1927–28 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1927–28 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1927–28 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	5–12 (2–10 Big Ten)
Head coach	J. Craig Ruby (6th season);
Assistant coach	Jack Lipe (4th season)
Captain	Everett Olson
Home arena	Huff Hall

1927–28 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Indiana	10	–	2	.833	15	–	2	.882
Purdue	10	–	2	.833	15	–	2	.882
Wisconsin	9	–	3	.750	13	–	4	.765
Northwestern	9	–	3	.750	12	–	5	.706
Michigan	7	–	5	.583	10	–	7	.588
Chicago	5	–	7	.417	8	–	9	.471
Iowa	3	–	9	.250	6	–	11	.353
Ohio State	3	–	9	.250	5	–	12	.294
	2	–	10	.167	5	–	12	.294
Minnesota	2	–	10	.167	4	–	12	.250

The 1927–28 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1927-28 season produced the only losing campaign in the 14 year tenure of head coach Craig Ruby at the University of Illinois. Having only one returning senior on a team predominantly consisting of Juniors, Ruby entered his sixth season as head coach of the Fighting Illini with an overall record of 50 wins and 33 losses. This season also produced the Ruby's only losing season in the Big Ten with a conference record of 2 wins and 10 losses. The starting lineup included captain Everett Olson at center, Ernest Dorn and Earl H. Drew at forward, and future head coach Douglas R. Mills, Keston J. Deimling and Andrew R. Solyom at guard.^[1]

Roster

1927–28 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
C	3	Forrest H. Lindsay	—	—	Jr	Tulsa, Oklahoma
F	4	Huber Hughes Edwards	—	—	Jr	Newton, Illinois
F	5	Ernest Dorn	—	—	Jr	Chicago, Illinois
G	6	Fremont G. Cann	—	—	Jr	Oregon, Illinois
G	7	Douglas R. Mills	—	—	So	Elgin, Illinois
C	8	Andrew R. Solyom	—	—	So	Hammond, Indiana
F	9	Omar C. Lee	—	—	Sr	Frankfort, Illinois
F	10	John D. How	—	—	Jr	Lakeville, Indiana
G	11	Earl H. Johnson	—	—	So	Batavia, Illinois
G	12	C. Donnelly Gamble	—	—	Jr	Champaign, Illinois
G	14	Keston J. Deimling	—	—	Jr	Stevens Point, Wisconsin
G	15	James W. Lewis	—	—	So	Waukegan, Illinois
G	16	Roy Greene	—	—	Jr	Renovo, Pennsylvania
G	17	Carl H. Bergeson	—	—	So	Batavia, Illinois
G	18	Raymond Eugene Fisher	—	—	So	Champaign, Illinois
G	19	Edwin J. Simionich	—	—	Jr	Joliet, Illinois
F	20	William Lincoln Julian	—	—	Jr	Grant Park, Illinois
F	21	Vance Cummins	—	—	Jr	Joliet, Illinois
G	22	Everette Olson (C)	—	—	Sr	Champaign, Illinois
C	23	Lee Hickox	—	—	So	Evanston, Illinois
G	24	Herbert Gustave Lind	—	—	Jr	Chicago, Illinois
F	25	William E. Short	—	—	So	Frontenac, Kansas
F	26	Herbert K. Smock	—	—	So	Moweaqua, Illinois
F	27	William Bunn	—	—	Sr	Byron, Illinois
F	28	Earl Drew	—	—	Jr	Champaign, Illinois
C	29	Rufus Glass	—	—	Jr	Kokomo, Indiana
G	R	Henry Thomas Winterbauer	—	—	Jr	Athens, Illinois
F	R	Richard Anthony Floberg	—	—	So	Rockford, Illinois
G	R	Harry Lambert Logan	—	—	Jr	Salem, Illinois
F	R	Darrell Ova Overpeck	—	—	So	Clinton, Indiana
G	R	John H. Pribble	—	—	So	Salem, Illinois
G	R	Ernest W. Schultz	—	—	Sr	Geneseo, Illinois
F	R	Roland Sanford Wachob	—	—	Jr	Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania

Head coach

Craig Ruby (University of Missouri) (6th year)

Assistant coach(es)

Jack Lipe (University of Illinois) (4th 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
12/10/1927*	Knox	W 22–18	1–0	New Gymnasium (6,007) Champaign, IL
12/17/1927*	Bradley	W 41–35	2–0	New Gymnasium (6,149) Champaign, IL
12/27/1927*	at Washington Pavilion dedication	L 23–34	2–1	UW Pavilion^[2] (7,500) Seattle, WA
12/29/1927*	at Washington	W 34–24	3–1	UW Pavilion Seattle, WA
12/30/1927*	at Washington	L 26–32	3–2	UW Pavilion Seattle, WA
Big Ten regular season
1/7/1928	Purdue	L 24–30	3-3 (0-1)	New Gymnasium (7,176) Champaign, IL
1/13/1928	at Iowa Rivalry	L 30–36	3-4 (0-2)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
1/16/1928	at Wisconsin	W 34–33	4-4 (1-2)	UW Armory and Gymnasium Madison, WI
1/21/1928	at Indiana Rivalry	L 29–44	4-5 (1-3)	Men's Gymnasium Bloomington, IN
2/8/1928	Northwestern Rivalry	W 32–20	5-5 (2-3)	New Gymnasium (6,675) Champaign, IL
2/14/1928	at Purdue	L 14–40	5-6 (2-4)	Memorial Gymnasium West Lafayette, IN
2/17/1928	at Chicago	L 26–52	5-7 (2-5)	Bartlett Gymnasium Chicago, IL
2/24/1928	Iowa Rivalry	L 27–41	5-8 (2-6)	New Gymnasium (5,359) Champaign, IL
3/1/1928	at Northwestern Rivalry	L 31–39	5-9 (2-7)	Patten Gymnasium Evanston, IL
3/3/1928	Chicago	L 18–19	5-10 (2-8)	New Gymnasium (5,457) Champaign, IL
3/6/1928	Indiana Rivalry	L 23–27	5-11 (2-9)	New Gymnasium (5,737) Champaign, IL
3/9/1928	Wisconsin	L 22–32	5-12 (2-10)	New Gymnasium (5,642) Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central time.

Source^[3]

References

^ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
^ "U. of W. wins from Illinois". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. December 28, 1927. p. 13.
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1927-28 Archived 2015-02-10 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com

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

[srheced-2] "U. of W. wins from Illinois". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. December 28, 1927. p. 13.

[3] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1927-28 Archived 2015-02-10 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com

[1]

[2]

[3]

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 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 2025–26
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics