Greg Kampe’s Take on UIC

UIC suffered a tough home loss to perennial Horizon League power Oakland on Monday night. The Flames lost 78-68 in a game that was much closer than the final score indicates. Both teams were tied at 65 with 3:43 left in the game.

Oakland eventually pulled away, led by the nation’s #2 leading scorer and Chicago native, Kendrick Nunn. He appears to be the best player in the Horizon League, his talent shined when Oakland needed him most down the stretch. Nunn finished with 32 points, nine rebounds and four assists while playing the entire game.

The loss undoubtedly hurt UIC, but Oakland head coach Greg Kampe sees brighter days for the Flames. UIC and head coach Steve McClain earned praise from Kampe following the close bout between the two programs. “You gotta give a guy time to get his system in,” Kampe explained. “I know one thing, he’s got long athletes. That wasn’t easy to do. So that’s the first step.”

Upon being hired in the spring of 2015, McClain went to work and hit the recruiting trail hard to bring in talented players. He landed Dominique Matthews, who starred at St. Rita in Chicago before taking a post-graduate year at Victory Rock Preparatory School in Florida. Matthews has provided valuable scoring and perimeter defense off the bench this year.

But the most impressive recruiting haul in 2015 was getting Dikembe Dixson in June over several high-major teams, including DePaul. Dixson fits Kampe’s description of long athletes, and he’s picked up his performance of late to play at a high level.

McClain’s best recruiting effort was in the 2016 class, which includes current guards Godwin Boahen, Tarkus Ferguson and Marcus Ottey. Big men Jordan Blount and Clint Robinson are also a part of the 2016 class, which was regarded as one of the top classes in the Horizon League. Landing Ottey was particularly impressive and similar to Dixson, as he considered high-majors as well.

Kampe explained the next stage in developing a mid-major college program. “Now the second step is building a winning culture,” Kampe said. “He knows how to do that. He’s been at Indiana, he’s been at, when he was at Wyoming and won. He’s a really good coach. His culture will take time. Then you gotta win, and that ain’t easy, alright. Now, back in the day, it wasn’t easy when we were building it. So you have to give him time to build his culture because he’s proven that he can recruit players. And now those players need to learn how to win, they have to learn how to win in this league.”

UIC learned a valuable lesson from Oakland on winning and finishing out close games. The Flames’ youth showed, they couldn’t convert on shots when they needed them most. Oakland was poised under pressure, which led to their victory.

But brighter days are on the horizon, success is within reach according to Kampe. “You see that coming, I mean its coming, its close,” Kampe shared. “They’re not far away, and he’s still playing a lot of young kids. I do think they are way ahead of the curve. If I were a UIC fan I would be excited about our future. Now, some people might not be happy because this year hasn’t gone the way it was supposed to, but Tarkus Ferguson was out. That kid’s really good. Injuries at this level are huge, they’re huge at any level but especially at ours because we don’t have McDonald’s All-Americans sitting on the bench like Duke does.”

Kampe touched on the importance of UIC’s point guard. Ferguson has added stability since returning from a foot injury that sidelined him all of December, and UIC has reaped the benefits going 3-1 with him healthy. But in Ferguson’s void, UIC went 1-6 against Division I opponents in December. As Ferguson goes, so does UIC.

The numbers don’t lie. It’s night and day when you dive into the way UIC played with and without Ferguson.

Without Ferguson
1-6 record
58 assists as a team, 123 turnovers

With Ferguson Back
3-1 record
65 assists as a team, 61 turnovers

Ferguson has produced 29 assists since returning, compared to committing only 11 turnovers in 117 minutes. He has not shot the ball well, especially from three, but he affects the game in so many ways that he is clearly integral to UIC’s success.

UIC appears to be trending upwards with 12 conference games left. Kampe thinks UIC is a real wild-card, their season can go in many different directions. “It would not surprise me if they won every game the rest of the year,” Kampe said. “It would not surprise me if they went 50-50.”

Whether you agree or disagree with Kampe’s assessment of UIC’s potential to win out or be mediocre, his take on the Flames and the state of UIC in year three under McClain make them compelling and a team to monitor closely going forward.