The 1988–89 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1988–89 team may have been the most talented team ever assembled at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. The team was so athletic that they could "run and

alley-oop In basketball, an alley-oop is an offensive play in which one player passes the ball near the basket to a teammate who jumps, catches the ball in mid-air and dunks or lays it in before touching the ground. The alley-oop combines elements of t ...

" baskets using even the non-starting players, and a record number of 100+ game scores reflected this fact. The players known as the ''“Flying Illini,”'' included all the important pieces from the 1987-88 squad ( Kenny Battle,

Kendall Gill Kendall Cedric Gill (born May 25, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who now works as a television basketball analyst. Throughout his NBA career he was known as “Cold World” for his ice cold demeanor on the court. Ear ...

, Steve Bardo, Lowell Hamilton, Nick Anderson and Larry Smith) as well as junior college All-American P.J. Bowman and former high school All-American Marcus Liberty. The

Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The university operates a number of athletic fac ...

won their first 16 games and were ranked No. 2 in the nation going into a nationally televised game against

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

, whom Illinois had already beaten, 80–75, at the Rainbow Classic in December. The Yellow Jackets led, 47–31, but Illinois managed to surge back to force overtime, eventually needing two extra periods to win the game. Along with the No. 1 ranking the next day came some bad news. Illinois’ catalyst, Gill, had broken a bone in his foot and would miss the next 12 games. Hurt by the loss of Gill, Illinois lost three of the next four games and its No. 1 ranking. The Illini rallied to finish second in the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

with a 14–4 record and with Gill back in the lineup, the Illini were awarded a No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA tournament. After rolling to victories over McNeese State and Ball State at the

Hoosier Dome The RCA Dome (originally Hoosier Dome) was a domed stadium in Indianapolis. It was the home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise for 24 seasons (1984–2007). It was completed at a cost of $77.5 million, as part of the Indiana Convention ...

, a powerpacked regional in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

with

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

and

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

, stood in the way of Illinois’ trip to the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

. Louisville fell victim to Illinois, losing 83–69, which set up a regional final matchup with Syracuse. The Fighting Illini held off Syracuse to advance to the Final Four in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

where Illinois faced

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, a team it had beaten twice already in conference play, in the national semifinals. Michigan was inspired by the firing of their coach prior to the tournament, and won a game that contained 33 lead changes. Despite Battle's 29-point, 11-rebound effort, Illinois fell to eventual national-champion Michigan, 83–81.

Roster

Schedule

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Player stats

*Head Coach

Lou Henson Louis Ray Henson (January 10, 1932 – July 25, 2020) was an American college basketball coach. He retired as the all-time leader in victories at the University of Illinois with 423 victories and New Mexico State with 289 victories. Overall, Hens ...

(14th year at Illinois)

Awards and honors

* Stephen Bardo ** Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year * Nick Anderson **Team Most Valuable Player ** NCAA Tournament Regional Most Outstanding Player ** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005) * Kenny Battle ** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005) *

** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1988-89 Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball Team

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the College athletics, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's Varsity team, varsity sports. The university op ...

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

1988 in sports in Illinois 1989 in sports in Illinois