Illinois Basketball: Best father-son combos in Illini history

4. Father – Phil Judson; Son – Rob Judson

Most of the duo’s on this list have either the father or son being a big-time player or coach on the Illinois basketball team. That isn’t the case with Phil and Rob Judson. But they were solid players while with the program.

You have to go way back to 1953 to find when Phil joined the Illinois basketball team. He was mostly a reserve in the three years he spent at Illinois. By the time his career was finished, Phil ended up averaging 3.3 points per game and shot 43-percent from the field. For what it is worth, his brother, Paul, was the better of the two twins.

Illinois had a great run with Paul on the team. They finished top three in the Big Ten each year and their records were 17-5, 17-5 and 18-4. This program was playing some great basketball in the mid-1950s.

Phil didn’t have to wait too long to start living vicariously through his son, Rob. He entered the scene in 1976 and played pretty well for the Illini. Rob finished his Illinois career averaging 6.7 points, 1.8 assists and 1.6 rebounds per game.

Rob came in during Lou Henson’s second season with Illinois, so the program was starting to hit an upturn. Sadly, Illinois couldn’t make the NCAA tournament when Rob was with the program. But Illinois did go from 14 wins during Rob’s freshman season to 22 wins as a senior. That is a great improvement.

The father-son combo of Phil and Rob Judson are one of the lesser-known duos, but they are still put their mark on Illinois basketball.