1935–36 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1935–36 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1935–36 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	13–6 (7–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	J. Craig Ruby (14th season);
Assistant coach	Wally Roettger (1st season)
Captain	Howard Braun
Home arena	Huff Hall
	Seasons ← 1934–35 1936–37 →

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1935–36 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Indiana	11	–	1	.917	18	–	2	.900
Purdue	11	–	1	.917	16	–	4	.800
Michigan	7	–	5	.583	15	–	5	.750
Illinois	7	–	5	.583	13	–	6	.684
Northwestern	7	–	5	.583	13	–	6	.684
Ohio State	5	–	7	.417	12	–	8	.600
Iowa	5	–	7	.417	9	–	10	.474
Wisconsin	4	–	8	.333	11	–	9	.550
Minnesota	3	–	9	.250	7	–	17	.292
Chicago	0	–	12	.000	6	–	14	.300

The 1935–36 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1935–36 season would turn out to be Craig Ruby's 14th and final year of coaching at the University of Illinois. It would also turn out to be Ruby's final head coaching job anywhere as he would leave to pursue a career with Hallmark Greeting Cards. Ruby's tenure at Illinois ranks 3rd behind Lou Henson (21 years) and Harry Combes (20 years). His 148 wins also ranks 5th behind Henson (423) Combes (316) and Bruce Weber (210) and Doug Mills (151). Along with future head coach Harry Combes, the Illini returned 10 lettermen from a team that had finished in first place in the Big Ten the year before. Unfortunately for the Illini, they lost 3 conference games at home and finished with a record of 7 wins and 5 losses. The team finished the season with an overall record of 13 wins 6 losses. The starting lineup included captain Howard Braun and Wilbur Henry at guard, Harry Combes, Harold Benham and James Vopicka at forward, with Robert Riegel at the center position.^[1]

Roster

1935–36 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	3	Duane Cullinan	—	—	Jr	Pekin, Illinois
C	4	Robert Riegel	—	—	Jr	Tolono, Illinois
G	5	Howard Braun (C)	—	—	Sr	Champaign, Illinois
G	6	Wilbur Henry	—	—	Jr	North Hollywood, California
G	7	James Vopicka	—	—	Jr	Berwyn, Illinois
F	8	Harold Benham	—	—	Sr	Downers Grove, Illinois
G	9	Lowell Spurgeon	—	—	So	Rockford, Illinois
F	10	Harold Swanson	—	—	Jr	Chicago Heights, Illinois
F	11	Byron Blout	—	—	Jr	Salinas, California
C	12	Martin Markworth	—	—	Sr	Cleveland, Ohio
G	13	Lester Lindberg	—	—	Sr	Lockport, Illinois
G	14	Russell Layer	—	—	So	Richmond Heights, Missouri
G	15	Paul W. Gibbs	—	—	Sr	Los Angeles, California
G	17	Harry Combes	—	—	Jr	Champaign, Illinois
G	18	Stanley Bergbom	—	—	So	Barrington, Illinois
F	19	William Bennis	—	—	So	Freeport, Illinois
F	20	William Gates	—	—	Sr	Rockford, Illinois
G	25	Harry Van Hook	—	—	So	Mt. Pulaski, Illinois
G	28	Edward Yeaton	—	—	So	Elkhorn, Wisconsin
F	29	Howard Gasaway	—	—	So	Liberal, Kansas

Head coach

Craig Ruby (University of Missouri) (14th year)

Assistant coach(es)

Wally Roettger (University of Illinois) (1st year)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/7/1935* no, no	St. Louis	W 35–27	1–0	Huff Hall (4,960) Champaign, IL
12/11/1935* no, no	Wabash	W 40–22	2–0	Huff Hall (4,804) Champaign, IL
12/17/1935* no, no	DePauw	W 47–14	3–0	Huff Hall (5,000) Champaign, IL
12/20/1935* no, no	at DePaul	W 26–24	4–0	Chicago Stadium (6,000) Chicago, IL
12/28/1935* no, no	at Knox College	W 48–31	5–0	Auxiliary Gymnasium (1,500) Galesburg, IL
12/30/1935* no, no	California	W 42–17	6–0	Huff Hall (3,000) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/4/1936 no, no	at Iowa Rivalry	L 26–27	6–1 (0–1)	Iowa Field House (–) Iowa City, IA
1/6/1936 no, no	at Minnesota	W 42–19	7–1 (1–1)	Williams Arena (–) Minneapolis, MN
1/11/1936 no, no	at Wisconsin	W 29–27	8–1 (2–1)	Wisconsin Field House (7,500) Madison, WI
1/13/1936 no, no	Ohio State	L 13–18	8–2 (2–2)	Huff Hall (5,500) Champaign, IL
1/18/1936 no, no	Northwestern Rivalry	L 28–40	8–3 (2–3)	Huff Hall (4,500) Champaign, IL
2/5/1936* no, no	at Notre Dame	L 23–33	8–4	Notre Dame Fieldhouse (–) Notre Dame, IN
2/10/1936 no, no	Iowa Rivalry	W 36–14	9–4 (3–3)	Huff Hall (4,000) Champaign, IL
2/15/1936 no, no	Wisconsin	W 36–20	10–4 (4–3)	Huff Hall (4,500) Champaign, IL
2/17/1936 no, no	at Northwestern Rivalry	W 39–38	11–4 (5–3)	Patten Gymnasium (–) Evanston, IL
2/22/1936 no, no	Minnesota	W 35–33	12–4 (6–3)	Huff Hall (4,500) Champaign, IL
2/24/1936 no, no	Michigan	L 37–42	12–5 (6–4)	Huff Hall (5,500) Champaign, IL
2/29/1936 no, no	at Ohio State	W 30–20	13–5 (7–4)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (5,500) Columbus, OH
3/2/1936 no, no	at Michigan	L 22–35	13–6 (7–5)	Yost Field House (–) Ann Arbor, MI
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Source^[2]

References

^ 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 1935–36 pg.79, FightingIllini.com

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

[2] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1935–36 pg.79, FightingIllini.com

[1]

[2]

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