1982–83 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1982–83 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1982–83 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Illini Classic, Champion
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, First Round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	21–11 (11–7 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson;
Assistant coaches	Tony Yates; Dick Nagy; Bob Hull;
MVP	Derek Harper
Captains	Kevin Bontemps; Derek Harper; Bryan Leonard;
Home arena	Assembly Hall
	Seasons ← 1981–82 1983–84 →

1982–83 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 5 Indiana	13	–	5	.722	24	–	6	.800
Purdue	11	–	7	.611	21	–	9	.700
Ohio State	11	–	7	.611	20	–	10	.667
Illinois	11	–	7	.611	21	–	11	.656
Iowa	10	–	8	.556	21	–	10	.677
Minnesota	9	–	9	.500	18	–	11	.621
Michigan State	9	–	9	.500	17	–	13	.567
Northwestern	7	–	11	.389	17	–	13	.567
Michigan	6	–	12	.333	15	–	13	.536
Wisconsin	3	–	15	.167	8	–	20	.286

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1982–83 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illiniois.

Regular season[edit]

One of Illinois’ best groups arrived on campus for the 1982-83 season. Guards Bruce Douglas and Doug Altenberger, and forwards Scott Meents and Efrem Winters joined sophomores George Montgomery and Anthony Welch to form the nucleus for a team that would win 95 games during the next four seasons. During this season, the Fighting Illini became the nation’s 25th team to cap the 1,000-win mark with a 72-70 victory over Texas A&M in the Great Alaska Shootout. Later that year, Derek Harper was selected First-Team All-Big Ten, falling one vote shy of being a unanimous pick, before leaving school early for the NBA draft. He was a first round selection of the Dallas Mavericks.

Roster[edit]

1982–83 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	11	Mike O'Brien	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Jr	Richwoods High School	Peoria, Illinois
G	12	Derek Harper (C)	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	North Shore High School	West Palm Beach, Florida
G	20	Kevin Bontemps (C)	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Morton High School	Morton, Illinois
G	21	Quinn Richardson	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	RS Sr	Eisenhower High School	Robbins, Illinois
G	22	Doug Altenberger	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Richwoods High School	Peoria, Illinois
F	23	George Montgomery	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	So	Corliss High School	Chicago, Illinois
F	24	Efrem Winters	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Fr	King High School	Chicago, Illinois
G	25	Bruce Douglas	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Fr	Quincy Senior High School	Quincy, Illinois
F/C	30	Scott Meents	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Fr	Herscher High School	Kankakee, Illinois
F	31	Don Klusendorf	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Lyons Township High School	Western Springs, Illinois
F	32	Jay Daniels	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	John I. Leonard High School	West Palm Beach, Florida
F	34	Dee Maras	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	So	Antioch Community High School	Antioch, Illinois
G	35	Reggie Woodward	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Fr	King High School	Chicago, Illinois
F	43	Bryan Leonard (C)	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	RS Sr	Belleville High School-East	Belleville, Illinois
F	44	Anthony Welch	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	So	Creston High School	Grand Rapids, Michigan

Head coach

Lou Henson (New Mexico State University) (8th year)

Assistant coach(es)

Tony Yates (University of Cincinnati) (9th year)
Dick Nagy (Hardin-Simmons University) (4th year)
Bob Hull (3rd year)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

All-Time Illini Roster

Source^[1] ^[2]

Schedule and Results[edit]

Source^[3]

