CHICAGO -- The UIC Flames will ring in the month of December by welcoming a nearby adversary, the DePaul Blue Demons, to the UIC Pavilion on Wed., Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. It will be the eighth all-time meeting on the hardwood between the two schools, which are separated by less than four miles.

The Flames (1-3) are returning home after a quick one-game stop at Drake on Saturday, Nov. 28. The Blue Demons (2-3) have been idle since competing in three games at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Nov. 20-23.

This contest will air live on Comcast SportsNet Chicago Plus as the first of eight UIC games to appear on the CSN family of networks this season. Jordan Bernfield will handle the call of the play-by-play, while David Kaplan will offer his analysis of the action.

Below are a few headlines as the Flames prepare to tangle with the Blue Demons on Chicago's near west side on Wednesday night:

LOCAL FLAVOR
Eight of the 15 players on UIC's roster are native to the state of Illinois, and seven of those Flames hail from the Chicagoland area. Seniors Paris Burns (Proviso East) and Gabe Snider (Whitney Young) are from Chicago, as is junior Josh Joiner (Willowbrook) and freshman Dominique Matthews (St. Rita). Sophomores Lance Whitaker (Bartlett) and Tai Odiase (Homewood-Flossmoor), plus freshman Julian Torres (Bolingbrook) call suburban Chicagoland home. Finally, freshman Dikembe Dixson is originally from Freeport, Ill., a town about 114 miles northwest of the Windy City.

WINDEX MEN
UIC leads the Horizon League and ranks 18th in the NCAA with 44.8 rebounds per game. Freshman Dikembe Dixson paces the squad and ranks tied for seventh in the conference with 6.8 boards per game. On the offensive end the Flames average 15.5 rebounds per game, ranking 20th in the country in that category. Tai Odiase leads the team with 3.0 offensive rebounds per outing.

BROTHERLY LOVE
UIC freshman Dominique Matthews is not the only member of his immediate family to wear a college basketball uniform this season. Brother, Charles Matthews, is a freshman for the Kentucky Wildcats. UIC's Matthews led the Flames with a game-high 17 points in an exhibition win over Lake Forest College on Nov. 7. He returned to action on Nov. 28 at Drake and played a season-high 18 minutes after missing the previous two games.

CHICAGO CONNECTION
First-year assistant Ron Coleman attended Chicago's South Shore Career Academy, and he has coached at the prep level at Hayes Academy and Whitney Young H.S. He also served as the head coach for the Mac Irvin Fire AAU squad from 2005-11. First-year aide Brendan Mullins attended Downers Grove South H.S., where he helped the Mustangs to an IHSA Elite Eight appearance in 2003. Mullins' brother, Bryan, is an assistant at Loyola Chicago, and his father, Mike, is the Director of the Illinois Wolves AAU program. Finally, second-year assistant Deon Thomas was named Illinois' Mr. Basketball in 1988 after he helped Simeon H.S. win the Chicago Public League championship. He played collegiately at Illinois from 1990-94, and Thomas followed that up with a successful 14-year professional basketball career overseas.

BATTLING THE BIG EAST
The Flames own 14 victories all-time against current Big East teams. Eleven of those wins have come against former Horizon League foe Butler. The program's last win against a Big East conference team came on Jan. 10, 2007 vs. Butler (73-67 at home). UIC has never played Georgetown, Providence, St. John's, Villanova or Xavier.

MILESTONE WATCH
UIC, which began to play NCAA Division I basketball in 1981, needs only two more wins to reach No. 500 at this level. The school's first team was fielded in 1947-48 and the program owns 807 all-time victories.

For more notes and information about Wednesday's tilt, and the entire 2015-16 season, please click the Game Notes PDF above.

The Flames will hit the road once again on Saturday, Dec. 5 when they venture to the Sunshine State to take on the Central Florida Knights in Orlando. Last season UIC defeated UCF at the Pavilion, 71-60, on Dec. 11, 2014. Former UIC great Jay Harris exploded for a career-high 32 points in the triumph, while current senior Jake Wiegand added 12 points, seven rebounds and a pair of steals.