CHICAGO -- UIC begins a three-game homestand and a busy stretch of five games in 11 days on Wednesday, January 10, when the Green Bay Phoenix visit the UIC Pavilion for the Flames' Horizon League home opener at 7 p.m. CT.

After opening the conference slate with three games away from home, UIC (6-10, 1-2 HL) will play its next three, and four of the next six, at home in Chicago. The Flames have five wins at home this season, but have played in their own building just one time since Dec. 16. Head coach Steve McClain's squad has won its last two home decisions, vs. Trinity Christian (Dec. 23) and Dartmouth (Dec. 15), and three of its last four (Dec. 6 vs. UW-Parkside).

UIC snapped an 11-game road losing streak last time out with a five-point win at IUPUI. The Flames by as many as 13 points on three occasions in the first half, but used a total team effort to overcome a seven-point halftime deficit and win 70-65. Sophomores Dikembe Dixson and Marcus Ottey paced UIC with a game-high 19 points apiece. Dixson became the 22^nd player in program history to reach 1,000 career points in the victory, doing in so in just the 56^th game of his career.

Green Bay (7-11, 2-3 HL) picked up two home wins during the first weekend of Horizon League play, but has fallen in three consecutive contests since. The Phoenix joins Northern Kentucky as the only two schools to rank in the top half of the conference in both scoring and scoring defense this season. Green Bay checks in fifth in scoring with 75.3 points per game and fifth in scoring defense by allowing 73.3 ppg.

STARTING FIVE

• UIC continues an 18-game Horizon League slate on Wednesday, Jan. 10 vs. Green Bay.
• The Flames begin a busy stretch of five games in 11 days against the Phoenix.
• UIC opens a three-game homestand Wednesday. It is the third of four homestands that stretch at least three games this season.
• UIC is playing on a Wednesday for the third and final time in the regular season. The Flames are 1-1 this season on Wednesdays.
• The Flames snapped an 11-game skid in true road games last time out at IUPUI.

A WIN VS. GREEN BAY WOULD GIVE UIC...

• The second Horizon League victory of the season and first at the UIC Pavilion.
• Back-to-back wins over the Phoneix for the first time since Jan. 24 and Feb. 18, 2004. Those victories were at the end of a six-game winning streak against Green Bay.
• A 2-0 record against teams from Wisconsin this season (Dec. 6 vs. UW-Parkside).

ON THE DEFENSIVE

• UIC leads the Horizon League in field goal percentage defense with the opposition shooting  only 40.6 percent against the Flames this season.
• In Horizon League games only, UIC is allowing opponents to shoot a League-low 38.5 percent.
• UIC held Wright State to 32.8 percent, 10.5 percent below its season average, Northern Kentucky to 7.0 percent below its average and IUPUI to 1.9 percent below its average. WSU and NKU are currently tied atop the conference standings at 4-0.
• In the second half of UIC's three Horizon League games, the opposition is shooting only 32.9 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from beyond the arc.

ROTATION ROULETTE

• UIC has used six different starting lineup combinations in its 16 games this season.
• The Flames are tied for 15th nationally in different lineups used. Florida Gulf Coast currently leads the country with 12 unique lineups in 18 games this season.
• Tai Odiase, Jordan Blount and Dikembe Dixson have started all 16 games to date for UIC.
• Dixson (56) and Tarkus Ferguson (44), who returned at IUPUI after missing nine games, have each started every game of their respective careers.
• Odiase has started all 82 games since Steve McClain became the program's head coach in the 2015-16 season.

BROTHERLY LOVE

• UIC's roster features three players with brothers who are also currently Division I basketball players.
• After beginning his collegiate career at Kentucky, Charles Matthews, younger brother of UIC's Dominique Matthews, now plays at Michigan.
• Freshman Jacob Wiley's older brother, Jonathan Wiley, is a senior at Southern Illinois.
• Senior Tai Odiase's brother, Ken Odiase, is on the squad at Chicago State.

For more notes, statistics and information about Wednesday's game, please click the UIC Game Notes PDF linked above in the blue box.