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/26/1982* no, no	Vanderbilt Great Alaska Shootout	L 47-58	0-1	Buckner Fieldhouse (3,500) Anchorage, AK
11/27/1982* no, no	Texas A&M Great Alaska Shootout	W 72-70	1-1	Buckner Fieldhouse (3,500) Anchorage, AK
11/28/1982* no, no	Florida Great Alaska Shootout	W 68-55	2-1	Buckner Fieldhouse (2,500) Anchorage, AK
12/2/1982* no, no	Valparaiso	W 94-59	3-1	Assembly Hall (11,184) Champaign, IL
12/4/1982* no, no	Western Michigan	W 75-59	4-1	Assembly Hall (12,874) Champaign, IL
12/19/1982* no, no	@ Kansas State	W 59-55	5-1	Ahearn Field House (11,220) Manhattan, KS
12/11/1982* no, no	@ #2 Kentucky	L 57-76	5-2	Rupp Arena (23,872) Lexington, KY
12/13/1982* no, no	Vanderbilt	W 79-77 ^2ot	6-2	Assembly Hall (10,341) Champaign
12/17/1982* no, no	Southern Illinois Illini Classic	W 79-61	7-2	Assembly Hall (10,119) Champaign
12/18/1982* no, no	Illinois State Illini Classic	W 67-60	8-2	Assembly Hall (14,328) Champaign, IL
12/23/1982* no, no	@ Oklahoma	L 75-101	8-3	Lloyd Noble Center (8,713) Norman, OK
12/31/1982* no, no	Loyola (Chicago)	W 73-72	9-3	Assembly Hall (10,152) Champaign, IL
1/3/1982* no, no	Iowa State	W 74-57	10-3	Rosemont Horizon (7,628) Rosemont, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/6/1983 no, no	@ Minnesota	L 49-75	10-4 (0-1)	Williams Arena (15,543) Minneapolis, MN
1/8/1983 no, no	@ Wisconsin	W 61-54	11-4 (1-1)	Wisconsin Field House (7,401) Madison, WI
1/13/1983 no, no	#4 Indiana Rivalry	L 55-69	11-5 (1-2)	Assembly Hall (14,827) Champaign, IL
1/5/1983 no, no	#20 Ohio State	W 63-55	12-5 (2-2)	Assembly Hall (13,015) Champaign, IL
1/19/1983 no, no	@ Purdue	L 62-63	12-6 (2-3)	Mackey Arena (13,502) West Lafayette, IN
1/27/1983 no, no	@ Michigan State	W 78-71	13-6 (3-3)	Jenison Fieldhouse (7,018) East Lansing, MI
1/29/1983 no, no	@ Michigan	W 87-74	14-6 (4-3)	Crisler Arena (12,876) Ann Arbor, MI
2/3/1983 no, no	#13 Iowa Rivalry	W 62-61	15-6 (5-3)	Assembly Hall (15,181) Champaign, IL
2/5/1983 no, no	Northwestern	W 78-62	16-6 (6-3)	Assembly Hall (14,684) Champaign, IL
2/10/1983 no, no	@ Northwestern	L 55-58	16-7 (6-4)	Alumni Hall (5,223) Chicago, IL
2/12/1983 no, no	@ #20 Iowa Rivalry	L 66-68	16-8 (6-5)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,450) Iowa City, IA
2/17/1983 no, no	Michigan	W 91-71	17-8 (7-5)	Assembly Hall (12,716) Champaign, IL
2/19/1983 no, no	Michigan State	W 69-61	18-8 (8-5)	Assembly Hall (14,123) Champaign, IL
2/23/1983 no, no	Purdue	L 54-56	18-9 (8-6)	Assembly Hall (13,507) Champaign, IL
2/27/1983 no, no	@ #14 Ohio State	W 74-73	19-9 (9-6)	St. John Arena (11,979) Columbus, OH
3/5/1983 no, no	@ #11 Indiana Rivalry	L 55-67	19-10 (9-7)	Assembly Hall (17,328) Bloomington, IN
3/10/1983 no, no	Wisconsin	W 71-64	20-10 (10-7)	Assembly Hall (12,947) Champaign, IL
3/13/1983 no, no	Minnesota	W 70-67 ^2ot	21-10 (11-7)	Assembly Hall (15,386) Champaign, IL
NCAA Tournament
3/17/1983* no, no	Utah First Round	L 49-52	21-11	BSU Pavilion (11,200) Boise, ID^[4]
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats[edit]

Player	Games Played	Minutes Played	2 pt. Field Goals	3 pt. Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Derek Harper^[5]	32	1182	185	13	83	112	118	18	72	792
Efrem Winters^[6]	31	977	159	0	67	213	20	31	14	385
Anthony Welch^[7]	32	1085	158	0	61	201	44	15	17	377
Bruce Douglas^[8]	32	1016	117	1	64	87	189	5	78	301
George Montgomery^[9]	32	643	72	0	40	146	22	7	15	184
Bryan Leonard^[10]	30	495	51	0	20	104	22	9	10	122
Doug Altenberger	31	428	29	1	35	40	23	0	15	96
Scott Meents	29	237	34	0	13	35	27	14	6	81
Jay Daniels	18	250	28	0	15	29	11	2	9	71
Kevin Bontemps	27	138	8	0	14	20	27	0	1	30
Reggie Woodward	14	29	5	1	3	5	4	0	2	16
Don Klusendorf	13	21	2	0	5	6	0	0	0	9
Dee Maras	12	24	2	0	0	9	1	0	1	4

Awards and honors[edit]

Derek Harper
- Associated Press 2nd team All-American
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[11]
Bruce Douglas
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)

Team players drafted into the NBA[edit]

Player	NBA Club	Round	Pick
Derek Harper	Dallas Mavericks	1	11

^[12]

Rankings[edit]

References[edit]

^ Men's Basketball Roster
^ All-Time Illini Rosters Archived 2010-04-22 at the Wayback Machine
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1982-83 Archived 2014-01-11 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
^ 1983 NCAA Tournament
^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
^ "Season Stats". Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
^ 1983 NBA Draft Archived 2010-03-18 at the Wayback Machine

[1] Men's Basketball Roster

[2] All-Time Illini Rosters Archived 2010-04-22 at the Wayback Machine

[3] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1982-83 Archived 2014-01-11 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com

[4] 1983 NCAA Tournament

[5] "Season Stats". Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.

[6] "Season Stats". Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.

[7] "Season Stats". Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.

[8] "Season Stats". Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.

[9] "Season Stats". Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.

[10] "Season Stats". Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.

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

[12] 1983 NBA Draft Archived 2010-03-18 at the Wayback Machine

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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	List of 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