DePaul University Athletics
South on Halsted: Blue Demons at UIC Wednesday Night
12/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S BASKETBALL
CHICAGO - DePaul concludes a stretch of five straight games away from home with a Wednesday contest at UIC. Wednesday's game is the first since an 82-78 win over Norfolk State on Nov. 23 at the Paradise Jam. The Blue Demons and Flames are scheduled for a 7 p.m. start at the UIC Pavilion as the Blue Demons play in Chicago for the first time since opening the season at McGrath-Phillips Arena on Nov. 14.
Wednesday's game will be televised on Comcast SportsNet Chicago Plus with Jordan Bernfield (play-by-play) and David Kaplan (analyst) handling the television duties. The broadcast can also be seen online at horizonleague.org. DePaul's radio tandem of Zach Zaidman (play-by-play) and Jeff Blanzy (play-by-play) can be heard on WYLL 1160 AM and online on BlueTube at www.depaulbluedemons.com. Live stats can be found on GameTracker at www.depaulbluedemons.com while in-game scoring updates and notes can be followed at www.twitter.com/depaulsid.
DePaul is at 2-3 while UIC stands at 1-3 early in the 2015-16 campaign. The Blue Demons opened the season with a 69-63 win over Western Michigan before consecutive losses to Penn State, South Carolina and Florida State followed by the win over Norfolk State. Head coach Dave Leitao is in his fourth season at DePaul and his first since returning to the program after leading the Blue Demons to three postseasons in three years from 2002-05. Overall, the 2015-16 campaign is Leitao's 10th as a head coach at the collegiate level. UIC is led by Steve McClain who is in his first season leading the Flames.
Following the UIC game, the Blue Demons open their 36th season at Allstate Arena on Saturday afternoon against Chicago State. Saturday's game is the 500th in program history in Rosemont and is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start on FS1 and WYLL 1160 AM.
Noting the Blue Demons: The men's basketball program is 1,421-945 (.601) all-time... the 81-70 win over Florida Atlantic on Dec. 12, 2013 was win No. 1,400 since start of 1923-24 season... the Blue Demons have knocked down at least one three-pointer in 681 straight games... DePaul's last game without a three was Feb. 16, 1993 against UAB at Allstate Arena... the Blue Demons set school records in 2014-15 with 248 three's and 705 attempts... the Blue Demons are 332-167 (.665) all-time at Allstate Arena... DePaul is 10-1 (.909) all-time in games at McGrath-Phillips Arena... over the last five seasons, DePaul is 13-1 against Chicagoland opponents (Chicago State, UIC, Loyola-Chicago, Northern Illinois, Northwestern)... in the last 10 seasons, the record against locals is 18-5... DePaul faces UIC (Dec. 2), Chicago State (Dec. 5) and Northwestern (Dec. 19) this season.
The Opponent: UIC enters Wednesday's game at 1-3 following an 83-62 loss at Drake on Saturday... DePaul travels to Drake next Wednesdsay... the Flames opened the season with losses to San Francisco and Western Illinois before a 96-58 win over Roosevelt... Tai Odiase leads the team with 12.8 points per game while Dikembe Dixson adds a scoring average of 10.5 with a team-best 6.8 rebounds per game... head coach Steve McClain is in his first season at UIC... DePaul head coach Dave Leitao is 1-0 against UIC... he led the Blue Demons to an 80-62 win over the Flames on Dec. 18, 2004 at Allstate Arena.
The Series: Wednesday is the sixth meeting between the two programs... DePaul holds a 4-1 advantage... a year ago, Billy Garrett Jr. beat the buzzer in a 72-71 win for DePaul in the season opener at McGrath-Phillips Arena... the Blue Demons have won both meetings at the UIC Pavilion... UIC's win in the series was an 85-80 decision on Dec. 15, 2007 at Allstate Arena.
Against the Horizon League: DePaul is 71-19 all-time against the current membership of the Horizon League... the most common opponent from the conference is Detroit with 36 all-time meetings... the Blue Demons lead that series by a 29-7 margin... DePaul is also 16-6 against Valparaiso and 13-1 against Milwaukee... last season, the Blue Demons defeated both UIC and Milwaukee.
It Could Happen: Billy Garrett Jr. (328 free throws) enters the game tied with Bill Haig (1958-61) for 13th on DePaul's all-time free throw list... with nine free throws, Garrett moves into the top 10... on the all-time assists chart, Garrett (237 assists) needs one assist for sole possession of 25th place... he is tied with Skip Dillard (1979-82)... Tommy Hamilton IV needs 11 points for 600 career... Myke Henry is playing in his 95th career game... he has played in 37 games at DePaul and 57 at Illinois... Peter Ryckbosch is playing in his 50th career game.
Demon Doings: Notes following DePaul's 82-78 win against Norfolk State on Nov. 23:
- DePaul led by as many as 14 points midway through the second half before Norfolk State used six three-pointers to fuel a comeback... Norfolk State set a school record with 14 three's in the game... Aaron Simpson went 3-for-4 from the free throw line and Myke Henry blocked Norfolk State's final attempt to seal the win.
- Tommy Hamilton IV recorded his second career game without a miss from the field (minimum five attempts)... he also went 7-for-7 at Chicago State on Dec. 4, 2014... the 20 points marked his third career 20-point game.
- Billy Garrett Jr. recorded his sixth career 20-point game.
- DePaul is 3-3 all-time at the Paradise Jam... the Blue Demons finished third in 2009.
- Monday was the first meeting between the two programs... DePaul is 3-2 all-time against teams from the MEAC.
Trendy: DePaul has attempted 46 field goals in both wins this season... over the last two games, DePaul is shooting .371 (13-35) from three-point range... in the first three games of the season, the Blue Demons went just 7-for-40 (.175) from behind the arc... in wins, DePaul is averaging 14.0 assists compared to 7.3 per game in losses... the Norfolk State game was the first of the season that DePaul led at halftime... the DePaul bench has outscore the opposition in four of five games.
On Deck: DePaul hosts Chicago State on Saturday at Allstate Arena... the Blue Demons have won all 13 meetings against the Cougars... Chicago State is 3-4 and plays at Northern Illinois on Wednesday.
