PENN vs. UIC Results

[bigm]

Wasn't pretty, but we won. When we needed it most, it was our defense that won us this game. We didn't play good defense throughout the game, but in the end when we pulled away, it was what won it for us. Collum again had a great game. I'm excited for us if he can keep this up and get back in shape. Banks had a good game, both offensively and defensively. He sank some 3s, and he didn't always rely on his outside shots. He had some points in the paint. White didn’t get a lot of playing time again. I wish Collins could use him more, as experience is important for a guy with his talent. Williams needs to learn to shoot free throws. I thought he was getting better at it, but today’s game showed that he didn’t. Bowens again had a bad game. What is up with him? Stefanov didn't play so well. I think he was out muscled. Poole played great. It’s a win and it's 3 straight!!!

[Big D]

I'm actually pretty shocked we won this game with the way we were playing during the first 25-30 minutes of the game.....

Even though our defense was OK near the end, our perimeter defense was once again hideous. If Penn made half of the wide open three-pointers they had, we lose this game easily. Dick Nagy seems to get the idea so why do Collins and Co. continue to draw up a game plan where we leave good three-point shooters wide open? It absolutely makes no sense to me.....and the main person here is Stefanov who seems to be always leaving his man....

Now, as if that weren't enough, you'd think if we're leaving perimeter shooters open that we'd have most of our guys somewhat near the basket. So how do we give up like 18 offensive rebounds (or how ever many it was....it was a lot)....sometimes 2 or 3 per possession?

Finally, like bigm said....Armond needs to work on free-throws....coming in at 39%, he missed some key ones down the stretch. I think that I could make 39% of my free throws and I haven't played competitive basketball since about the 5th grade.....I mean I couldn't be much worse than that.

In any case, a win is a win....but we really have got to start working on defense....it's the same story every game....we leave perimeter shooters wide open. We cannot expect to finsh 1, 2, or 3 in conference with defense like that.

CSU is next....look for White to get more time in that game as it should not be a close game....of course, this is UIC I'm talking about....they may find a way to make things with CSU interesting.

[glow=red,2,300]Go Flames![/glow]

[bigm]

Free-throws are key in conference play, especially in close games. I'm glad most of the team has improved, but Williams need to practice more.

Big D, you're right. We need to learn to guard the perimeter. One reason why we lost to UW-Parkside was because we didn't guard the perimeter. When are we going to learn?

And how did he out rebound Loyola in the last game by a ton and get out-rebounded in this game by over a ton? Just doesn't make any sense. If only we can play with some consistency.

[spike1057]

Wow what a game, im going to be so dead tomorrow since we needed a D chant the whole second half. Did anyone noticed how much Penn turned it over once we made some noise they seemed like they could not work wth the noise.

The ROCK is turning into one hell of a player. Its about time we have someone who can hit the three. If you also noticed in the game Rocky uses his head instead of passing to Banks everytime he comes of a screen he decided to pass it to Poole who was wide open after setting his screen. I was getting so sick of just watching Banks put up 30 shots and miss 70 percent of them. This team looked good for once.

Bowen has been the biggest disapointment to me. I really thought he was going to turn the corner hes so athletic but yet he does nothing for us. As much as I would like to say we needed Armond to make those shots im used to it by now. We need to sub him out of the game, and bring in White when its in the final few seconds and there going to foul us. Just dont understand why Karl is sitting he looks like one of our best up and coming players.

JS played alright but your right he is just not helping on the defensive end. If the ROCK can play like that the rest of the year we are going to be in good shape, that means banks can get open for more shots.

Question was were the fury chanting every time their gaurd had the ball? Good game we needed that one, lets bring it to CSU.

[Big D]

Spike,

Yeah, throughout the webcast you could really hear those D chants....and the crowd, the announcers, and the team just had so much more energy in the last 10 minutes when we took the lead.

Was the Fury there? How was the student section....we know you do your part but it's nice to see some others may have been there....

btw, I like the nickname "The Rock"......he's played very well the last two games...hopefully he can keep it up. He may not be a passer like Bailey, but he is more of an offensive threat than Bailey, which is nice.....

[spike1057]

Well I wont say that the student's really were there, but since were used to about 5 its was a little better. A lot of Penn fans were there, but we still had a nice turn out.

