Feb. 11, 2015
UIC GAME NOTES
HEADLINES
The Opening Tip
The UIC men’s basketball team continues its three-game road swing at Wright State on Thursday night with tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. The Flames seek their second straight victory as they notched their first road win of the season this past Sunday with an 83-73 triumph at Detroit. WSU sits one spot ahead of UIC in the Horizon League standings in seventh place with a 3-7 record. The Raiders also carry an 11-13 overall record, but have dropped their last three outings which include six of their last seven. Thursday’s contest will be the 49th all-time meeting between the two programs as WSU holds a slim 25-23 series advantage. Lately, these matchups have been nail-biters with the last eight contests being decided by eight points or less.
A Win vs. WSU would…
…give UIC a 3-8 HL record and a tie for seventh place in the conference standings… give UIC its second consecutive win … give the Flames seven wins on the season which betters last year’s total by one… give UIC three wins against WSU in the last five attempts … give the Flames back-to-back league wins in the month of Feb. for the first time since 2008-09.
Last Time Out
UIC shot a season-best 58.7 percent from the floor and sank 12 threes at Detroit last Sunday to claim their first road win of season by a final score of 83-73. The Titans erased UIC’s 43-36 halftime lead to go in front by five (63-58) with 8:31 left play. The Flames then executed a 14-1 run and led by as much as 11 to put the game out of reach. The triumph was UIC’s first win at Detroit since Jan. 22, 2009 and also snapped an eight-game losing streak. Senior Marc Brown paced four Flames in double figures with a game-high 22 points.
Ah-Man Among Boys
Despite scoring two points in Sunday’s win at Detroit, senior Ahman Fells has been playing the best basketball of his career during the last month-and-a-half. Fells was inserted into the starting lineup 12 games ago on Dec. 28 and has stayed there even since. Over that span, he is averaging 12.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and shooting 57.3 percent (55-of-96) from the floor. The Chicago native is playing even better over the last four games, averaging a team-high 17.3 points per game, while shooting 68 percent from the field and 65 percent from downtown. Fells set a career-high 28 points against first-place Valparaiso on Jan. 31, shooting 11-of-13 from the floor and 6-of-7 from deep. His 11 made field goals not only set a new career-best, but also equaled the single-game high for a UIC player during the Howard Moore era. The last UIC player to record six threes in a game was Daniel Barnes on March 20, 2013 against Chicago State in the CIT. Fells is the only Flame to have posted back-to-back 20-point games this season as he netted 20 at UWM on Jan. 29. The 147 points that Fells has scored in his last 12 games accounts for 58 percent of his career total of 252.
Paris Burns Bright
Junior Paris Burns has scored 14 or more points in each of his last five games and is averaging 16.8 points and 4.4 assists during that span. The Chicago native is also shooting 44.4 percent from three-point range during the last five games after hitting just 17 percent in his previous 18 contests. Against Valpo on Jan. 31, Burns dished out a career-high nine assists which equaled the highest total by a UIC player during the Howard Moore era (Gary Talton, 2/10/13).
McGuire on Fire
Sophomore Markese McGuire is shooting 8-of-11 from three-point range during the last two games with performances of 4-of-5 (Oakland) and 4-of-6 (Detroit). McGuire netted a career-high 16 points versus Oakland on Feb. 4 and followed that up with 14 at Detroit last Sunday. The Elkhart, Ind. native is shooting a team-best 44.2 percent from behind the arc this season. McGuire was named first-team All-State in Indiana his senior year in high school and totaled 1,000 points during his prep career at Elkhart Memorial.
Threes For Days
In the last two games, UIC is shooting lights out from three-point range with a percentage of 56.1 (23-of-41). The Flames have set back-to-back season-highs in made threes with 11 against Oakland and 12 versus Detroit. Twenty three triples is the program’s highest two-game total since the 2001-02 season. The last time UIC sank 12 threes in a single game was on March 2, 2013.
Harris is a Scoring Machine
Fifth-year senior Jay Harris ranks as UIC’s leading scorer this season with an average of 13.8 points per game, which also ranks 10th in the Horizon League. Harris has scored in double-digits 15 times through his 21 games at UIC and 19 times over his last 25 outings, dating back to his final four games at Wagner last season. On Dec. 11 against UCF, Harris exploded for a career-high 32 points and was later named the Horizon League Player of the Week. His 32-point outburst is tied for the third highest total in the conference this season.
What Can Brown Do For You?
Senior Marc Brown was nearly flawless in his shooting performance at Detroit this past Sunday, hitting 9-of-10 from the field and 3-of-3 from three-point range for 22 points. Brown’s 90 percent shooting mark is a team-high this season and his 22 points serves as the eighth 20-plus point effort of his career.
McClellan Playing Big Down Low
Junior Jason McClellan is hitting his stride as of late after being hampered by early- and mid-season injuries. The JUCO transfer has started the last five games and is averaging 8.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per outing during that span, while shooting 38 percent from three-point range. The 6-foot-9 forward scored a career-high 19 points at YSU on Jan. 24 and shot 4-of-4 from behind the arc.
Excelling in the Classroom
The UIC men’s basketball team had a tremendous fall semester in the classroom as seven players recorded GPAs of 3.0 or better. Topping that list was freshman David Ramon who totaled a perfect 4.0. Following close behind was sophomore Hans-Christian Lauer with a GPA of 3.81 and junior Jason McClellan with a mark of 3.69.
The Flames Are Right There
UIC has played in several close games so far this season including 11 contests that have been decided by single digits. Of those 11 games UIC owns a record of 2-9. In outcomes decided by six points or less, the Flames are 1-7 which include four league affairs.
The Final Countdown
Seniors Jay Harris and Marc Brown are closing in on 1,000 career points as they currently own 962 and 927, respectively. Harris needs to average 5.4 points over the next seven games to hit the coveted milestone, while Brown must average 10.4. If Brown reaches the four-digit mark then he will become the 21st player in program history to do. Harris totaled 458 points during his freshman and sophomore seasons at Valparaiso and then scored 217 at Wagner last year.
Harris From the Foul Line
Senior Jay Harris is one of the top free throw shooters in the country this season. He ranks 15th in the nation and first in the Horizon League with a mark of 89.2 percent (107-of-120). Harris also ranks third in the NCAA among career-active free throw shooters with a four-year percentage of .898 (229-of-255). Harris has the opportunity to break UIC’s single-season free throw shooting record, which currently sits at 88.6 percent held by Josh Mayo.
Odiase Still Ranks Second in Blocks
Freshman Tai Odiase missed six games and has played limited minutes in his last six outings due to a lower leg injury suffered in late December. Despite his lack of playing time, Odiase still ranks second in the Horizon League in blocks per game with an average of 1.6. Fronting the conference is Valpo’s Vashil Fernandez with an average of 3.0. Odiase has 30 swats on the season and needs just 15 more to crack UIC’s single-season top-10 leaderboard.
One of the Nation’s Best
The Flames have been one of the nation’s best free-throw shooting teams so far this season as UIC is averaging 73.2 percent (404-of-552). That figure currently ranks 38th in the country and first in the Horizon League, while UIC’s 404 made free throws ranks tied-for-18th in the NCAA. UIC touts seven players that are shooting above 70 percent from the charity stripe. The 2012-13 team currently holds the all-time record for free throw shooting with a single-season mark of .752.
