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Flames looking stoked
KEY VS. WRIGHT STATE: DEFEND HOMECOURT
(2/28/06)
Trailing by 15 points in the second half at Wright State on Jan. 25 and standing at 1-6 in Horizon League play, UIC entertaining thoughts of playing a home game Tuesday night in the conference tournament was nothing but a dream.
That was when UIC coach Jimmy Collins pulled out a tactic that at the time he called “desperate.”
“I didn’t think we could contain them with the trap alone, but I knew Jovan up top could give Wood some problems because of his size,” Collins said after that game. “That’s why we did. I guess you say it was a desperate move, because we had to do something else to beat this team. We haven’t been rebounding like we were.”
The Flames’ rebounding dropped off after losing senior forward Elliott Poole to academics on Jan. 5, so Collins changed up his defensive approach to make up for it. In time, with Horizon League Newcomer of the Year Othyus Jeffers leading the way, UIC eventually got close to its original rebounding form.
Now the Flames will play at home against WSU on Tuesday night at the Pavilion to kick off the Horizon League tournament. Home hasn’t been as friendly this season for UIC as the Flames are just 7-6 at the Pavilion.
“The whole year we didn’t play as good as we should have at home,” Stefanov said. “We lost some games we weren’t supposed to. This is our chance to make up for it.”
All told, that fortune reversal at Wright State in late January was the magic potion the Flames needed to turn around the season. Since entering the Nutter Center, UIC is 7-3 overall and 7-2 in league play.
The Flames finished the regular season at 15-14 overall and 8-8 in the Horizon League and in an unprecedented five-way for third place. For UIC, the tiebreaker put them at the No. 6 seed.
If it weren’t for a fortuitous offensive rebound by Loyola’s Tracy Robinson that was tapped out to star Blake Schilb, who drilled a three-pointer, in the final seconds of regulation of the Ramblers’ final game at Youngstown State, UIC would have received a third seed – a thought that was ridiculous five weeks ago when the Flames were in the basement of the league.
WSU (13-14, 8-8) dropped all the way to No. 7 seed after failing to wrap up the No. 3 seed with one simple victory in Chicago last week. The Raiders lost to both Loyola and UIC and were the biggest losers in the tiebreaker, which slid them from a first-round bye to a first-round road game. WSU started 4-0 in league play, then was 4-4, up to 7-4 and ended up at 8-8.
“We finished like we started, .500,” WSU coach Paul Biancardi said. “We had a good season … we were playing for third place in the Horizon League in the final week of the season, that was the good news. The bad news was that we didn’t finish it off.”
Even in the worst times for UIC, Collins never gave up on his team.
“We always knew that we had some things that could be special if we can ever glue them together,” Collins said. “That was the chore for us – to get these guys to understand each other’s tendencies and get them to play off each other. Since the first Wright State game, they’ve done that.”
The Flames have stuck with the zone defense, sprinkled in with some trapping in their 10-game run to the finish. Collins found an offensive weapon in junior forward Danijel Zoric and freshman point guard Josh Mayo continued to mature and improve his shot.
Mayo, who started slowly with his three-point shot, emerged in the second half of the season. He finished the regular season at 10.2 points per game and has scored in double figures in seven of his last nine contests. He has converted 50 percent of his three-pointers (18-of-36) in the last seven games.
Mayo was third in the Horizon League in free-throw shooting at 83 percent after leading the nation’s freshmen for most of the season. Schilb and Leon Young from Loyola edged him out for the free-throw title.
Stefanov gave the Flames a solid all-around effort whether it was scoring, rebounding, passing or hounding the opposing team’s point guard in the zone. He’s a particular pain in the butt for WSU in the last four meetings, averaging 13.8 points on 51 percent shooting, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
Senior forward Justin Bowen had a breakout season, leading the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game and became one of the team’s valuable go-to men. Bowen has improved his jump shot to three-point range and has added a crossover dribble move to deke his defender on the jumper.
“We’re a team of rhythm,” Collins said. “We need to continue to play that way and get different guys involved. Last year, we would come down the floor and point to Cedrick Banks and he would deliver. This year, we‘ve got about five guys that can do that now.”
“Othyus has been a warrior,” Collins said. “He rebounds the ball and plays pretty good defense. Jeffers is the spearhead of our energy on the floor.”
