1918–19 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1918–19 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1918–19 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	6–8 (5–7 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ralph Jones (7th season);
Captain	Burt Ingwersen
Home arena	Kenney Gym

1918–19 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Minnesota	10	–	0	1.000	13	–	0	1.000
Chicago	10	–	2	.833	21	–	6	.778
Northwestern	6	–	4	.600	6	–	6	.500
Michigan	5	–	5	.500	18	–	6	.750
	5	–	7	.417	6	–	8	.429
Indiana	4	–	6	.400	10	–	7	.588
Iowa	4	–	7	.364	8	–	7	.533
Purdue	4	–	7	.364	6	–	8	.429
Wisconsin	3	–	9	.250	5	–	11	.313
Ohio State	2	–	6	.250	7	–	12	.368

The 1918–19 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1918–19 season for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team, was the lowest point for head coach Ralph Jones during his tenure at the University of Illinois. Jones experienced his only losing season as a Big Ten coach, as a matter of fact, this was the only losing season he would have in career spanning nearly 35 years. Jones, who coached the Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team for three seasons prior to coming to Illinois, had never lost more than 6 games during any conference campaign.^[1] The record the Illini would possess at the conclusion of the 1918–19 season would overall be 6 wins, 8 losses with a 6 win 6 loss conference mark. The starting lineup included captain Burt Ingwersen, Benjamin Mittleman and Ralph Fletcher at the forward positions, K.L. Wilson at center, and W.K. Kopp and P.C. Taylor as guards.^[2]

Roster

1918–19 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	Ralph Fletcher	—	—	So	Champaign, Illinois
F	Burt Ingwersen (C)	—	—	Jr	Urbana, Illinois
C	John S. Probst	—	—	Jr	East Aurora, Illinois
C	Paul C. Taylor	—	—	Jr	New Orleans, Louisiana
C	Kenneth L. Wilson	—	—	Jr	Wilmette, Illinois
G	William K. Kopp	—	—	So	Beverly Farms, Massachusetts
F	Benjamin F. Mittleman	—	—	Sr	East Farmingdale, New York
G	George Buchheit	—	—	So	Beardstown, Illinois
F	Daniel Willard Smith	—	—	Fr	Bellflower, Illinois
F	Thomas Johnson	—	—	So	Homer, Illinois

Head coach

Ralph Jones (Indianapolis YMCA Training School) (7th year)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Source^[3]

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
1/3/1919*	Great Lakes	L 26–28	0-1	Kenney Gym (467) Urbana, IL
1/10/1919*	Millikin University	W 37–17	1-1	Kenney Gym (577) Urbana, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/18/1919	Purdue	L 13–16	1-2 (0-1)	Kenney Gym (1,519) Urbana, IL
1/20/1919	Ohio State	W 25–20	2-2 (1-1)	Kenney Gym (1,462) Urbana, IL
1/25/1919	at Wisconsin	W 25–15	3-2 (2-1)	University of Wisconsin Armory and Gymnasium (-) Madison, WI
1/27/1919	at Minnesota	L 17–36	3-3 (2-2)	University of Minnesota Armory (-) Minneapolis, MN
2/1/1919	at Michigan	W 27–23	4-3 (3-2)	Waterman Gymnasium (-) Ann Arbor, MI
2/8/1919	at University of Chicago	L 12–17	4-4 (3-3)	Bartlett Gymnasium (-) Chicago, IL
2/15/1919	Wisconsin	W 16–14	5-4 (4-3)	Kenney Gym (1,774) Urbana, IL
2/21/1919	at Purdue	W 25–18	6-4 (5-3)	Memorial Gymnasium (-) West Lafayette, IN
2/24/1919	at Ohio State	L 15–32	6-5 (5-4)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (-) Columbus, OH
3/1/1919	University of Chicago	L 15–17	6-6 (5-5)	Kenney Gym (2,126) Urbana, IL
3/3/1919	Minnesota	L 9–26	6-7 (5-6)	Kenney Gym (1,485) Urbana, IL
3/10/1919	Michigan	L 18–22	6-8 (5-7)	Kenney Gym (1,329) Urbana, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Kenneth Wilson^[4]	14	28	53	109
Paul Taylor^[5]	12	24	6	54
Ralph Fletcher^[6]	12	23	2	48
Bert Ingwersen^[7]	13	10	0	20
Benjamin Mittleman^[8]	13	8	1	17
D.W. Smith^[9]	7	6	1	13

Awards and honors

References

^ A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.17 ISBN 1-58261-793-7
^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1918-19 Archived 2013-12-17 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[1] A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.17 ISBN 1-58261-793-7

[2] Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7

[3] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1918-19 Archived 2013-12-17 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com

[4] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[5] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[6] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[7] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[8] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[9] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

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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 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 2025–26
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics