The good-natured trash talking by Elton Nesbitt and some of his Georgia Southern teammates started Saturday morning during the shootaround at the Pavilion.
“We’re just country boys from the South,” Nesbitt told Cedrick Banks, Justin Bowen and other Illinois-Chicago players. “But we’re going to `whup’ you big city boys.”
Nesbitt, all 5 feet 8 inches and 170 pounds of him, kept yakking and smiling during the game. And scoring too.
“He was funny. Very funny,” said Banks, who matched Nesbitt’s game-high 24 points. “I enjoyed playing against him. He’s a good guy and a good player. He was just trying to get us out of our game.”
Nesbitt’s tactics didn’t work. In fact, they may have backfired and kept the Flames so loose they changed from brick-throwers into deadly marksmen from the foul line.
UIC, normally a sub-average 67-percent foul-shooting team, knocked down 24 of 27 free throws (88.9 percent) in Saturday’s 92-83 victory over the Eagles.
UIC went 16 of 17 from the line in the second half and 12 of 13 in the final 10 minutes when they were outscored 25-22 overall.
“Our scouting report didn’t say they were bad free-throw shooters,” Nesbitt said. “I figured if they make them, they make them. Maybe I’m to blame. I was just trying to get them out of their game, but maybe my trash-talking made them shoot so well.”
The victory in a Bracket Buster non-conference game enabled the Flames to snap a two-game losing streak and edge above .500 with a 13-12 record. The Eagles, who are from the Southern Conference, dropped to 16-11.
“Our team responded well from those two losses [to Wisconsin-Green Bay and Loyola],” UIC coach Jimmy Collins said. “Maybe all of the trash-talking out there helped us.”
Georgia Southern coach Jeff Price said, “I knew UIC had struggled from the free-throw line, but it was not our intent to put them there so much. They hurt us inside. They were very tough and physical with Elliott Poole and Armond Williams on the block.”
Officials called 48 fouls in the game, 25 of them against UIC. Four Flames finished the game with four fouls apiece: Williams, Rocky Collum, Jovan Stefanov and Robert Bush, who committed his four in four minutes.
Terry Williams and Courtney Joseph fouled out for the Eagles, who sank 28 of 37 free throws (75.7 percent).
Collins also liked his team’s balanced scoring. Five players finished in double figures, and Karl White just missed with nine points. After Banks’ 24 points, Bowen had 18, Collum 15 on five three-pointers, Williams 13 and Poole 11.
