1944–45 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1944–45 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	13–7 (7–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Douglas R. Mills (9th season)
Assistant coaches	Howie Braun (8th season) Wally Roettger (10th season)
MVP	Walton Kirk
Captain	Selected each game
Home arena	Huff Hall
Seasons← 1943–44 1945–46 →

1944–45 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Iowa	11	–	1	.917	17	–	1	.944
Ohio State	10	–	2	.833	15	–	5	.750
Illinois	7	–	5	.583	13	–	7	.650
Purdue	6	–	6	.500	9	–	11	.450
Michigan	5	–	7	.417	12	–	7	.632
Wisconsin	4	–	8	.333	10	–	11	.476
Minnesota	4	–	8	.333	8	–	13	.381
Northwestern	4	–	8	.333	7	–	12	.368
Indiana	3	–	9	.250	10	–	11	.476
Chicago	0	–	0	–	7	–	8	.467

The 1944–45 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

After the second worst season in Doug Mills tenure as the head coach of the Fighting Illini, the ongoing war created even more havoc with the 1944–45 season. The Illini were required to play games close to home which meant they played certain teams multiple times. For example, the team played Great Lakes three times, Chanute Field, in nearby Rantoul, Illinois, two times and George Mikan and the DePaul Blue Demons two times as well. As the season progressed, Mills experimented with several lineups, including a 19 player barrage versus Nebraska. These varied lineups allowed Mills to play an impressive freshman, Johnny Orr, playing his only season for Illinois prior to rejoining his high school coach, Dolph Stanley, at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin.

The Big Ten Conference season was unusual as well. The Illini dropped their opening game to Michigan followed by a seven-game winning streak then concluding with four consecutive losses. The heaviest load fell on the hands of sophomores Walt Kirk and Howard Judson with freshman Walt Kersulis, Jack Burmaster, and Orr also being major contributors. Kirk would be named a Consensus All-American for his performance during the season.

The team completed their season with an overall record of 13 wins and 7 losses with a conference mark of 7 and 5 for a third-place finish. They finished with a 7 - 3 record at home and a road record of 5 - 4. The starting lineup consisted of Walton Kirk, Howard Judson, Johnny Orr, Jack Burmaster, Don Delaney and Walt Kersulis.

Roster

1944–45 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
	3	Carl Bontemps	—	—	Fr	Taylorville, Illinois
C	7	Maurice Dolan	—	—	Jr	Champaign, Illinois
F	8	William Eddleman	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	—	Jr	Anna, Illinois
G	9	Jim Seyler	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	—	Jr	Champaign, Illinois
F/C	11	Johnny Orr	—	—	Fr	Taylorville, Illinois
G	12	Leo Gedvilas	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	—	So	Spring Valley, Illinois
C	14	John Larson	—	—	Jr	Sioux City, Iowa
G	15	Roger Little	—	—	Fr	Champaign, Illinois
F	18	Paul Schnackenberg	—	—	Fr	Chicago, Illinois
C	19	Walt Kersulis	—	—	Fr	East St. Louis, Illinois
F	20	Walter Mroz	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	—	Fr	Chicago, Illinois
F	21	Jake Staab	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	—	Jr	Chillicothe, Missouri
G	22	Lee Stickler	—	—	So	Alton, Illinois
F	23	Joe Sulenski	—	—	Fr	Chicago, Illinois
G	24	Vic Bubas	—	—	Fr	Gary, Indiana
G	25	Walt Kirk	—	—	Jr	Mt. Vernon, Illinois
F	26	Howard Judson	—	—	So	Hebron, Illinois
G	28	Gordon Hortin	—	—	Sr	Evansville, Indiana
C	31	Don Delaney	—	—	Jr	Sacramento, California
F	34	Bob Morton	—	—	So	Elgin, Illinois
G	38	Jack Burmaster	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	—	Fr	Elgin, Illinois

Head coach

Douglas Mills (University of Illinois) (9th year)

