1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	11–7 (7–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Frank Winters (1st season);
Captain	Charles Vail
Home arena	Kenney Gym
	Seasons ← 1919–20 1921–22 →

1920–21 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Michigan	8	–	4	.667	18	–	4	.818
Wisconsin	8	–	4	.667	13	–	4	.765
Purdue	8	–	4	.667	13	–	7	.650
Minnesota	7	–	5	.583	10	–	5	.667
Illinois	7	–	5	.583	11	–	7	.611
Indiana	6	–	5	.545	15	–	6	.714
Iowa	6	–	5	.545	9	–	9	.500
Chicago	6	–	6	.500	14	–	6	.700
Ohio State	2	–	10	.167	4	–	13	.235
Northwestern	1	–	11	.083	2	–	12	.143

The 1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1920–21 season began a new era for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team. New head coach Frank Winters was coming to the University of Illinois after five successful years as head coach of Rockford Central High School in Rockford, Illinois. During his tenure in Rockford, he guided his Rabs teams to three round of 16 finishes, one quarterfinals finish and one team finished its season as state champions. Winters inherited a team whose best player, Chuck Carney, severely injured his knee in the last football game. The team went on to an overall record of 11–7.^[1] The Big Ten record for the Illini, at the conclusion of the 1920–21 season was seven wins five losses and a tie for fourth place. The starting lineup included All-American Chuck Carney, Laurie Walquist and Norton Hellstrom at forward, Henry Reitsch at center, and Charles Vail, John Sabo and Walter Collins as guards.^[2]

Roster

1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	1	Chuck Carney	—	—	Jr	Evanston, Illinois
G	2	Walter Collins	—	—	Jr	Rockford, Illinois
G	3	John Sabo	—	—	Jr	Toledo, Ohio
C	4	Henry Reitsch	—	—	So	Rockford, Illinois
C	5	Leland "Slim" Stillwell	—	—	Fr	Olney, Illinois
G	6	Otto Vogel	—	—	So	Iowa City, Iowa
F	7	Roland H. Popken	—	—	Fr	Oak Park, Illinois
F	8	Norton Hellstrom	—	—	So	Ft. Pierce, Florida
F	9	Glenn E. Potter	—	—	Fr	Yuba City, California
G	10	Hubert Tabor	—	—	Jr	Sullivan, Illinois
F	11	Charles Milton White	—	—	So	Chicago, Illinois
F	12	Harry Clay Neville	—	—	So	Pinckneyville, Illinois
G	13	John Wilbur Hansen	—	—	So	Brookston, Indiana
F	14	Cecil Reynolds Danielson	—	—	So	Rockford, Illinois
G	15	Charles W. Vail (C)	—	—	Jr	Chicago, Illinois
G	16	Lawrence Walquist	—	—	Jr	Chicago, Illinois
F	17	Julian Mee	—	—	Sr	Chicago, Illinois

Head coach

Frank Winters (Springfield (MA)) (1st 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
12/8/1920* no, no	Millikin University	L 24–29	0-1	Kenney Gym (2,994) Urbana, IL
12/20/1920* no, no	at Illinois Normal	W 32–21	1-1	John W. Cook Hall (-) Normal, IL
1/1/1921* no, no	Nebraska	L 25–30	1-2	Kenney Gym (441) Urbana, IL
1/3/1921* no, no	Nebraska	W 26–24	2-2	Kenney Gym (3,044) Urbana, IL
1/10/1921* no, no	Illinois Normal	W 42–17	3-2	Kenney Gym (2,759) Urbana, IL
1/14/1921* no, no	at Millikin University	W 26–20	4-2	Millikin Gymnasium (-) Decatur, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/18/1921 no, no	University of Chicago	W 33–29	5-2 (1-0)	Kenney Gym (4,233) Urbana, IL
1/22/1921 no, no	at Wisconsin	L 18–23	5-3 (1-1)	University of Wisconsin Armory and Gymnasium (-) Madison, WI
1/24/1921 no, no	at Minnesota	W 23–22	6-3 (2-1)	University of Minnesota Armory (-) Minneapolis, MN
2/5/1921 no, no	at Purdue	W 39–26	7-3 (3-1)	Memorial Gymnasium (-) West Lafayette, IN
2/7/1921 no, no	Ohio State	W 46–11	8-3 (4-1)	Kenney Gym (4,272) Urbana, IL
2/12/1921 no, no	Minnesota	W 24–20	9-3 (5-1)	Kenney Gym (4,272) Urbana, IL
2/19/1921 no, no	Wisconsin	W 17–9	10-3 (6-1)	Kenney Gym (4,283) Urbana, IL
2/22/1921 no, no	Purdue	L 19–29	10-4 (6-2)	Kenney Gym (4,283) Urbana, IL
2/26/1921 no, no	at Michigan	L 18–24	10-5 (6-3)	Waterman Gymnasium (-) Ann Arbor, MI
2/28/1921 no, no	at Ohio State	W 35–32	11-5 (7-3)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (-) Columbus, OH
3/5/1921 no, no	at University of Chicago	W 35–32	11-6 (7-4)	Bartlett Gymnasium (3,260) Chicago, IL
3/7/1921 no, no	at Michigan	L 26–28	11-7 (7-5)	Kenney Gym (4,294) 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
Henry Reitsch^[4]	18	55	0	110
Charles Vail^[5]	18	22	59	103
Julian Mee^[6]	15	24	26	74
Laurie Walquist^[7]	18	36	1	73
Norton Hellstrom^[8]	13	25	4	54
Charles Carney^[9]	8	19	0	38
Walter Collins^[10]	14	12	0	24
John Sabo^[11]	14	6	0	12

Awards and honors

Chuck Carney was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004. Carney was also selected as the Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year for his play during the 1921–22 season.

References

^ A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.18 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 1920-21 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)
^ "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.18 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 1920-21 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)

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

[11] "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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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

1920–21 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Regular season

Roster

Schedule

Player stats

Awards and honors

References

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