1915–16 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1915–16 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	13–3 (9–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ralph Jones (4th season)
Captain	Ray Woods
Home arena	Kenney Gym

1915–16 Western Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Wisconsin	11	–	1		.917			20	–	1		.952
Illinois	9	–	3		.750			13	–	3		.813
Northwestern	9	–	3		.750			13	–	3		.813
Minnesota	6	–	6		.500			11	–	6		.647
Indiana	3	–	5		.375			6	–	7		.462
Chicago	4	–	8		.333			15	–	11		.577
Iowa	2	–	4		.333			11	–	4		.733
Ohio State	2	–	8		.200			9	–	13		.409
Purdue	2	–	10		.167			4	–	10		.286

The 1915–16 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1915–16 season was a follow-up to an undefeated season, in which the Fighting Illini men's basketball team won both a national and Big Ten Conference championship. Coached by Ralph Jones, the Illini continued their winning ways by finishing the season with an overall record of 13 wins and 3 losses and a 9 win 3 loss conference mark. Taking second in the Western Conference to the National Champion Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team. During the season, the Illini dropped two games to Northwestern and one to eventual champion Wisconsin, but the first loss to the Wildcats was the Illini's first-ever overtime game as Northwestern scored two points in the overtime period to beat Illinois, 23-21, February 12, 1916, at what is now the Kenney Gym Annex. The starting lineup included Gordon Otto, Dan W. Elwell and Ralf Woods rotating at the forward position, center C. G. Alwood, and guards Clarence Applegran and captain Ray Woods.[1] Woods was named an All-American for his work during this season.[2] Woods and Alwood were named All-Big Ten players for the season.

Roster

1915–16 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown F Clarence O. Applegran — — Fr Chicago, Illinois F Clyde Alwood — — Jr Clinton, Illinois G Ray Woods (C) — — Jr Oak Park, Illinois G Ralf Woods — — Jr Oak Park, Illinois F John B. Felmley — — So Bloomington, Illinois F Gordon Otto — — Jr Miami, Florida C Elmer T. Rundquist — — So San Antonio, Texas F Dan William Elwell — — Jr Champaign, Illinois G Vaughn Waldow Dean — — Jr Decatur, Illinois	Head coach Ralph Jones (Indianapolis YMCA Training School) (4th 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
12/13/1915* no, no	Millikin	W 36–16	1-0	Kenney Gym (1,892) Urbana, IL
12/17/1915* no, no	at Millikin University	W 34–19	2-0	Millikin Gymnasium (-) Decatur, IL
1/1/1916* no, no	at Illinois Wesleyan	W 25–18	3-0	Bloomington YMCA (-) Bloomington, IL
1/4/1916* no, no	Wabash College	W 24–16	4-0	Kenney Gym (-) Urbana, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/11/1916 no, no	Purdue	W 22–11	5-0 (1-0)	Kenney Gym (2,507) Urbana, IL
1/15/1916 no, no	Ohio State	W 21–10	6-0 (2-0)	Kenney Gym (2,497) Urbana, IL
1/22/1916 no, no	Wisconsin	W 27–20	7-0 (3-0)	Kenney Gym (3,383) Urbana, IL
2/9/1916 no, no	at University of Chicago	W 30–17	8-0 (4-0)	Bartlett Gymnasium (-) Chicago, IL
2/12/1916 no, no	Northwestern Rivalry	L 21–23 ^OT	8-1 (4-1)	Kenney Gym (3,147) Urbana, IL
2/19/1916 no, no	at Wisconsin	L 14–34	8-2 (4-2)	University of Wisconsin Armory and Gymnasium (-) Madison, WI
2/21/1916 no, no	at Minnesota	W 27–22	9-2 (5-2)	University of Minnesota Armory (-) Minneapolis, MN
2/26/1916 no, no	University of Chicago	W 31–13	10-2 (6-2)	Kenney Gym (3,218) Urbana, IL
2/29/1916 no, no	at Northwestern Rivalry	L 16–25	10-3 (6-3)	Patten Gymnasium (-) Evanston, IL
3/4/1916 no, no	at Purdue	W 29–19	11-3 (7-3)	Memorial Gymnasium (-) West Lafayette, IN
3/6/1916 no, no	at Ohio State	W 28–22	12-3 (8-3)	The Armory (-) Columbus, OH
3/13/1916 no, no	Minnesota	W 20–9	13-3 (9-3)	Kenney Gym (-) 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
Ralf Woods[4]	10	35	52	122
Gordon Otto[4]	15	25	40	90
Clyde Alwood[4]	15	45	0	90
Ray Woods[4]	16	26	0	52
John Felmley[4]	5	12	2	26
Dan Elwell[4]	10	6	1	12
Clarence Applegran[4]	16	3	0	6

Awards and honors

Ray Woods was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004. Woods was also selected as an All-American for the 1915–16 season.

References

1. A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.20 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 1915-16 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.