1934–35 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1934–35 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1934–35 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Big Ten Conference champion
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	15–5 (9-3 Big Ten)
Head coach	J. Craig Ruby (13th season)
Captain	Frank Froschauer
Home arena	Huff Hall
Seasons ← 1933–34 1935–36 →

1934–35 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Purdue	9	–	3		.750			17	–	3		.850
Illinois	9	–	3		.750			15	–	5		.750
Wisconsin	9	–	3		.750			15	–	5		.750
Indiana	8	–	4		.667			14	–	6		.700
Ohio State	8	–	4		.667			13	–	6		.684
Iowa	6	–	6		.500			10	–	9		.526
Minnesota	5	–	7		.417			11	–	9		.550
Northwestern	3	–	9		.250			10	–	10		.500
Michigan	2	–	10		.167			8	–	12		.400
Chicago	1	–	11		.083			2	–	18		.100

Regular season

The 1934-35 season brought the fourth conference title at the University of Illinois as well as the second title in Craig Ruby's tenure. Ruby had previously won a title in his second season, 1923-24. A new star on the playing floor emerged during the 1934-35 season with the addition of Harry Combes to the roster. Combes, a three-year letterwinner, starred for the Illini from 1935–37 and later returned to his alma mater as head coach of the Illini in 1948. Combes helped lead Illinois to both its Big Ten titles in the 1930s. Along with future head coach Combes the Illini only returned 6 lettermen from a team that had finished in fourth place in the Big Ten the year before. Even though the Fighting Illini lost twice to Indiana, they improved in conference play by finishing with a record of 9 wins and 3 losses. The team finished the season with an overall record of 15 wins 5 losses with one of the losses coming as the result of playing two games on December 10, 1934. The starting lineup included captain Frank Froschauer and Roy Guttschow at forward, Harry Combes, Jack Benyon and Wilbur Henry at guard, with Lewis Dehner at the center position.^[1]

Roster

"1934-35 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

1934–35 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G 3 Jack Beynon — — Sr Rockford, Illinois F 4 Roy Guttschow — — Sr Bloomington, Illinois G 5 Grant Mickelson — — So G 6 Wilbur Henry — — So North Hollywood, California C 7 Lewis Dehner — — So Lincoln, Illinois F 8 Frank Froschauer (C) — — Sr Harvey, Illinois C 10 Harold Swanson — — So Chicago Heights, Illinois F 11 Coke Mills — — Jr Galesburg, Illinois G 12 Harry Combes — — So Champaign, Illinois G 13 Lester Lindberg — — Jr Lockport, Illinois C 14 Robert Riegel — — So Tolono, Illinois F 15 Byron Blout — — So Salinas, California G 16 Howard Braun — — Jr Champaign, Illinois F 18 Harold Benham — — Jr Downers Grove, Illinois G 19 Paul W. Gibbs — — Jr Los Angeles, California G 24 James Vopicka — — So Berwyn, Illinois F 29 Martin Markworth — — Jr Cleveland, Ohio	Head coach Craig Ruby (University of Missouri) (13th year) Assistant coach(es) 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
12/10/1934* no, no	DePaul	L 26–29	0-1	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
12/10/1934* no, no	Bradley	W 55–25	1-1	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
12/14/1934* no, no	Wabash College	W 30–27	2-1	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
12/21/1934* no, no	at Washington (St. Louis)	W 35–18	3-1	Francis Gymnasium (3,000) St. Louis, MO
12/22/1934* no, no	at St. Louis	W 33–22	4-1	Kiel Auditorium (4,000) St. Louis, MO
12/29/1934* no, no	at Butler	L 24–39	4-2	Hinkle Fieldhouse (5,000) Indianapolis, IN
1/1/1935* no, no	at Wabash College	W 35–28	5-2	Chadwick Court (-) Crawfordsville, IN
Big Ten regular season
1/5/1935 no, no	Indiana Rivalry	L 21–36	5-3 (0-1)	Huff Hall (5,000) Champaign, IL
1/7/1935 no, no	Purdue	W 37–36	6-3 (1-1)	Huff Hall (8,000) Champaign, IL
1/12/1935 no, no	at Ohio State	W 44–23	7-3 (2-1)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (5,500) Columbus, OH
1/14/1935 no, no	at Indiana Rivalry	L 29–42	7-4 (2-2)	IU Fieldhouse (5,000) Bloomington, IN
1/19/1935 no, no	Michigan	W 34–22	8-4 (3-2)	Huff Hall (7,000) Champaign, IL
2/5/1935* no, no	Notre Dame	W 27–26	9-4	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
2/9/1935 no, no	at University of Chicago	W 43–36	10-4 (4-2)	Henry Crown Field House (2,500) Chicago, IL
2/16/1935 no, no	at Purdue	L 27–35	10-5 (4-3)	Jefferson High School (5,000) West Lafayette, IN
2/18/1935 no, no	Ohio State	W 43–36	11-5 (5-3)	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
2/23/1935 no, no	at Minnesota	W 38–34	12-5 (6-3)	Williams Arena (7,500) Minneapolis, MN
2/25/1935 no, no	University of Chicago	W 39–29	13-5 (7-3)	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
3/2/1935 no, no	Minnesota	W 38–34	14-5 (8-3)	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, IL
1/19/1935 no, no	at Michigan	W 36–22	15-5 (9-3)	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]

Awards and honors

References

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 1934-35 pg.79, FightingIllini.com