Assistant coach(es)

Wally Roettger (University of Illinois) (10th year)
Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (8th 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
12/2/1944* no, no	Chanute Field	W 64–25	1–0	Huff Hall (3,500) Champaign, IL
12/8/1944* no, no	at Great Lakes	W 44–40	2–0	Chicago Stadium (9,845) Chicago, IL
12/9/1944* no, no	at Great Lakes	W 56–53	3–0	Great Lakes Gymnasium (2,400) Great Lakes, IL
12/16/1944* no, no	at DePaul	W 43–40	4–0	DePaul Auditorium (-) Chicago, IL
12/20/1944* no, no	Great Lakes	L 45–52	4–1	Huff Hall (4,000) Champaign, IL
12/29/1944* no, no	Nebraska	W 77–39	5–1	Huff Hall (2,500) Champaign, IL
1/1/1945* no, no	DePaul	L 56–63	5–2	Huff Hall (4,158) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/6/1945 no, no	Michigan	L 38–43	5–3 (0–1)	Huff Hall (4,200) Champaign, IL
1/13/1945 no, no	at Michigan	W 55–37	6–3 (1–1)	Yost Field House (4,000) Ann Arbor, MI
1/19/1945 no, no	Northwestern Rivalry	W 51–42	7–3 (2–1)	Huff Hall (4,210) Champaign, IL
1/26/1945 no, no	Iowa Rivalry	W 43–42	8–3 (3–1)	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
2/6/1945* no, no	at Chanute Field	W 58–46	9–3	Chanute Field (-) Rantoul, IL
2/10/1945 no, no	at Minnesota	W 50–32	10-3 (4–1)	Williams Arena (4,520) Minneapolis, MN
2/12/1945 no, no	Indiana Rivalry	W 71–48	11–3 (5–1)	Huff Hall (4,620) Champaign, IL
2/16/1945 no, no	Ohio State	W 56-41	12–3 (6–1)	Huff Hall (7,100) Champaign, IL
2/19/1945 no, no	Minnesota	W 49–48	13–3 (7–1)	Huff Hall (4,657) Champaign, IL
2/23/1945 no, no	at Ohio State	L 44–60	13–4 (7–2)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (-) Columbus, OH
2/24/1945 no, no	at Northwestern Rivalry	L 45–47	13–5 (7–3)	Chicago Stadium (15,862) Chicago, IL
2/28/1945 no, no	at Indiana Rivalry	L 55–65	13–6 (7–4)	The Fieldhouse (3,500) Bloomington, IN
3/3/1945 no, no	at Iowa Rivalry	L 37–43	13–7 (7–5)	Iowa Field House (14,400) Iowa City, IA
*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
Walt Kirk	20	78	56	212
Howard Judson	20	73	24	170
Jack Burmaster	16	64	24	152
John Orr	20	51	18	120
Walt Kersulis	19	37	16	90
Don Delaney	19	30	23	83
Jimmy Seyler	20	29	16	74
Jake Staab	19	14	22	50
Robert Morton	14	17	7	41
Leo Gedvilas	12	11	3	25
Paul Schnackenberg	7	6	3	15
Joe Sulenski	3	2	0	4
Carl Bontemps	2	2	0	4
Vic Bubas	6	1	0	2
Jack Larson	1	1	0	2
Wallie Mroz	4	0	0	0
Gordon Hortin	5	0	0	0
William Eddleman	2	0	0	0
Maurice Dolan	1	0	0	0

Awards and honors

Johnny Orr
- Big Ten Coach of the Year (1974) Michigan
- National Coach of the Year (1976) Michigan
Walt Kirk
- Consensus First-Team All-American (1945)
- Helms First-Team All-American (1945)
- Argosy Magazine Second-Team All-American (1945)
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1945)
- Team Most Valuable Player

References

University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1943–44 pg.81, FightingIllini.com
"Season Stats". Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. 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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