The UIC Flames will journey to Detroit, Mich., for the 2017 Horizon League Tournament starting Friday and culminating with a champion being crowned Tuesday.  The tenth seeded Flames (5-24, 2-16 HL) will have an opportunity to put the regular season behind them and focus on their opening round game against #7 seed Northern Kentucky (9-21, 5-13 HL) Friday at 11:00 am at Joe Louis Arena.

All Horizon League Tournament games will be available on the ESPN family of networks and the WatchESPN app.  Please see the blue box above for the direct link to watch.  Also check out UIC's Tournament Central page and the Motor City Madness Tournament Central page for much more information, stats, and links.

In a pair of firsts for the conference tournament, the women's games will all be contested at a true neutral site; while the men's and women's championships will both be contested simultaneously under the same roof.  The tournaments will consist of the final basketball games ever played at historic Joe Louis Arena, which is closing this summer.

It is the second straight year that the Flames enter the postseason as the conference's #10 seed.  In last year's tournament, they lost a first round game to Wright State, but the Raiders were seeded third.  This year, the format has changed.  Rather than just the top two teams receiving byes – and advancing all the way to the semifinals – the top six teams will get a bye into the quarterfinals, with the seventh through tenth seeds battling for the final two spots in the quarterfinal round.

The Flames will look to continue the momentum they generated in their final half of regular season action.  At Valparaiso last Saturday, the team scored a conference high 47 points after halftime, and shot 50%.  It was the fifth time in league play that UIC shot 50% or better in a half.  The Flames outscored Valpo by 14 in the second half, but the Crusaders had built a 23 point lead at the break and won the game, 72-63.
 

Brittany Byrd established new career highs with 20 points and 5 steals, and also had 9 rebounds.  The team turned Valpo over 26 times, 21 of which were steals.  Both of those numbers were season highs for the Flames' defense.

The loss cemented UIC in the #10 slot in this weekend's bracket.  A win would have pushed them up to ninth.  For their part, Northern Kentucky finished tied for 7^th with Youngstown State.  The teams split their regular season games, so the tiebreaker advanced to comparative records against top teams.  Moving down the standings to break the tie, Northern Kentucky won the tiebreaker thanks to its 1-1 record against Milwaukee, with the Norse's 72-51 win over the Panthers on the last Friday of the season accounting for the difference.

Brittany Byrd was the Flames' leading scorer this season with 13.1 points per game.  She also led the squad in rebounds (6.1 per game).  Terri Bender finished second in the conference in assists.  The Flames were second in the Horizon League in steals with 10.1 per game, and placed three players in the top 10 in that category (Bender, Taylor Toney, and Byrd).  UIC was the conference's third best offensive rebounding team.

UIC will look to snap a three game losing streak in conference tournament play.  The Flames have also dropped five consecutive games in the month of March, counting regular season and tournament contests.  To do so, they will need to overcome a Northern Kentucky squad that defeated them twice during the regular season.

In the first meeting at home on Jan. 22, UIC allowed just 58 points, their best showing in conference play.  But the Norse held UIC to a conference-season low 29.8% shooting rate in a 58-37 win.  They capitalized on foul shot opportunities, making 15 of 18 free throws.  UIC went just 1-for-8 at the line.  Gabryelle Johnson and Brittany Byrd tied for team high honors with eight points each.  Terri Bender had seven assists.

The Flames shot much better in the second matchup Feb. 9 in Highland Heights.  They converted 45.8% of their field goals, the second best performance they would turn in all season in conference play.  A late second quarter run gave the Norse an 18 point cushion at halftime, and though the Flames would battle back and pull to within seven points with six minutes left, they could get no closer and eventually succumbed 66-49.  Byrd had 17 points and Taylor Toney added 13.  Once again free throws made a big difference in the outcome.  Northern Kentucky scored 18 points at the foul line, and UIC went 3-for-11 there.
 

Northern Kentucky defeated Milwaukee, 72-51, in their penultimate game of the regular season.  They fell to 5-13 in Horizon League play with a season closing, 74-37 loss to Green Bay.  The Norse didn't score for the first nine minutes of the game and were down 20-2 after one quarter.  Hannah Clark led the team with 15 points, all on threes.  The team shot 32% and surrendered 21 points off of 23 turnovers.  On the season, NKU was 10th in the league in scoring, but led the league in 3-point defense and was third in rebounding defense.  Rebecca Lyttle was sixth in the conference in rebounding and named to the All-Defensive team.  Casey Uetrecht, who scored 44 points in the two games against UIC, left the team with two games remaining in the season.  She was in the conference's top 20 in scoring and rebounding.

This will be the first postseason meeting between UIC and Northern Kentucky.  The Norse hold a 4-0 lead in the all time series, having swept the Flames in regular season matchups each of the last two years.  NKU made a dazzling debut in Horizon League tournament play last season, winning their first two games before taking eventual champion Green Bay to double overtime in the semifinals and losing by just two points.

Friday's winner will advance to a quarterfinal matchup Saturday at 1:00 pm against #2 Wright State.