Flames draw Kansas as first dance partner

JAYHAWKS POSE STIFF CHALLENGE

(3/14/04)

UIC coach Jimmy Collins sung along with the piped-in music while awaiting the Flames’ NCAA tournament opponent at the Chicago Circle Center Sunday night.

Collins (pictured) was singing the words of “Sweet Home Chicago” during a commercial break, but moments later, he was thinking of belting out “Kansas City, here I come” as CBS revealed that the Horizon League champion Flames (24-7) will travel to Kemper Arena to play Kansas in the first round of the “Big Dance” on Friday.

“Like the song goes, they’ve got some crazy little women there,” Collins kidded. “but we won’t get a chance to see them. We’re looking forward to going there.”

“I’ve seen Kansas play. I think it’s a pretty good draw for us. We watched them enough where have enough film, so we’re going to start working on our film study.”

The game will tip off at approximately 8:55 p.m. Friday night and will be broadcast on WBBM-Ch. 2.

Kansas (21-8), coached by former Illinois coach Bill Self, finished tied for second in the Big 12 conference with Texas. The Jayhawks lost to the Longhorns in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

The Jayhawks are big and athletic and like to run multiple offensive sets, especially the high-low game.

“Kansas is a good team, and I get up for big games,” UIC forward Armond Williams (pictured) said. “I’m ready to focus and start doing my homework, watching their movements, watching the sets they run.”

Kansas has various weapons, including 6-foot-9, 255-pound junior power forward Wayne Simien, a First-Team All-Big 12 selection. Simien leads the team in scoring at 17.8 points per game and rebounding at 9.1 per game. He is averaging 21.1 points over his last 10 games.

Two other juniors, shooting guard Keith Langford and point guard Aaron Miles, are solid contributors.

Langford, a Second-Team All-Big 12 pick, is a 6-4 slasher who averages 15.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and shoots 48 percent from the field. The 6-1 Miles, a Third-Team All-Big 12 member, is one of the top point guards in the nation, averaging 9.2 points and 7.2 assists.

Six-foot-five freshman guard J.R. Giddens pitches in 10.7 points per game and is the Jayhawks’ best three-point threat, shooting 40 percent from the outside.

“We’ll be short, and we’ll be big,” Collins said. “They’re a big team, they’re a fast team. They like to get out and break. We run a half-court game, and we’ll have to slow them a bit, because they like run the transition game.”

For the Flames to chances at the upset, they’ll need to stick with what brought them to the tournament: solid ball-handling, tough defense, and lots of Cedrick Banks.

“I know about them from being at Illinois and following them and Jimmy Collins,” Self (pictured) said. “They are capable. All of Jimmy’s teams are tough and they can guard. I know that they will guard, they will take care of the basketball and they play as tough as anybody we played against."

Banks led the Flames with 18.5 points per game and shot 44 percent from three-point range. The 6-foot-2 senior guard is deadly without the ball, moving and cutting, waiting for screens. He also plays tough defense.

"I would say you could put Banks in the same group with other wing players, whether it be Langford, (Missouri’s Rickey) Paulding, (Texas’ Brandon Mouton or (Texas Tech’s Andre) Emmett,” Self said. “He’s not a high-profile guy, but he’s a scorer. There have been summer league games where he’s dropped 50 points on opponents.”

The Flames and Jayhawks have never played, but Collins’ is no stranger to Self. They have met three times in their coaching career with Self holding a 2-1 series advantage.

“It’s going to be fun,” Collins said. “Going against Bill Self is a challenge for myself and my players. He’s a great guy and very good coach. It’s going to be an education. Hopefully, we’ll meet the challenge.”

The coaches split 1-1 in the 1996-97 season as Self’s Oral Roberts team defeated the Flames 75-52 in late December in Tulsa—a loss that put the Flames at 1-8, but Collins’ Flames exacted revenge 87-78 at the Pavilion to close out the regular season in a season where UIC finished 15-14 and narrowly missed the NCAA tournament.

Self’s Illini downed the Flames 77-64 at the Allstate Arena Dec. 29, 2000.

The Flames opened as eight-point underdogs, but they are embracing the role.

“We have an opportunity to prove ourselves,” said UIC point guard Martell Bailey (pictured), who is second nationally with 7.9 assists per game. “I feel we’re the underdogs, but underdogs upset people, so we feel if we play they way we’ve been playing all year, we can get a win.”

The game will be played just 40 miles away from the Jayhawks’ home of Lawrence, Kan., meaning the crowd could be in their favor.

“Kansas will have its fans,” Collins said, “but we don’t play the fans. Our kids just like noise. They don’t care who’s cheering for whom. They just like to see people.”

Five current Flames played in the 2002 NCAA tournament when the Flames lost by eight to Oklahoma in Dallas: Banks, Bailey, Williams, Carr and Jabari Harris. Collins is counting on their experience to help carry the team through this visit to the tournament.

“We’ve got to keep the distractions away,” Collins said. “It was new to these kids two years ago. They were occupied with family, friends and all the media. This time they’ll be more focused.”