1991–92 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1991–92 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
1991–92 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	13–15 (7–11 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Henson;
Assistant coaches	Dick Nagy; Jimmy Collins; Mark Coomes;
MVP	Deon Thomas
Captains	Tom Michael; Deon Thomas;
Home arena	Assembly Hall
	Seasons ← 1990–91 1992–93 →

1991–92 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 3 Ohio State	15	–	3	.833	26	–	6	.813
No. 5 Indiana	14	–	4	.778	27	–	7	.794
No. 15 Michigan	11	–	7	.611	24	–	9	.727
No. 14 Michigan State	11	–	7	.611	22	–	8	.733
Iowa	10	–	8	.556	19	–	11	.633
Purdue	8	–	10	.444	18	–	15	.545
Minnesota	8	–	10	.444	16	–	16	.500
Illinois	7	–	11	.389	13	–	15	.464
Wisconsin	4	–	14	.222	13	–	18	.419
Northwestern	2	–	16	.111	9	–	19	.321

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1991–92 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season[edit]

Illinois’ consecutive 20-win season streak was snapped in 1992 when the Illini posted its first losing record in 14 years, going 13-15. Despite their losing record, the Illini outscored their opponents by over 100 points during the season (1,954 - 1,843). To emphasize how close the Illini were to a successful season, of the eleven Big Ten conference games that they lost, eight were by nine points or less, of which four games were lost by three points or fewer. Based on the allegations of recruiting violations from Iowa assistant coach Bruce Pearl, the most satisfying win during the conference season took place on February 23, 1992, when the Illini would defeat the Hawkeyes in an overtime thriller at Assembly Hall.

Roster[edit]

1991–92 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F	3	Tim Geers	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jr	De La Salle High School	Chicago, Illinois
G	4	Brooks Taylor	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	De La Salle High School	Chicago, Illinois
G	10	Will Tuttle	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Fr	Lincoln-Way Central High School	Mokena, Illinois
G	11	Rennie Clemons	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	Calvary Academy	Springfield, Illinois
G	13	Doug Clarida	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Sr	Marion High School	Marion, Illinois
G	14	Matt Williams	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Fr	Libertyville High School	Libertyville, Illinois
F	21	Scott Pierce	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	So	Trinity High School	Euless, Texas
F	23	Mike Duis	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	RS Jr	Crescent-Iroquois High School	Crescent City, Illinois
F/C	25	Deon Thomas (C)	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	222 lb (101 kg)	RS So	Simeon High School	Chicago, Illinois
F	30	Robert Bennett	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Fr	Julian High School	Chicago, Illinois
F	32	Tom Michael (C)	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	RS So	Carlyle High School	Hoffman, Illinois
F	33	Marc Davidson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Fr	Aurora Christian High School	Minooka, Illinois
F	34	Andy Kaufmann (I)	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	RS Sr	Jacksonville High School	Jacksonville, Illinois
G	42	Gene Cross	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	Rich Central High School	Olympia Fields, Illinois
G	44	T.J. Wheeler	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	So	Christopher High School	Buckner, Illinois
F	50	Matt Schnaderbeck	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Maine West High School	Des Plaines, Illinois
C	52	Steve Roth	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	Fr	East High School	Belleville, Illinois

Head coach

Lou Henson (New Mexico State University) (17th year)

Assistant coach(es)

Jimmy Collins (New Mexico State) (9th year)
Dick Nagy (Hardin-Simmons University) (11th year)
Mark Coomes (New Mexico State) (7th year)
Anthony Welch GA (University of Illinois) (2nd year)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

All-Time Illini Roster

Source^[1] ^[2]

Schedule[edit]

Source^[3]

