Illinois-Chicago’s Flames are one game away from capping Jimmy Collins’ first year as coach with the school’s first bid to a postseason men’s basketball tournament.
Collins and his players know the two things they have to do Tuesday to beat top-seeded Butler in the final of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament and win the league’s automatic berth in the 64-team NCAA field.
Defensively, the Flames need to apply the kind of pressure they put on Cleveland State in defeating Rollie Massimino’s team 64-42 in Sunday’s semifinal. UIC limited the Vikings to 13 baskets, the lowest in MCC tourney history.
Offensively, the Flames can beat Butler if Mike King, Mark Miller & Co. approach the sizzling shooting they turned in during Saturday’s 76-65 quarterfinal success over Northern Illinois–70 percent in the first half and 57 percent overall.
“Defense and shooting. That’s right,” said Collins after Sunday’s victory. “And don’t forget rebounding. We’ve not been a very good rebounding team. We haven’t attacked the glass enough. But when we do, we usually win.”
The Flames dominated on offense, defense and rebounding as they ran their season record to 15-13. Led by 6-foot-7-inch reserve Clifton Jackson’s nine rebounds, the Flames dominated the boards 39-25. King hit 5 of 8 shots and scored 13 points to lead 11 Flames who scored.
But it was on defense, especially in the backcourt, where Miller, Anthony Coomes and Theandre Kimbrough excelled.
When Cleveland State upset No. 2 seed Detroit 67-63 Saturday, guards James Madison and Malcolm Sims combined to score 45 points and go 8 for 12 on three-pointers. Against UIC’s guards, they totaled just 11 points on 4 of 14 shots, 1 of 8 on three-pointers.
“Our defensive plan was to get right on top of them and wear them down,” said Miller, the junior from Westinghouse. “They don’t have many guards behind them, and they played a tough, emotional game last night.”
Collins called UIC’s defense “by far one of our best efforts. Cleveland State didn’t have a single player in double figures.”
While the defensive pressure of UIC’s guards wore down Massimino’s thin backcourt corps, Collins wants to use the same style against Butler and its deep backcourt. “We want our guards to push their guards,” said Collins. “Our guards tonight prevented theirs from penetrating and getting the ball to their big men.”
Butler (22-9) had to battle into overtime before it subdued No. 4 seed Wisconsin-Green Bay 57-52. Kelsey Wilson broke a 52-52 tie with a three-point basket with 23 seconds to play in overtime. He fired the shot 3 seconds after coach Barry Collier called time out and set up the critical shot.
“Coach said, `Take the first open shot,’ and I was open,” said Wilson.
