CHICAGO -- UIC begins a busy stretch of three games in four days on Wednesday, Nov. 23, when it tips off against the Elon Phoenix at the NIU Thanksgiving Classic in DeKalb, Ill. The will continue the round-robin event by meeting the Cal Poly Mustangs on Friday, Nov. 25, before concluding play against the Northern Illinois Huskies on Nov. 26.

UIC enters the tournament coming off back-to-back wins at the UIC Pavilion last week. Led by 31 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five steals from sophomore Dikembe Dixson, the Flames doused the UTSA Roadrunners in the home opener on Nov. 16, 86-78. In a preliminary game of the NIU Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 19, UIC put together a terrific offensive performance to get past the Trinity Christian Trolls, 102-66. Six different Flames scored in double figures in that contest, while the squad shot 55.7 percent from the field, a high-water mark in the Steve McClain era. The team's 102 points were not only the most using McClain's up-tempo style, it was the the most since Jan. 9, 2003, when UIC scored as many in a 10-point win over Horizon League foe Milwaukee.

After beginning the season by splitting a pair of contests at home, Elon went on the road on Nov. 17 and took down the South Florida Bulls, 74-61. The Phoenix, led by head coach Matt Matheny, has scored a combined 270 points in the first three games of the season and the squad ranks 29^th in the NCAA with 90.0 points per game, and 30^th with a field-goal percentage of 51.6.

Friday's opponent, Cal Poly, has won back-to-back contests to split its first four games of the young season. The Mustangs are an elite 3-point shooting team as they rank 31st nationally with 9.8 3-point field goals per game. Redshirt senior Kyle Toth has made 60 percent of his 3-point tries, good for 18^th in the NCAA through Nov. 20. Cal Poly opens the NIU Thanksgiving Classic on Wednesday against the Huskies.

While the Flames have never faced Elon nor Cal Poly, they are quite familiar with Saturday's opponent. The tournament finale will be the 40^th meeting all-time between the two programs since 1978. UIC owns the edge in the series, 24-15, and the team has won two of the last three meetings. NIU did claim a 70-65 victory in the last encounter, on Dec. 29, 2015.

The Huskies are 3-1 on the young season with the lone defeat coming in narrow fashion at Cal State Northridge last time out, 84-82. Marin Maric is leading three NIU players who score in double figures with 15.0 ppg. The top rebounder has been Jaylen Key with an average of 7.5 rpg.

Below are a few more headlines in advance of the NIU Thanksgiving Classic:

OTTEY EARNS FIRST ACCOLADE

• Marcus Ottey was named Horizon League  Freshman of the Week on Nov. 21.
• Averaged 13.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg and shot 66.7 percent from field in wins against UTSA and Trinity Christian.
• Scored 15 points and made 9-of-10 from free throw line vs. UTSA.
• Grabbed six boards vs. Trinity Christian.

CENTURY CLUB

• UIC scored 102 points in its victory over Trinity Christian on Nov. 19.
• It was the first time the Flames eclipsed the century mark since Jan. 9, 2003, when they scored 102 in a 10-point win vs. Milwaukee.
• It was the 44^th all-time 100-point game in program history, and the 25^th since 1981-82, UIC's Division I era
• UIC is 23-2 when scoring 100 points or more in the Division I era.
• The program record for the most points in a single game is 120, which happened twice during the 1983-84 campaign, against both Chadron State and Saint Francis (PA).

NOT IN TAI'S HOUSE

• Tai Odiase leads Horizon League and ranks fifth in the nation with 4.3 blocks per game.
• According to KenPom.com, Odiase has the  country's best block percentage of 26.58. That is 5.34 points higher than Arkansas' Moses Kingsley (second place).
• Block% = percentage of opponents' two-point shots that are blocked by Odiase while he is on the court.
• Sent back season-high eight shots vs. UTSA on Nov. 16.
• Stuffed career-high nine shots in win vs. Northern Kentucky on Feb. 13, 2016.
• Ranks third on UIC's all-time list with 158 blocks.
• Needs six blocks to tie, and seven to pass, Sherrell Ford (1992-95) to move into second place.