The Raiders come into Tuesday’s game losers of four of their last five league games. The news doesn’t get much better from there as WSU is 3-11 on the road this season and 1-14 all-time at the UIC Pavilion.
For WSU to escape with a victory and punch a ticket to Milwaukee, it must limit turnovers and do a better job of keeping the Flames off the offensive glass. The Raiders must also continue to find holes UIC’s zone.
“We did a good job of attacking the zone [last Saturday] and we had some great looks,” Biancardi said. “We’re still a team in progress. I’m exciting about the future, including in the tournament.”
Drew Burleson and Jordan Pleiman are solid post players that will cause UIC some troubles. Burleson averaged 12.6 points and 5.1 rebounds, while the 6-foot-8 Pleiman had averages of 10.4 points and 6.8 rebounds, while shooting 57 percent from the field.
Guards Tyrone Scott and Jaron Taylor provide WSU with solid outside shooting.
FLAMES FLICKERS: Tuesday night’s opening-round game tips off at 7 p.m. with coverage available on the web for free at www.horizonleague.org. It will also be audio streamed at www.espnradio1000.com and www.uicflames.com. …
WSU and UIC have met twice previously in postseason play and the Raiders have won both times. In 1998, WSU stunned the No. 2 seed Flames, who were 22-4 entering the game, 74-73 at Brown County Arena in Green Bay. The teams also met in the 1993 Mid-Continent Conference championship at the Nutter Center as the Raiders edged the Flames 94-88 behind former NBA player Bill Edwards. …
The only time WSU won against the Flames at the Pavilion was on Jan. 4, 1999 when Keion Brooks scored a then-Pavilion record 41 points in the Raiders’ 100-74 victory, just days after Chicago received nearly two feet of snow. …
WSU has won just one Horizon League tournament game in the last four seasons – a 61-57 victory over Butler at the Nutter Center last year in a No. 6-No. 7 opening-round contest. The Raiders are 1-4 in that span, while UIC is a remarkable 7-2 with two championships. …
Since the league went to the new tournament format three years ago, the home team is 7-2 in the opening-round games, including the Flames’ 84-65 win over Cleveland State last season. The only road teams to win were No. 8 seed Loyola over Wright State 76-59 in 2004 and No. 7 seed Youngstown State over Wisconsin-Green Bay 65-61 in 2003.
TUESDAY, FEB. 28 FIRST ROUND
#8 Cleveland State at #5 Detroit, 6
#7 Wright State at #6 UIC, 7
#9 Youngstown State at #4 Loyola, 7
FRIDAY, MARCH 3 SECOND ROUND (U.S. CELLULAR ARENA)
WSU/UIC vs. #3 Wisconsin-Green Bay, 4:30
CSU/Detroit vs. YSU/Loyola, 7
SATURDAY, MARCH 4 SEMIFINALS (U.S. CELLULAR ARENA)
WSU/UIC/UWGB vs. #2 Butler, 3:30
CSU/Detroit/YSU/Loyola vs. #1 Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 6
TUESDAY, MARCH 7 CHAMPIONSHIP
At highest remaining seed, 8
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Collins called for a trapping, pressure defense and put 6-foot-9-inch junior Jovan Stefanov (pictured) as the point man at the top of the zone, hounding WSU star guard DaShaun Wood. The Flames forced 15 second-half turnovers and pulled out an incredible 62-57 victory at the Nutter Center.
Zoric, who averaged 6.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, picked up his confidence later in the season. Collins ran plays for the 6-foot-9 Serbian, especially early in the games to get him involved. He can score inside and on 15-to-17-foot jumpers. In the last 10 games, Zoric (pictured) has averaged 11.0 points per game, on 49 percent shooting, and 4.9 rebounds.
The most valuable player of all this season is, perhaps, Jeffers. At 6-foot-5, the sophomore was the starter at the off guard for the second half of the season, but at times played like a power forward. Jeffers (pictured) averaged 11.8 points and 7.6 rebounds and led the league in offensive rebounds at 3.8. In what could have been the biggest play for UIC, Jeffers converted a go-ahead tip late in overtime last Saturday to help the Flames edge WSU 69-66 at the Pavilion.
Wood (pictured) is the leader of the Raiders, averaging 18.0 points, good enough for third in the league. He can drive, dish and shoot the three-pointer, but he’s at his best when penetrating to the basket and getting others involved. Wood also averages 4.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists.
HORIZON LEAGUE TOURNAMENT