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
11/25/1991* no, no	Penn State	L 50-65	0-1	Assembly Hall (12,183) Champaign, IL
11/30/1991* no, no	Louisiana-Mooe	W 95-79	1-1	Assembly Hall (11,856) Champaign, IL
12/3/1991* no, no	Tennessee State	W 78-56	2-1	Assembly Hall (11,274) Champaign, IL
12/6/1991* no, no	Hawaii Illini Classic	W 69-63	3-1	Assembly Hall (11,524) Champaign, IL
12/7/1991* no, no	Washington Illini Classic	W 76-55	4-1	Assembly Hall (11,939) Champaign, IL
12/10/1991* no, no	@ Temple	L 56-92	4-2	McGonigle Hall (3,623) Philadelphia, PA
12/21/1991* no, no	Maryland Baltimore County	W 84-71	5-2	Assembly Hall (11,576) Champaign, IL
12/23/1991* no, no	No. 16 Missouri Braggin' Rights	L 44-61	5-3	St. Louis Arena (18,034) St. Louis, MO
12/30/1991* no, no	Illinois-Chicago	W 84-75 ^ot	6-3	Assembly Hall (11,200) Champaign, IL
1/4/1992* no, no	No. 5 Connecticut	L 66-70	6-4	Assembly Hall (12,376) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/8/1992 no, no	Purdue	W 74-72 ^ot	7-4 (1-0)	Assembly Hall (12,674) Champaign, IL
1/11/1992 no, no	No. 9 @ Michigan State	L 75-77	7-5 (1-1)	Breslin Student Events Center (15,138) East Lansing, MI
1/15/1992 no, no	@ Iowa Rivalry	L 69-74	7-6 (1-2)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA
1/18/1992 no, no	No. 15 Michigan	L 61-68	7-7 (1-3)	Assembly Hall (15,985) Champaign, IL
1/22/1992 no, no	Wisconsin	W 74-67	8-7 (2-3)	Assembly Hall (11,758) Champaign, IL
1/25/1992 no, no	@ Minnesota	L 53-54	8-8 (2-4)	Williams Arena (16,126) Minneapolis, MN
1/30/1992 no, no	No. 10 Ohio State	L 72-74	8-9 (2-5)	Assembly Hall (12,558) Champaign, IL
2/1/1992 no, no	@ Northwestern	L 43-46	8-10 (2-6)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL
2/4/1992 no, no	No. 6 Indiana Rivalry	L 65-76	8-11 (2-7)	Assembly Hall (15,590) Champaign, IL
2/11/1992 no, no	@ Purdue	W 76-71 ^ot	9-11 (3-7)	Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN
2/15/1992 no, no	Minnesota	W 74-58	10-11 (4-7)	Assembly Hall (14,322) Champaign, IL
2/20/1992 no, no	@ Wisconsin	L 78-92	10-12 (4-8)	Wisconsin Field House (9,403) Madison, WI
2/23/1992 no, no	Iowa Rivalry	W 77-72 ^ot	11-12 (5-8)	Assembly Hall (16,281) Champaign, IL
2/26/1992 no, no	Northwestern	W 92-65	12-12 (6-8)	Assembly Hall (12,012) Champaign, IL
3/1/1992 no, no	No. 2 @Indiana Rivalry	L 70-76	12-13 (6-9)	Assembly Hall (14,224) Bloomington, IN
3/7/1992 no, no	No. 13 Michigan State	W 80-71	13-13 (7-9)	Assembly Hall (14,087) Champaign, IL
3/11/1992 no, no	No. 5 @ Ohio State	L 70-82	13-14 (7-10)	St. John Arena (13,276) Columbus, OH
3/14/1992 no, no	No. 14 @ Michigan	L 59-68	13-15 (7-11)	Crisler Arena (13,605) Ann Arbor, MI
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats[edit]

Player	Games Played	Minutes Played	2 pt. Field Goals	3 pt. Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Deon Thomas^[4]	28	946	199	0	144	193	20	44	25	542
Tom Michael^[5]	28	865	41	75	43	130	39	10	8	350
Rennie Clemons^[6]	28	930	93	11	93	106	137	7	42	312
T.J. Wheeler^[7]	27	780	55	29	81	111	72	3	18	278
Scott Pierce^[8]	28	518	54	1	52	97	26	9	9	163
Robert Bennett^[9]	28	504	55	2	17	105	14	12	12	133
Brooks Taylor^[10]	27	694	25	9	33	121	90	13	31	109
Marc Davidson	26	218	16	1	8	32	9	1	4	43
Will Tuttle	22	123	3	0	20	15	10	5	7	26
Steve Roth	16	35	3	0	3	9	1	2	1	9
Doug Clarida	13	21	0	1	3	3	2	0	0	6
Tim Geers	6	19	0	1	3	4	0	1	1	6
Matt Williams	6	6	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	4
Mike Duis	15	21	0	1	0	1	1	1	0	3
Gene Cross	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Matt Schnaderbeck	6	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Awards and honors[edit]

Deon Thomas
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[11]

Rankings[edit]

References[edit]

^ Men's Basketball Roster
^ All-Time Illini Rosters Archived 2010-04-22 at the Wayback Machine
^ University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1991-92 Archived 2014-02-03 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com
^ "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
^ "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
^ "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.

[1] Men's Basketball Roster

[2] All-Time Illini Rosters Archived 2010-04-22 at the Wayback Machine

[3] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1991-92 Archived 2014-02-03 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com

[4] "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.

[5] "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.

[6] "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.

[7] "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.

[8] "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.

[9] "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.

[10] "Season Stats pg. 123" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.

[11] "List of MVPs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.

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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	List of 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