1914–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1914–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Helms Foundation National Champions Premo-Porretta National Champions Big Ten Conference Champions
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1914–15 record	16–0 (12–0 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ralph Jones
Captain	Sven Duner
Home arena	Kenney Gym

1914–15 Western Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Illinois	12	–	0	1.000	16	–	0	1.000
Chicago	9	–	3	.750	20	–	5	.800
Wisconsin	8	–	4	.667	13	–	4	.765
Minnesota	6	–	6	.500	11	–	6	.647
Northwestern	5	–	5	.500	11	–	8	.579
Purdue	4	–	8	.333	5	–	8	.385
Ohio State	3	–	9	.250	7	–	10	.412
Iowa	2	–	6	.250	9	–	8	.529
Indiana	1	–	9	.100	4	–	9	.308

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1914–15 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

Coached by Ralph Jones, the 1914–15 Fighting Illini men's basketball team became the first undefeated Big Ten champion in the history of the school as well as the fourth Big Ten National Champion.^[1] That 1915 season was the third in the eight-year tenure of head coach Ralph Jones and it produced the only unbeaten season in Illini history and the first Big Ten title for the Illinois basketball program. The Illinois team was retroactively named national champions by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.^[2] Jones’ 1915 team scored twice as many points as its opponents and won the conference title by three games over Chicago. The arrival of the Woods brothers in 1914 had a lot to do with the success of this era. Guard Ray Woods was named first-team All-America all three years he competed (1915–17), and twin brother Ralf, a forward, led the team in scoring in both 1916 and 1917. His consistency at the free throw line led to the establishment of the Ralf Woods Award, which is still given annually to the Fighting Illini player with the best free-throw percentage. The starting lineup included Frank Bane at center, Clyde Alwood and Edward Allan Williford at the forward postitons, captain Sven Duner at guard and brothers Ralf Woods and Ray Woods. Ray Woods was named an All-American during this season.^[3]

Roster

"1914-15 Fighting Illini championship team photo"

Player	Position	Class	Hometown
Sven Duner	Left Guard, Right Guard	Senior	Downers Grove, Illinois
Helmuth Kircher	Right Forward, Left Forward	Senior	Kalamazoo, Michigan
Edward Williford	Left Forward, Center	Senior	Binghamton, New York
Ray Woods	Right Guard	Sophomore	Oak Park, Illinois
Ralf Woods	Right Guard	Sophomore	Oak Park, Illinois
Frank Bane	Center	Senior	Pontiac, Illinois
Dudley Crane	Left Guard, Right Guard	Junior	Columbus, Ohio
Clyde Alwood	Right Forward	Sophomore	Clinton, Illinois
Robert William Hoffman	Right Guard, Left Guard	Senior	Detroit, Michigan
Daniel Franklin Comstock	Left Guard, Forward, Center	Senior	Evanston, Illinois
Walter Boynton Erwin	Left Forward	Senior	Chicago, Illinois
John E. Davis	Left Forward, Left Guard	Freshman	Chicago, Illinois
Milton Owen Jensen	Right Forward	Senior	Kansas City, Missouri
Raymond Adam McDermott	Reserve	Sophomore	Batavia, Illinois

Head Coach: Ralph Jones (3rd year at Illinois)

^[4]

Schedule

Source^[5]

Date Time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site City, State

12/8/1914* no, no	vs Arkansas A.C.	W 52–6	1-0 (0-0)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
12/12/1914* no, no	vs Illinois Wesleyan	W 50–9	2-0 (0-0)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
12/18/1914* no, no	vs Millikin University	W 19–16	3-0 (0-0)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
1/2/1915* no, no	@ Peoria YMCA	W 27–14	4-0 (0-0)	Peoria YMCA Peoria, IL
1/11/1915 no, no	vs Indiana	W 34–13	5-0 (1-0)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
1/16/1915 no, no	vs Purdue	W 27–8	6-0 (2-0)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
1/23/1915 no, no	vs Ohio State	W 24–17	7-0 (3-0)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
1/26/1915 no, no	@ Indiana	W 20–4	8-0 (4-0)	Old Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
2/8/1915 no, no	vs Wisconsin	W 39–19	9-0 (5-0)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
2/13/1915 no, no	@ Wisconsin	W 19–17	10-0 (6-0)	University of Wisconsin Armory and Gymnasium Madison, WI
2/15/1915 no, no	@ Minnesota	W 20–10	11-0 (7-0)	University of Minnesota Armory Minneapolis, MN
2/23/1915 no, no	vs University of Chicago	W 20–12	12-0 (8-0)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
2/27/1915 no, no	@ Purdue	W 22–15	13-0 (9-0)	Memorial Gymnasium West Lafayette, IN
3/1/1915 no, no	@ Ohio State	W 26–19	14-0 (10-0)	The Armory Columbus, OH
3/6/1915 no, no	@ University of Chicago	W 19–18	15-0 (11-0)	Bartlett Gymnasium Chicago, IL
3/8/1915 no, no	vs Minnesota	W 26-11	16-0 (12-0)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Edward Williford^[6]	12	31	56	118
Frank Bane^[7]	16	50	1	101
Ralf Woods^[8]	15	35	17	87
Ray Woods^[9]	16	29	0	58
Clyde Alwood^[10]	11	19	0	38
Sven Duner^[11]	16	8	0	16
Dudley Crane^[12]	5	6	0	12

Awards and honors

Ray Woods was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004. Woods was also selected as an All-American for the 1914–15 season.

References

↑ A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.20 ISBN 1-58261-793-7
↑ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 533. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
↑ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
↑ All-Time Illini Rosters
↑ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1914-15, FightingIllini.com
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html
↑ http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1914.html

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 Missouri

Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek

People	Head coaches NBA draftees Consensus All-Americans

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 1999–00 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

Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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