Feb. 14, 2015
UIC GAME NOTES
HEADLINES
The Opening Tip
The UIC men's basketball team will seek its third straight win at second-place Cleveland State on Sunday afternoon with tip-off schedule for 2 p.m. CT. The Flames have claimed victory in their last two outings which were on the road at Detroit (Feb. 8) and Wright State (Feb. 12). UIC is in pursuit of a first round Horizon League Tournament home game in which the Flames would need to finish with a No. 5 or 6 seed. If the season ended today and since Milwaukee is ineligible for postseason play, UIC would garner the No. 6 spot. Cleveland State is currently in a two-way tie for second place in the conference standings with a league record of 9-3 along with Green Bay. The Vikings defeated UIC, 74-69, earlier this season in Chicago on Jan. 4. CSU is paced by junior Penn State transfer Trey Lewis who averages 16.8 points per game.
A Win vs. CSU would…
…give UIC three straight Horizon League regular season road wins for the first time since Dec. 27, 2006 … give the Flames three consecutive road victories for the first time since March 3, 2009 … give UIC its first win at Cleveland State since Dec. 27, 2006 … give the Flames a 4-8 Horizon League record and eight total wins on the year … give the Flames their best start to month of February since the 2007-08 season.
Last Time Out
The Flames withstood a furious second half rally by Wright State this past Thursday night to earn their second straight league road win by a final of 79-75. The Flames led by 15 (45-30) at the break after shooting 8-of-11 from three-point range in the opening period. UIC ended the night with a season-high 64.7 percent (11-of-17) from downtown and 54.5 percent from the field (24-of-44). WSU began the second half on a 17-5 run and eventually held a two-point lead with less than five minutes to play. The Flames relied on superior foul shooting down the stretch, draining 17-of-18 in the final six minutes which included 12-of-12 from senior Jay Harris. Harris led all scorers with 25 points.
Tremendous Trio
Jay Harris (25), Paris Burns (21) and Ahman Fells (17) combined to score 63 points at Wright State this past Thursday. The 63-point total is UIC's highest three-man output during a non-overtime game since Feb. 15, 2009, when Josh Mayo (25), Robo Kreps (25) and Tori Boyd (14) netted 64 versus Valpo. Harris, Burns and Fells teamed up to shoot 19-of-28 (67.8%) from the field and 9-of-12 (75%) from the outside in the win against WSU.
Ah-Man Among Boys
Senior Ahman Fells has been playing the best basketball of his career during the last month-and-a-half after he was inserted into the starting lineup 13 games ago on Dec. 28. Over that span, he is averaging 12.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and shooting a team-high 60 percent (63-of-105) from the floor. The Chicago native is playing even better over the last five games, averaging 17.2 points per game, while shooting 72 percent from the field and 67 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 164 points that Fells has scored in his last 13 games accounts for 61 percent of his career total of 269.
Paris Burns Bright
Junior Paris Burns has scored 14 or more points in each of his last six games and is averaging a team-best 17.5 points and 4.5 assists during that span. The Chicago native is also shooting 52.2 percent from three-point range during the last six games after hitting just 17 percent in his previous 18 contests. Against Wright State on Feb. 12, Burns scored the game's first nine points with a trio of made threes in a span of 81 seconds. He ended the night with a career-high four treys.
Threes For Days
In the last three games, UIC is shooting lights out from three-point range with a percentage of 58.6 (34-of-58). The Flames knocked down 11 threes against Oakland (Feb. 4) and Wright State (Feb. 12) and then a season-best 12 triples at Detroit (Feb. 8). UIC's three-point shooting performance (64.7%) versus the Raiders is the program's top mark since Nov. 23, 2011.
Harris is a Scoring Machine
Fifth-year senior Jay Harris ranks as UIC's leading scorer this season with an average of 14.3 points per game, which also ranks ninth in the Horizon League. Harris has scored in double-digits 16 times through his 22 games at UIC and 20 times over his last 26 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. He owns four 20-plus point performances this season, including 25 this past Thursday at WSU.
McGuire on Fire
Sophomore Markese McGuire is shooting 8-of-13 from three-point range during the last three 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 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.
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.
Oh So Close
UIC has played in several close games so far this season including 12 contests that have been decided by single digits. Of those 12 games UIC owns a record of 3-9. In outcomes decided by six points or less, the Flames are 2-7 which include five league affairs.
The Final Countdown
Seniors Jay Harris and Marc Brown are closing in on 1,000 career points as they currently own 987 and 928, respectively. Harris needs 13 points over the next six games to hit the coveted milestone, while Brown must average 12 points per outing. 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 12th in the nation and first in the Horizon League with a mark of 89.6 percent (120-of-134), while his 120 made free throws sits in 33rd place. Harris also ranks third in the NCAA among career-active free throw shooters with a four-year percentage of .898 (242-of-269). 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. The Aurora, Ill. native sank 13-of-14 from the charity stripe at WSU on Feb. 12, including 12-of-12 in the final six minutes.
Odiase Still Ranks Second in Blocks
Freshman Tai Odiase missed six games and has played limited minutes in his last seven 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 1.7. Fronting the conference is Valpo's Vashil Fernandez with an average of 3.0. Odiase has 33 swats on the season and needs just 12 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 73.4 percent (424-of-578). That figure currently ranks 34th in the country and first in the Horizon League, while UIC's 424 made free throws ranks ninth 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.
