UIC Flames
Official Store

Nov. 10, 2011

Pre-Game Notes

► UIC will officially lift the lid on the 2011-12 regular season Friday night, after winning both of its exhibition games. The Flames defeated the University of Chicago (61-45) on Nov. 2, and stifled Lake Forest College on Wednesday (Nov. 8), 57-33. Both games were played at the UIC Pavilion.

► The Flames will look to win their road opener for the first time since the 2007-08 season, when UIC defeated host Central Michigan, 65-52 (11/28/07), at Rose Arena. UIC defeated host Toledo, 57-51, in its second road game last November (11/19/10).

► UIC will be seeking its first-ever win over Eastern Michigan. The Flames and Eagles have gone head-to-head three times in the sport of men's basketball, with EMU winning those games by an average of 10 points per contest. The two squads will be meeting for the first time at EMU's Convocation Center, which opened for basketball prior to the 1998-99 campaign. In the last meeting between UIC and EMU in Ypsilanti, the Eagles posted a 73-55 win at Bowen Field House (12/12/81).

► Friday's game will mark a homecoming of sorts for UIC guard Daniel Barnes, who began his career at Eastern Michigan before transferring to Kaskaskia College, and eventually, UIC. Barnes, who started both exhibition games, was limited to just five contests for the Flames last season after suffering a season-ending knee injury.

LET'S DO IT AGAIN
The 2011-12 campaign will mark the 65th season in the history of the UIC men's basketball program. The Flames garnered NCAA Division I status in 1981-82. The program has an all-time Division I record of 454-438, and has been to the NCAA Tournament three times since 1998 (1998-99, 2001-02 and 2003-04). The Flames made their lone NIT appearance at the conclusion of the 2002-03 campaign. UIC has seen membership in the Horizon League (2001-present), MCC (1994-2000) and Mid-Continent Conferences (1982-94) since becoming a Division I member.

ABOUT EASTERN MICHIGAN
» Eastern Michigan University is located in Ypsilanti, Mich., and has an enrollment of 22,638. The Eagles are members of the Mid-American Conference West Division.

» The Eagles return three starters from a team which finished with a 9-22 (5-11 MAC) record, with a fourth-place finish in the MAC-West.

» Eastern Michigan is in the first year under the tutelage of head coach Rob Murphy, a native of Detroit that served the previous seven seasons as an assistant coach at Syracuse under head coach Jim Boeheim.

» The 2011-12 Eagles were perfect in their two exhibition games. EMU defeated Earlham, 81-55, and Marygrove, 85-51, to prepare for Friday's season opener against UIC.

THE COACHES
UIC: Howard Moore(Wisconsin, '95) is in his second season as the head coach at UIC, where he has compiled a 7-24 overall record. He spent the previous five seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, helping the Badgers to five straight NCAA tournament berths. Moore, 38, also served assistant coaching stints at Loyola (2004-05), Ball State (2003-04) and Bradley (1999-2003).

Eastern Michigan: Rob Murphy in his first year as head coach of the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball program. The Detroit native spent the previous seven seasons as an assistant coach at Syracuse, helping the Orange compile a 180-67 overall record and advance to five NCAA Tournaments.

RE-CAPPING THE EXHIBITION SEASON
As mentioned, UIC collected a pair of victories during the exhibition season, defeating the University of Chicago (61-45) on Nov. 2, followed by a 57-33 victory over Lake Forest College at the UIC Pavilion Wednesday night.

Against Chicago, junior college transfer Gary Talton led all scorers with 14 points, while seniors Dorian Tyler, Paris Carter and Daniel Barneschipped in 10 points each. Barnes connected on three treys and added five boards and three assists, while Carter nearly missed a double-double with seven rebounds, five of which were offensive boards.

In the win over Lake Forest, senior center Darrin Williamsled the Flames with 14 points and fell just short of a double-double with nine rebounds. Barnes also logged double digits with 13 points and added six rebounds from the shooting guard position. UIC held the Foresters to just a 25.9 percent effort from the field, and forced Lake Forest into 18 turnovers.

,b>PLENTY OF NEW FACES
The UIC men's basketball team will field the 16th youngest team in the NCAA Division I ranks during the 2011-12 season. Head coach Howard Moore and his staff will welcome nine newcomers to the mix, including seven freshmen. In addition, Daniel Barnes and Matt Bush, who both sat out the majority of last season due to significant knee injuries, have only played a combined seven games in a UIC basketball uniform. Of UIC's six returning players, only Darrin Williams and Paris Cartersaw action in 28 or more games last season.

Below is a listing of UIC's nine newcomers.

