Polls: Florida's still No. 1. Georgia actually dropped a spot in the .400 Sports poll, from No. 7 to No. 8. We must have covered the spread or something. Duke's loss to the Penguins sent them tumbling from No. 12 to No. 22.
Recruiting: Aaron Swift (the JUCO) chose Ball State over us. Minnesota's jumped into the race for Winkfield's services, while Paisley has offers from both us and Loyola-Chicago. Conrad appears to be bound for Eastern Michigan.
Remember this guy?:
SF Norman Joyce (6'4", 189, Highland Park, IL)
He's coming to campus this week, as is:
SG Alex Ahern (6'2", 171, Centerville, IN via Conkary, Guinea)
None of our underclassmen are skipping town to go pro. Not that we're at all surprised. Seven juniors declared, including Max Cambridge, the Texas A&M point guard who was Player of the Week a couple weeks back.
Awards: Coursey was NOT Horizon League Player of the Week. That honor went to:
PG #5 Adonis Harris, 6'1" senior, Detroit (24 ppg, 6 apg, 10-11 3P)
Horizon League Freshman of the Week: SF #24 Andy Hayes, 6'5" freshman, Wright State (18.5 ppg, 5 rpg; second week in a row; third time this season)
National Player of the Week: SG Bill Tice, 6'3" senior, Toledo (32 ppg, 7 apg, 6.5 rpg, 13-14 3P)
National Freshman of the Week: PG LaRon Lancaster, 6' freshman, Rice (25.5 ppg, 7 apg)
Game 9 Report
Illinois-Chicago (6-2) at Western Michigan (2-6)
Thursday, December 19, 2002
We had plenty of time to get over the Georgia shellacking. Not that it was unexpected or anything, but you can't predict how kids will react to a loss like that. Anyway, we got off to a nice, nondescript start in this one. 10-9 after six minutes; things were pretty balanced all around. The guys knew their jobs; White was grabbing boards, Cooper was running the floor, Miller was shooting. It was good to see. We're using a one-guard front set, and Mills thought we could outrun the Broncos, so he picked up the pace a little.
Nobody got into foul trouble, either! Things started getting physical when the reserves came in, and the Broncos took a 20-19 lead at the 11-minute mark. Correa's in, and he was really struggling with his ball handling (not that he's great, but more so than usual and poorly timed) and we were forced to bring Cooper back in a little sooner than we would've liked. From here, the game turned into a three-point shooting contest, and the Broncos were able to actually make theirs (Jefferson was off again for us) and took a 28-21 lead with six minutes left in the half. We got our act together and closed to within one at one point, but a dumb foul on a three-pointer helped the Broncos make it a six-point game (39-33) at halftime.
Team stats were pretty even at this point except for turnovers. Our guys have got to take better care of the ball. One thing we had to do on the fly was adjust to their sudden craving for the three-point shot, as they don't shoot them very well as a team.
We didn't start the second half very well, offensively or defensively. We weren't playing our game on offense - seemingly everybody was taking completely wrong shots for them - and we weren't getting defensive boards even though the rebounding stats were about even. But a small flurry got us back to within four after being down nine early in the half. We were soon down nine again. Another problem we were having is that the Broncos were using 6-8 sophomore Mikko Brown in the backcourt and running everything through him, using him to set screens, picks, and so on, and we've got no one who can play in the backcourt big enough to contain him. With eight minutes passed in the second half, it's 53-47 WMU.
Frustration set in. Two uncharacteristically hard fouls and then a shot clock violation on our end. We got down 13 with seven and a half minutes left and went back to our opening strategy. They started extending their rebounding advantage, but we managed to cut the lead to seven for a while before Geoff Reed hit a three-pointer with just under five minutes to go. Jones got us five points, but he was tiring, and we were wary of taking him out because nobody else had stepped up to try to help him offensively. Clyde, I'm looking at you. With 2:07 left and a foul to give, we went into panic mode, and the game, from there, turned into a free-throw shooting contest. Which we lost. The game, that is. 74-66.
Thanks mostly to a strong second half, Jones led all scorers with 20 points. Reed's 17 led five Broncos in double figures, including reserve Tony Simpson, who added 14 in their first home victory of the season. But we turned the ball over 21 times. That's not acceptable. We went straight home afterwards... we had another game to play, and guests to entertain.
Game 10 Report:
Alabama State (4-4) at Illinois-Chicago (6-3)
Friday, December 20, 2002
A two-game losing streak? Not a good feeling. Although, both games were on the road, but we had won our first three on the road. So who knows?
During the coaches' meeting, we immediately saw that Alabama State's bigger guards could pose a problem, and that their offense came from the frontcourt. So how to best cut them off? 2-1-2, maybe?
Not at first, no. Cooper got off to a horrible start, getting called for traveling, losing the ball out of bounds, getting called for a double dribble, and missing badly on a fadeaway. We could barely rent a basket in the first four minutes and were very quickly down 13-2. WHAT. Alabama State's Colin Pangrazio got knocked silly by Miller, and he had to leave the game. During the TV timeout, Mills ditched the zone and manned up, read the boys the riot act, and they responded. Things began flowing, and we crawled back to make it 20-16 with nine minutes to go in the first half.
It wouldn't last, though. Alabama St. went on a 9-0 run. Pangrazio's replacement, Kevin Adams, had 10 off the bench already. Another time out, and Jones, Miller and Williams came back in to try to stop the bleeding. We still couldn't make anything. Cooper got called on two B.S. fouls back-to-back, giving him three (Miller had already picked up his second) and coach Mills damn near got T'd up. It was 35-20 Alabama State with 4:15 left in the half, and it didn't look like things were going to get better anytime soon. They didn't - 43-26 at halftime.
We were shooting 31 percent to their 52. Cooper, Miller, and White all had three fouls apiece, and Correa had two.
The second half didn't start as badly as the first did, though we didn't make up a lot of ground before Cooper and White both picked up their fourth fouls. Their lead kept hovering around the 11-12 point mark for most of the first part of the half. Cooper and White returned with six minutes left and the Flames down 68-54. Three minutes later, it was 73-54 and we're set to concede if two of our guys foul out here. And while that didn't happen, neither did much of anything else. 81-57 final, and we've lost three in a row.
Alabama St. PG Mihari Jefferson had 17 points and nine assists. PF Jon Foreman had 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Adams added 15 filling in for the injured Pangrazio (skull fracture, season over). I think that, while unintentional on Clyde's part, pissed them off. Kiwane Jefferson (no relation) led us with 10. We shot 33 percent. You're not beating anyone shooting 33 percent. The question now is, who are the real Flames? The group that started 6-0, or this crew? We've got the Christmas holiday to figure that out.
Conference Roundup: Thirteenth-ranked UConn held Wisconsin-Milwaukee to 18 first-half points in a 68-42 win. On Saturday, Michigan crushed Wright State, 99-46.
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