The 1943–44 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season March 1, 1943, changed the future of Fighting Illini men's basketball when the team was broken up due to all five starters from back-to-back Big Ten Conference championships heading to active duty in the armed forces. The group who left, known as the Whiz Kids, consisted of 21-year-old All-America forward Andy Phillip and 20-year-olds Ken Menke, Gene Vance, Jack Smiley and Art Mathisen. Phillip went on to become a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Four of the five, minus Mathisen, returned to Illinois and tried to recapture the glory for one more season in 1946–47 after the war ended, but the chemistry had changed as well as their talent. Illinois went 14–6.

The 1943–44 season, however, was a struggle for head coach Doug Mills, as it was the second worst season of his career. The overall record was 11 wins and 9 losses with a conference mark of 5 and 7. The team finished with a 6–4 record at home and a .500 record on the road at 5–5. The Illini returned only one player from the 1942–43 season, Gordon Horton, who wasn't even a starter, which meant the entire lineup was made up of rookie/unproven players. The starting lineup consisted of Walton Kirk, Howard Judson, Ray DeMoulin, Bob Morton, Don Delaney and Gordon Gillespie.

Roster

Schedule

!colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season

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!colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"|Big Ten regular season

SourceUniversity of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1943–44 pg.81, FightingIllini.com

Player stats Player Games played Field goals Free throws PointsStan Patrick209746240Walt Kirk208455223Howard Judson 207412160Gordon Gillespie 20202655Jimmy Seyler20181349Dick Foley 620848Don Delaney 1118642Jake Staab 12141240Robert Morton 1613329Ray DeMoulin 1211123Gordon Hortin114210Kermit Knetsch 6419Lou Possehl7328Jack Larson 6215Donald Sudkamp3204Bob White 4113Leo Gedvilas1102Lee Stickler 2000Raymond Fregan1000Maurice Dolan1000Carl Bontemps 1000

Awards and honors Walt Kirk Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1944) Stan Patrick Team Most Valuable Player

References