Jerome Brown, 6-4, 186, G, Fr., Chicago, Ill. (Morgan Park)
Marc Brown, 6-4, 203, G/F, Fr., Dallas, Texas (Woodrow Wilson)
Ahman Fells, 6-5, 183, F, Fr., Chicago, Ill. (Simeon)
Hayden Humes, 6-8, 215, F, So.-TR, Valparaiso, Ind. (Valparaiso/Toledo)
Rob Robinson, 6-5, 188, G/F, Fr., Chicago, Ill. (Simeon/St. John's Military Academy [Wis.])
Will Simonton, 6-10, 217, C, Fr., Vienna, Va. (George Marshall/Fisburne Military Academy [Va.])
Sammy Sutter, 6-2, 164, G, Fr., Bartlett, Ill. (South Elgin)
Gary Talton, 6-1, 158, G, Jr.-TR, DeSoto, Texas (DeSoto/Mountain View C.C. [Texas])
Greg Travis, 6-0, 186, G, Fr., Chicago, Ill. (Curie)

SUITING UP RIGHT AWAY
UIC head men's basketball coach Howard Moore's frontcourt for the 2011-12 season immediately got deeper in August, when the athletic department announced that Toledo transfer Hayden Humeswas granted a legislative relief waiver, allowing him immediate eligibility to play for the Flames this season.

Humes started 26 games for Toledo last season and averaged 5.7 points and 5.1 rebounds. He transferred from Toledo after the program's scholarships were reduced due to its Academic Progress Rate. Humes, who compiled a 3.43 grade-point-average in two academic years at Toledo, averaged 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in his two games against UIC last season. He will have three years of eligibility with the Flames. In Toledo's regular season finale against Eastern Michigan last season (3/5/11), Humes scored 12 points and pulled down four rebounds.

GORSKI, SNIDER, WIEGAND SIGN FOR 2012-13
UIC head men's basketball coach Howard Mooreannounced the official signings of 7-foot center Matt Gorski and 6-foot-8 power forward Jake Wiegand, of Fisburne Military Academy in Virginia, along with 6-foot-1 guard Gabriel Snider from Whitney Young High School in Chicago on Wednesday. The trio will represent UIC's recruiting class for the 2012-13 campaign.

Gorski, who also drew recruiting attention from high-major schools such as Boston College and Auburn, played his senior year of high school basketball at Princeton Day Academy in Washington D.C. He is rated as a three-star recruit by ESPN.com, and has grown two inches since the end of his senior year of high school.

Wiegand chose UIC over The Citadel, IUPUI, Missouri State, Furman and others. He played on the same frontline as Gorski last season -- the duo represents the second and third recruits from Fisburne Military Academy to sign at UIC, joining 6-foot-10 center Will Simonton, who saw action in both of UIC's exhibition games in the past week.

Snider was an early commitment to UIC, announcing his intentions to join the Flames last February. The 6-foot-1 guard is highly regarded as one of the top perimeter shooters in the class of 2012. He joins Jerome Brown (Morgan Park), Ahman Fells (Simeon), Rob Robinson (Simeon) and Greg Travis (Curie) as Chicago Public League players to sign with the UIC basketball program since Howard Mooretook over the head coaching reigns in August 2010.

In the past 12 months, Moore and his staff have signed 11 players: Robinson, Jerome Brown, Fells, Travis, Simonton, Marc Brown, Hayden Humes (transfer from Toledo), Gary Talton(junior college transfer from Mountain View C.C. in Texas) and now, Gorski, Snider and Wiegand.

ONE MORE YEAR ON TAP
Transfer guard Daniel Barnes, who was limited to just five games last season due to an ACL tear in his left knee, was granted a fifth year of eligibility by the NCAA, it was announced Thursday. Barnes will play the 2011-12 season as a redshirt junior, and return to the Flames for his senior campaign in 2012-13. As mentioned, Barnes began his career at Eastern Michigan, and is expected to make his first-career start Friday night against the Eagles.

CAPTAINING THE SHIP
UIC head coach Howard Moore named veteran guards Daniel Barnes and Matt Bush, along with junior transfer point guard Gary Taltonteam captains for the 2011-12 campaign. Barnes and Bush were limited to a combined seven games of action due to injury last year, but were present in practice on a daily basis, and displayed solid leadership roles this past summer. Talton, who led Mountain View Community College (Tex.) to a NJCAA National Championship last season, is expected to immediately battle for the starting point guard position for the Flames this season.

WILLIAMS COLLECTS PRESEASON ALL-LEAGUE PLAUDIT
UIC men's basketball senior center Darrin Williams was named to the 2011-12 preseason All-Horizon League Third-Team by CollegeSportsMadness.com. Williams is the Flames' returning leading scorer - he averaged 4.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game during the 2010-11 season, after starting 20 of the 28 games in which he played. Williams posted four double-digit scoring outputs, and corralled five or more rebounds on 10 occasions.

UIC Flames Men's Basketball

Printer-friendly format	Email this article