CHICAGO -- UIC will ring in 2018 and close out a three game road trip on Thursday, Jan. 4, when the Flames visit the Horizon League's newest member, IUPUI, for an important conference clash.

UIC (5-10, 0-2 Horizon League) dropped the first two games in conference play at Wright State and Northern Kentucky over the weekend. The Flames outshot the Raiders, 43.4 percent to 32.8 percent, in the first Horizon League game of the season on Dec. 28, but the visitors were undone by 20 turnovers and WSU escaped with a four-point win at home. UIC's Marcus Ottey tallied a game-best 16 points in the loss, while adding six rebounds and a team-high three assists. In the second game of the weekend the Flames trailed big at the half and were unable to overcome the large deficit at Northern Kentucky. UIC had a much stronger second half highlighted by contributions off the bench from freshmen Michael Diggins and Jacob Wiley. Each posted a season high in the scoring column with Diggins going for nine points and Wiley adding six. The pair combined for seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

IUPUI (4-10, 1-2 Horizon League) also dropped its first two Horizon League games at NKU and WSU before roaring back to claim a 67-63 victory at Green Bay on Tuesday night. Four players scored in double figures for the Jaguars in the victory with T.J. Henderson leading the way with 13 points off. He made made three of his five shots from beyond the arc. Evan Hall had a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for IUPUI, which won the rebounding battle, 43-31.

YOUTH STILL SERVED

• Out of 351 Division I teams, UIC ranked as the least experienced in the country in 2016-17 according to KenPom.com.
• The Flames boasted an average of 0.67 years of Division I playing experience last season.
• Despite the youth, UIC was one of the nation's most improved squads with 12 more wins than the previous season.
• Through 15 games this year, the Flames rank as the youngest team in the Horizon League and 293^rd in NCAA with 1.31 years of experience.
• IUPUI ranks 96^th through Jan. 1 with 1.96 years of experience.

ON THE DEFENSIVE

• UIC leads the Horizon League in field-goal percentage defense with the opposition shooting 40.6 percent against the Flames this season.
• The Flames rank 67^th in the country in that category.
• UIC held Wright State to 32.8 percent, 10.5 percent below its season average, on Dec. 28. The Flames held Northern Kentucky 7.0 percent below its average on Dec. 30.
• In the last eight games, since Dec. 6 against Wisconsin-Parkside, opponents are shooting only 36.2 percent from the floor.

BETTER ON THE BOARDS

• UIC was outrebounded in six of its first seven games, but has done better than its opponent on the glass in seven of the last eight games.
• After being outgained on the glass by an average of 2.8 rebounds per game over the first seven, the Flames' average rebounding margin for the last eight contests is +5.8.
• UIC ranks second in the Horizon League with 38.7 rebounds per game. The Flames own the second-best margin in the League at +1.8.
• The Flames set a program record with 1,426 rebounds last season, ranking 18^th in the NCAA with 39.61 rebounds per game.

DIXSON DIGS TOWARD 1,000

• Sophomore Dikembe Dixson needs only three points to reach 1,000 in his UIC career.
• He is in position to become the 22^nd player in program history, and the 19^th in the Division I era, to reach the milestone.
• The Matewan, W. Va., native is averaging 18.1 points per game in 55 career games at UIC.
• The last player to join the 1,000-point club was Marc Brown on March 6, 2015. He finished with 1,022 career points.
• UIC's all-time scoring leader is Cedrick Banks who scored 2,097 points from 2001-05.

ROTATION ROULETTE

• UIC has used six different starting lineup combinations in its 15 games this season.
• The Flames are tied for 11^th nationally in different lineups used. Florida Gulf Coast currently leads the country with 11 unique lineups in 17 games this season.
• Tai Odiase, Jordan Blount, Dikembe Dixson have started all 15 games to date for UIC.
• Dixson (55) and Tarkus Ferguson (43) have each started every game of their respective careers.
• Odiase has started all 81 games since Steve McClain became the program's head coach in the 2015-16 season.

More statistics, notes and information can be found in the UIC Game Notes (PDF) linked in the blue box above.