1938–39 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1938–39 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season
The 1938-39 season was year number three for head coach Doug Mills. Overall the team regrouped from a miserable eighth-place finish in the Big Ten a year earlier by winning 9 of their 10 home games only losing to conference rival Indiana. Unfortunately for the Fighting Illini they finished with a 5-5 record on the road to finish in third place overall in conference action. Mills' Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team featured only 5 returning letterman. Along with team captain Tom Nisbit, the Illini also featured a starting lineup of Lewis Dehner at the center position, John Drish, Joe Frank and William Hapac at forward and George Wardley, and Colin Handlon at guard.

Roster
Source

Schedule
!colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season


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!colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"| Big Ten regular season

Source

Awards and honors

 * Louis Dehner
 * Madison Square Garden 1st team All-American
 * Converse 3rd team All-American