| Mode: | Basketball |
| Year: | 1977–78 |
| Team: | Illinois Fighting Illini |
| Conference: | Big Ten Conference |
| Short Conf: | Big Ten |
| Record: | 13–14 |
| Conf Record: | 7–11 |
| Asst Coach3: | Les Wothke |
| Hc Year: | 3rd |
| Ac1 Year: | 4th |
| Ac2 Year: | 1st |
| Ac3 Year: | 3rd |
The 1977–78 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.
The most significant recruit of the first three years of Head Coach Lou Henson's tenure at Illinois arrived this season. Eddie Johnson was considered to be the most significant piece to reviving the Illini basketball program, a program that had not been to a post-season tournament for 16 years. Johnson, who played at Chicago Westinghouse High School, was one of the state's top seniors and a Parade Magazine All-American. During his senior year at Westinghouse, Johnson, along with teammate Mark Aguirre, became part of a team that went 29-0, losing only in the Public League Final to Wendell Phillips. Prior to choosing Illinois, Johnson visited Southern Cal, Iowa, Michigan and DePaul, but with the encouragement of assistant coach Tony Yates, he selected Illinois.
Along with Johnson, Henson recruited Mark Smith from Peoria Richwoods High School. By season's end, Smith would develop into the team's second leading scorer, finishing the season with 312 points. The team's starting lineup included Neil Bresnahan and Levi Cobb as forwards, Audie Matthews and Reno Gray at the guard positions, and Rich Adams playing center.
Source[1] |- !colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season |-!colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"|Big Ten regular season |-
| Player | Games Played | Minutes Played | Field Goals | Free Throws | Rebounds | Assists | Blocks | Steals | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audie Matthews[2] | 27 | 780 | 136 | 55 | 87 | 50 | 0 | 12 | 327 |
| Mark Smith[3] | 27 | 680 | 111 | 90 | 163 | 36 | 7 | 37 | 312 |
| Rich Adams[4] | 27 | 618 | 108 | 58 | 133 | 37 | 32 | 25 | 274 |
| Eddie Johnson[5] | 27 | 469 | 100 | 20 | 84 | 16 | 8 | 11 | 220 |
| Rob Judson[6] | 27 | 605 | 76 | 45 | 49 | 57 | 1 | 20 | 197 |
| Neil Bresnahan[7] | 27 | 670 | 94 | 31 | 195 | 68 | 2 | 21 | 219 |
| Reno Gray[8] | 20 | 434 | 90 | 6 | 29 | 66 | 1 | 18 | 186 |
| Levi Cobb[9] | 27 | 610 | 72 | 28 | 131 | 23 | 10 | 17 | 172 |
| Mike Jones | 27 | 232 | 35 | 2 | 16 | 20 | 2 | 8 | 72 |
| Ken Ferdinand | 15 | 80 | 13 | 5 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 31 |
| Larry Lubin | 17 | 112 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 19 | 0 | 6 | 24 |
| Tom Gerhardt | 21 | 105 | 4 | 2 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| Matt Meyer | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player | NBA Club | Round | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rich Adams | San Antonio Spurs | 4 | 86 |
| Audie Matthews | Detroit Pistons | 6 | 117 |
See main article: 1977–78 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings.