CHICAGO -- UIC returns home to welcome Ball State to town on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Wednesday's game is set for a 7 p.m. tip inside Credit Union 1 Arena with Jonathan Hood and Chris Bleck on the call.

SERIES STUFF
• Wednesday's meeting will be the first-ever meeting between UIC and Memphis.
• Ball State enters the contest 1-1 with a season-opening victory over Defiance and a loss to Evansville last time out.
• Tahjai Teague leads the Cardinals, averaging 15.5 points per game and shares the team lead with Jarron Coleman with six rebounds per contest.
• The Cardinals feature four players averaging 10 or more points per game. Behind Tahaji Teague's 15.5 ppg, Kyle Mallers (11.5), Ishmael El-Amin (11.5) and Jarron Coleman (10.0) are all in double figures on average.

TAYLOR TIME
• Freshman Brian Taylor led the Flames in scoring against No. 14/15 Memphis on Nov. 8.
• After being held scoreless in the first half, Taylor went 4-of-7 in the final 20 minutes to score a team-high 11 points.
• The Detroit native went 3-of-5 from beyond the arc while bringing in three rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists.
• It was the freshman's first game of 10 or more points in his young UIC career.

BOAHEN'S BIG NIGHT
• Senior Godwin Boahen lifted the Flames to a season opening victory over Olivet Nazarene on Nov. 5.
• The senior finished with a team-high 21 points, including the go-ahead bucket in the closing seconds.
• Boahen was fouled while converting a layup with 2.6 seconds remaining. The guard finished off the 3-point play with the ensuing free throw to secure the 75-72 victory.
• After being limited to just two points in the first half on 1-of-6 shooting, Boahen exploded for 19 points behind 6-of-11 shooting in the final 20 minutes.

BACKCOURT VETS
• UIC returned a trio of senior guards to its backcourt in 2019-20 in Tarkus Ferguson, Marcus Ottey and Godwin Boahen.
• UIC is just one of three Division I programs to return at least two 1,000-point guards this year, with all three Flames guards eclipsing the 1,000-point mark last year.
• The duo of Ottey (1,287) and Ferguson (1,182) entered the season with 2,469 combined career points, making them the top returning guard combination of the three Division I programs that featured two 1,000-point guards.
• Ferguson's numbers could have been replaced with Boahen's productivity (1,064 pts), and the Flames would have still ranked first nationally.
• UTSA's Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace ranked second with 2,241 combined points entering 2019-20 while Bowling Green's Justin Turner and Dylan Frye combined to score 2,211 points in their career prior to 2019-20
• Ferguson and Ottey, as well as Ferguson and Boahen, combined to average 30.3 points per game last year, tied for the fifth-highest point per game average among returning backcourt duos.