Martell Bailey did a little of almost everything Tuesday night to help Illinois-Chicago subdue stubborn Evansville 77-73 at the Pavilion.
But of all of Bailey’s contributions, one stands out like the Sears Tower on a clear day. The 5-foot-10-inch point guard from Westinghouse High made 15 assists and committed only one turnover in his 34 minutes on the point.
“A 15-to-1 ratio of assists to turnovers is just phenomenal,” Evansville coach Steve Merfeld said.
Bailey also had six rebounds, two steals and six points, including the basket for the 18th and final lead change with 11 minutes to play.
And once, during a timeout, Bailey grabbed a push broom and helped sweep some debris off the Pavilion floor.
“I wanted to speed up the game,” Bailey said of his sweeping chore. “My job is to get the ball to the hot shooters. My club did a good job tonight converting the passes into baskets.”
The Flames needed all of Bailey’s contributions plus 25 points by his former high school teammate Cedrick Banks to win their home debut and improve to 4-1 for the season.
The Purple Aces, beaten by the Flames just four nights earlier, refused to go away. They led 46-43 at the half. They were tied until Bailey’s first basket of the night, a driving layup, put UIC ahead for good 57-55. They rallied from a 10-point deficit and trailed just 75-73 when Matt Webster had a three-point play with 47 seconds on the clock.
The Flames beat the Purple Aces comfortably 70-54 in Evansville last Friday, but UIC had its hands full in Tuesday’s first half.
There were several reasons for this turnaround. For one thing, the Aces shot 60 percent (18 of 30) in the first half. Clint Cuffle led the Aces with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including all three of his three-point attempts. He finished with 25 points to match Banks’ output.
The Flames were allergic to defense at times, content to run-and-gun for long stretches in the first half.
But UIC coach Jimmy Collins said a major reason for the victory–aside from Bailey’s passing–was the UIC defense that permitted the Aces to hit 60 percent of their first-half shots, limited the visitors to 32 percent after the intermission.
UIC continued last year’s poor free-throw shooting. It missed six of its first eight foul shots, went 4-of-9 for the half and 17-of-28 for the game.
Banks and Aaron Carr scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, to lead UIC in the first half, but Banks, who finished hitting 9-of-22 attempts, made only 5-of-15 shots. Bailey had assists on 10 of the Flames’ 16 baskets in the first half.
