Dec. 29, 2000

Rosemont, Ill. - UIC head coach Jimmy Collins had compiled a scouting report of Illinois knowing that guards Cory Bradford and Frank Williams had taken a majority of the Illini's shots.

Collins also knew that Illinois had a potent frontcourt that, if given the chance, could give UIC fits in their match-up on Friday night at the Allstate Arena

Illinois did just that as senior forward Marcus Griffin scored a game-high 21 points while fellow forwards Robert Archibald (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Sergio McClain also contributed to the Illini's 77-64 victory over the Flames.

"I think its pretty obvious what we need to do is to get some men," Collins said. "Their post players looked like men. They executed their plan well and went inside."

Collins' top post players Joe Scott (2 points) and Maurice Brown (7 points, 8 rebounds) fouled out with less than four minutes remaining in the game.

Junior guard Jon-Pierre Mitchom came off the bench for UIC (6-6) and poured in a team-high 19 points in the loss. Guards Jordan Kardos (11 points) and Joel Bullock (10 points) also turned in solid efforts for the Flames.

UIC was unable to match-up down low as the Flames sent Illinois to the line 31 times with the Illini converting 24 of their attempts. Archibald scored 10 of his points in the second half on free throws.

Illinois had its opportunities to pull away from the Flames when Brian Cook (8 points) hit a pair of free-throws to put the Illini ahead 63-43 with 6:40 left in the game.

UIC, however, would not go away quietly as Mitchom (9 points) and Kardos (9 points) scored 18 of the Flames' final 23 points, but the Flames would come no closer than 13 points.

"One of the things we stress is to never say die," Collins said. "We always want to fight. You have got to play 40 minutes. So don't play 15 minutes and quit and they continued to fight."