Illinois-Chicago has the superior overall record, but Wisconsin-Milwaukee will have a decided home-court advantage when the two rivals meet in the Horizon League tournament title game Tuesday night at Milwaukee’s U.S. Cellular Arena.
At stake: a berth in the NCAA tournament. Coach Jimmy Collins’ Flames (23-7) were the conference standard-bearers two years ago, losing a competitive first-round matchup with Oklahoma, which went on to reach the Final Four.
Coach Bruce Pearl’s Panthers (19-9) were last season’s Horizon League representative and threw a huge scare into Notre Dame before going out in the first round by the margin of a missed put-back in the final seconds.
The exuberant Pearl has no friends in the UIC contingent and isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but he has built UWM into a solid team whose league record (13-3) was better than UIC’s (12-4).
The Panthers draw large, enthusiastic crowds to the cozy building known through the years as the Milwaukee Arena and the MECCA. Pearl can orchestrate those fans into an ear-splitting throng that has rattled some opponents.
UWM was undefeated in conference play at home this season. Its only home losses were to Southern Illinois (81-77) on Nov. 29 and to Manhattan (83-76) in a “bracket buster” game on Feb. 21.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Collins said. “We know the crowd will be hostile. That’s what makes the game so good.”
Collins can afford to talk confidently about playing on the road. His Flames have become road warriors this season, going 9-3 away from home and winning in such traditionally tough places as Butler (twice), Wisconsin-Green Bay and Evansville.
In fact, UIC’s weekend visit to Butler was good preparation for Milwaukee. The crowd at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse booed UIC senior point guard Martell Bailey every time he touched the ball.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Bailey said. “They yell at me like that in Milwaukee too.”
The long, bitter feud between Pearl and Collins is well documented. It dates to the days when both were assistant coaches and rival recruiters in the Big Ten, Collins at Illinois and Pearl at Iowa.
Pearl secretly taped a telephone conversation with recruit Deon Thomas, helping fuel an NCAA investigation into Illinois’ program. During the call, Pearl alleged that Collins had offered cash and a sport utility vehicle to induce Thomas to attend Illinois. When Thomas picked Illinois over Iowa, Pearl gave the tape to the NCAA. The NCAA cleared Collins and Thomas of wrongdoing, but gave Illinois heavy penalties for other rules violations.
The crowd and the feud aside, this game is likely to be decided by the play of each team’s star scorer: 6-foot 9-inch forward Dylan Page of Milwaukee and 6-2 guard Cedrick Banks of UIC.
Page scored 25 points on Dec. 23 when UWM opened its Horizon season with a 78-62 home victory over UIC. He scored 31 in a losing cause on Feb. 5 when UIC won 86-82 at the Pavilion. Pearl was ejected from that game after drawing two technical fouls late in the first half.
UIC’s Armond Williams, a 6-5 senior power forward and a member of the league’s all-defensive team, probably will draw Page as his defensive assignment. Williams has battled Page effectively on the block, but must play him closer when Page drifts back near the three-point arc.
Banks scored 16 of his 19 points in the first half of UIC’s loss in Milwaukee and 20 of his 27 in the second half when UIC beat the Panthers in Chicago.
The Flames probably will be in good shape Tuesday if they can limit Page’s scoring and get two productive halves out of Banks.
Banks attributed his scoring flurries to “bursts of energy” after his strong second half sparked the Flames to Saturday’s 65-56 semifinal victory over Butler.
“I try to get going early,” Banks said. “But lately it seems those bursts of energy are coming to me in the second half.”
The win over Butler was UIC’s 23rd of the season, a school record. A 24th victory would truly be one to savor.