[UICJohn]

I'll have to agree that it was a pretty nice turnout. I was pretty surprised. I'm not sure what the official total was, but I'd bet about 5,500 or so? Poole looked dominant at times and I really don't think we've seen all that he has to offer. When he reaches his full potential, that will be something. Collum is also impressing. While we didn't play our best yet, we played much better, especially to close out the game. The beginning of the game was ugly, but we turned it around and made it a little more uptempo at times, which is exactly what Penn doesn't do.

[mayurT]

well, after a long hiatus from this board, I finally decided to post again.

i was at the game, and i was actually pretty impressed. it wasn't the best game we've played, but defense was great. how come we are just NOW starting to step up the defense? we would easily be above the .500 mark if we simply did this earlier...

rocky collum looked great. he is quick and has a nice jumper. UIC has had some great guards come and go, and we will continue to do so as White and Collum bring a lot to the table.

hopefully the 3 game winning streak gives us momentum. if we want to do anything with this season, it will require taking EVERY conference game here on out (maybe allowing one more L).

attendance was pretty decent as well. i enjoyed this game.

[FreeRadical]

Big D - I think what you are describing was a direct consequence of the coach's game plan.

Penn was a bigger, stronger team, yet they were forced to take perimeter shots for most of the game. As the game wore on, they tired, the long shots stopped falling, and they lost.

Wouldn't you agree that a team using its tall men to take three point shots (even easy ones) against a smaller team is not making optimal use of its manpower? Didn't it strike you as odd that Penn was doing exactly that?

My take is that Penn badly wanted UIC agressively guard the perimeter to free their big guys inside. They tried to force the issue repeatedly. The Flames wisely declined.

By pulling their defenders inboard, the Flames were able to gang rebound and generally overcome Penn's size advantage. Of course, that strategy leaves open men on the perimeter from time to time - but that's preferable to the inside if you are at a size disadvantage.

All in all I'd call it a discilplined, well-executed defensive effort - and a textbook demonstration of how a smaller, quicker team can prevail.

Offensively, if the Flames don't learn how to screen and block, its going to be a long season. They got away with it tonight because their quickness generated a lot of free throws and their free throw shooting was good, but down the road? I dunno.

[Big D]

FreeRadical,

You make a very good point...I didn't think of it that way...and you may be completely right. All I know is that these guys are a pretty good three-point shooting club so I guess you pick your poison....play inside and pray they miss the threes....or guard the perimeter and deal with the consequences down low....

In any case, I enjoy your posts FreeRadical....hope you come around more often and share your thoughts....have you thought about registering? If you go to the "Suggestions/Questions" section on the main page, there is a post which explains the benefits of registering....I encourage every Flame fan to do it....

[UICJason]

I'm pretty sure the students were chanting "ugly."

As much as Armond needs to hit free throws, his coach needs to take him out in the final minutes. There was a possession where there was a dead ball, and we were about to inbound. All that was going to happen was that we were going to foul. As WarriorFlame noted at the time, Jimmy needs to make O/D subs at this point. Elliot can stay in there for some muscle, but the lineup should be Poole, Stefanov, Banks, Collum, & White. That's the free throw team.

[UIC86]

BIG D has described the most significant problem with the team this year: Perimeter Defense/guarding the 3 point shot. It was not a matter of UIC forcing them to take 3 point shots, that is Penn's specialty and they still had many wide open looks (they were not hitting the shots). I am extremely happy with the way the coaching staff has made some defensive adjustments and implemented a press and turned up the defensive intensity. They just need to be more diligent and aggressive guarding the 3 point shooters or denying them the ball. Overall, Saturday's game was a positive and the team is improving.

[UICJason]

Congrats on the 1st Post, 86

[UICJohn]

Overall, I was happy with the Penn game. Yeah, the beginning was ugly and I thought we were in for a long game, but by the end of the game, I was happy about alot of things.

First off, we won. We beat a solid club (Penn is a solid team; not one of their best teams in recent memory, but they're solid, big guys, and a defensive club)

Overall, I thought we played solid. We had plays, we ran them, we actually had an offense going! We didn't just give it to Ced and wait for him to do something or just have our guards going one on one all of the time. I do kind of wish White got more minutes though.

The crowd was larger than I expected and it even got kind of loud in there at times.

We are gaining some momentum and I think we can go on a run just like we did last season. This team has talent and that's not a secret. Poole is playing solid, we're winning and Ced isn't doing it all, Collum is playing spectacular ball, White shows signs of being special, etc.

[EzE]

Penn is a quality win. Granted it is no Duke, Geo Tech or DePaul, but it is a pretty well known non-conference opponent. We needed this game.