Illinois-Chicago scoffs at power rankings, defies odds during 73-43 blowout over NKU on Sunday

By Don Owen
NKyTribune reporter

Illinois-Chicago’s shockingly easy 73-43 win at Northern Kentucky on Sunday afternoon is another example of why power rankings and Las Vegas odds mean absolutely nothing on the basketball court.

As NKU head coach Darrin Horn is fond of saying, it’s a player’s game. UIC — which entered Sunday’s contest with a 12-15 record — made tons of big plays, dominated the backboards and handed the Norse a devastating setback in their quest for a Horizon League regular-season title.

While the so-called experts rely on flawed data in their attempts to predict outcomes, the Flames instead used torrid shooting and an abundance of physicality to depart BB&T Arena with a blowout victory.

Going into the game, UIC was listed as a 10-point underdog by Las Vegas oddsmakers. So much for advanced metrics.

“That was a good old-fashioned butt-kicking by UIC,” said Horn, who watched the Flames win the rebounding battle by a 49-30 margin. “Give them all the credit. They came ready to play physical and assert themselves aggressively on both ends of the floor. And we did not respond to it in any way, shape or form.”

UIC blew it open early, draining five 3-pointers while building a 24-11 lead. The Flames then used a 19-2 spurt to extend that bulge to 43-13 with less than a minute remaining in the first half. At that point, some NKU faithful in the crowd of 3,545 headed to the exits.

“I do want to thank our fans that stuck around in the second half,” Horn said. “I wouldn’t have. But I really appreciate their support and hope they won’t give up on these guys and will show up for our last home game for these seniors who have done an awful lot for our program.”

Tarkus Ferguson scored 14 points to lead UIC, which improved to 13-15 overall, 8-7 in the Horizon League. Godwin Boahen added 13 points as the Flames shot 50 percent from the field and avenged an earlier loss to NKU.

In that 68-52 win at UIC last month, NKU scored 30 unanswered points in the second half. On Sunday, the Norse were unable to net 30 points in either half. In fact, NKU did not place anyone in double figures.

“We beat them pretty badly at their place, and they obviously had a chip on their shoulder and wanted to get us back,” NKU senior guard Tyler Sharpe said. “We’re not good enough to just walk out and expect them to lay down. I think it’s concerning the way that we performed today.”

Jalen Tate scored eight points to lead NKU, which dropped to 19-8 overall and 11-4 in the Horizon League. The Norse shot just 22 percent from the field and were 4-for-32 from 3-point range. NKU made just six field goals in the first half and finished 13-for-59 from the floor.

“They have a lot of talent,” Sharpe said of UIC, which was expected to contend for the Horizon League title. “If you want to shut them down like we did at their place, you have to make things hard on them. You can’t let them use their athleticism. You got to box them out, keep them off the glass. You can’t let athletes get downhill and make plays at the rim.”

Said Horn: “We missed 46 shots and only had eight offensive rebounds. And a couple of those were late [in the game]. They were the more physical team and aggressive, and there just wasn’t a lot of fight from our guys.”

NKU’s Dantez Walton returned after sitting out Friday’s game with an ankle injury, and the 6-foot-6 senior grabbed a team-leading seven rebounds. Boahen, a 5-foot-11 guard, pulled in a game-high 10 rebounds for UIC.

Trevon Faulkner and Tre Cobbs each added seven points as NKU dropped two games behind Wright State in the Horizon League standings. While the Norse fell to UIC, Wright State posted a 106-66 win over IUPUI on Sunday. The first-place Raiders improved to 23-5 overall and 13-2 in the Horizon League.

NKU is now 11-3 at home this season. The Norse still own a 7-3 lead in the all-time series with UIC, which was 0-4 at BB&T Arena prior to Sunday’s victory.

NKU begins a two-game road trip Thursday with a 7 p.m. Horizon League contest at Cleveland State.

ILLINOIS-CHICAGO 73, NORTHERN KENTUCKY 43
ILLINOIS-CHICAGO (73)
Ferguson 5-10 2-4 14, Ottey 2-6 2-2 8, Diggins 4-7 2-3 11, Bridges 2-3 2-2 6, Blount 4-7 0-0 8, Boahen 5-8 0-0 13, Ahale 2-4 0-0 6, Taylor 1-2 1-2 4, Wiley 1-4 1-2 3, Washington 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-52 10-15 73.
NORTHERN KENTUCKY (43)
Sharpe 0-7 5-7 5, Adheke 0-0 0-0 0, Faulkner 3-8 0-1 7, Langdon 0-7 0-0 0, Tate 2-9 4-4 8, Walton 1-8 0-1 2, Eleeda 0-3 0-0 0, Nelson 1-2 0-0 2, Mocaby 1-4 0-0 3, Harris 2-5 2-2 6, Djoko 1-2 0-0 3, Cobbs 2-4 2-2 7. Totals 13-59 13-17 43.
HALFTIME: UIC 43-18. 3-POINTERS: (NKU 4-32, UIC 11-20). REBOUNDS: NKU 30 (Walton 7), UIC 49 (Boahen 10).
RECORDS: UIC 13-15, 8-7 HL; NKU 19-8, 11-4 HL.