.L. Miller	—	—	Fr	Chicago, Illinois
F	17	Herb Matter	—	—	Jr	Naperville, Illinois
C	19	Arthur Mathisen (C)	—	—	Sr	Dwight, Illinois
G	25	Ellis Vance	—	—	Jr	Clinton, Illinois
F	33	Charles Fowler	—	—	So	Watseka, Illinois
G/F	47	Andrew Phillip	—	—	Jr	Granite City, Illinois

Head coach

Douglas Mills (University of Illinois) (7th year)

Assistant coach(es)

Wally Roettger (University of Illinois) (8th year)
Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (6th year)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/7/1942* no, no	Detroit	W 38–25	1–0	Huff Hall (5,277) Champaign, IL
12/12/1942* no, no	Nebraska	W 69–27	2–0	Huff Hall (4,884) Champaign, IL
12/14/1942* no, no	Missouri Rivalry	W 51–30	3–0	Huff Hall (4,465) Champaign, IL
12/19/1942* no, no	at Great Lakes	W 57–53	4–0	Chicago Stadium (13,295) Chicago, IL
12/21/1942* no, no	at Camp Grant	L 31–41	4–1	Camp Grant Y.M.C.A. (2,200) Rockford, IL
1/2/1943* no, no	Stanford	W 38–26	5–1	Huff Hall (6,835) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/9/1943 no, no	Michigan	W 47–34	6–1 (1–0)	Huff Hall (7,188) Champaign, IL
1/11/1943 no, no	at Wisconsin	W 47–34	7–1 (2–0)	Wisconsin Field House (14,000) Madison, WI
1/16/1943 no, no	Iowa Rivalry	W 61–41	8–1 (3–0)	Huff Hall (7,004) Champaign, IL
1/18/1943 no, no	Iowa Rivalry	W 66–34	9–1 (4–0)	Huff Hall (6,684) Champaign, IL
2/1/1943 no, no	Northwestern Rivalry	W 68–51	10–1 (5–0)	Huff Hall (6,766) Champaign, IL
2/6/1942 no, no	at Ohio State	W 60–48	11-1 (6–0)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (3,300) Columbus, OH
2/8/1943 no, no	at Ohio State	W 50–44	12–1 (7–0)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (2,900) Columbus, OH
2/13/1943 no, no	at Minnesota	W 56–35	13–1 (8–0)	Williams Arena (6,800) Minneapolis, MN
2/15/1943 no, no	at Minnesota	W 55–29	14–1 (9–0)	Williams Arena (5,100) Minneapolis, MN
2/20/1943 no, no	Wisconsin	W 50–26	15–1 (10–0)	Huff Hall (7,102) Champaign, IL
2/27/1943 no, no	at Northwestern Rivalry	W 68–51	16–1 (11–0)	Chicago Stadium (19,880) Chicago, IL
3/1/1943 no, no	University of Chicago	W 92–25	17–1 (12–0)	Huff Hall (6,443) Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Source

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Andy Phillip	18	131	43	305
Arthur Mathisen	18	86	51	201
Ken Menke	17	70	43	183
Jack Smiley	17	59	17	135
Gene Vance	18	56	14	126
Edwin Parker	18	12	10	34
Oliver Shoaff	14	7	3	17
Kenneth Parker	14	7	2	16
Alton Shirley	14	3	0	6
Cliff Fulton	6	1	2	4
Herbert Matter	2	1	2	4
Charles Fowler	7	2	0	4
W.L. Miller	5	1	0	2
Gordon Hortin	6	1	0	2

Awards and honors

References

"1943 College Basketball Recap".
"My Losing Season: Wyoming @ Utah: Sailors, Ferrin, Mikan and the Great Santini". Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 565. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1942–43 pg.79, FightingIllini.com
"Season Stats". Archived from the original on June 25, 2013. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
"List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.

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

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