Wright State spoiled senior night at UIC by defeating the Flames 88-81 Sunday evening at the UIC Pavilion. Illinois native Loudon Love led Wright State with 23 points, 15 rebounds and five assists. Grant Benzinger added 21 points and Everett Winchester chipped in 19 points for Wright State.
Redshirt sophomore Dikembe Dixson led UIC (17-14, 12-6) with 19 points. Sophomore Marcus Ottey added 13 points. Sophomore point guard Tarkus Ferguson contributed across the board once again with 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
It was a tale of two halves for UIC, which started strong but could not sustain their impressive start.
UIC’s offense came shooting out of the gates and scored 51 first-half points after shooting 65.6% as a team. Wright State entered the game rated as top-50 defense according to Kenpom.com, but UIC was dominant offensively. Dixson scored 11 points to tie for the team lead. Ferguson stuffed the stat sheet to the tune of 11 points, six assists and five rebounds. Godwin Boahen and Tai Odiase added seven points apiece. Michael Diggins, thrust into extra playing time with Jordan Blount, Tai Odiase and Clint Robinson battling foul trouble, added five points and two blocks.
Wright State was paced by Grant Benzinger and Loudon Love. Benzinger lead Wright State with 16 points and love chipped in 15 points. Everett Winchester added nine points off the bench.
In the second half, Wright State’s defense made adjustments to neutralize UIC’s offense, leading to their victory. UIC only shot 6-of-26 from the field in the second half, which came out to 23.1% from the field. That proved to be the difference for Wright State in their come from behind victory.
Key Sequence
After Dixson scored on a driving layup to bring UIC within one point with 2:04 left in the game, Wright State responded to seal the game. Odiase blocked Love, but Love got the rebound and passed out to Benzinger who missed a three. Cole Gentry grabbed the offensive rebound on a long miss, which eventually led to Winchester scoring in the paint to give Wright State a 84-81 lead with 1:07 left. Wright State nearly took a minute off the clock in that sequence. After a turnover by Ferguson, Winchester once again scored in the paint to give Wright State an 86-81 lead with 20 seconds left.
What It Means
UIC finishes off the regular season in third place in the Horizon League, making a five game improvement from last year.
What’s Next
UIC takes on 6th seeded Milwaukee in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Tournament on Sunday. The Flames have defeated Milwaukee twice this season with the average margin of victory being 16.5 points.
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