In his final home appearance, 44 years ago Sunday — March 5, 1973 — star forward Nick Weatherspoon became Illinois basketball’s then-all-time scoring leader. After the Illini’s 77-76 win versus Northwestern, previous UI scoring champ Dave Scholz presented the record-setting ball to “The Spoon.” Weatherspoon played one final game five days later, scoring 17 additional points against Iowa. He finished with 1,481 career points, a record that would stand for eight years.
Other memorable events on March 5 in Illini history:
u25a0 1923: Illinois held Ohio State to only one second-half field goal, defeating the Buckeyes by a score of 37-21.