For UIC, Foreign Trip Paying Dividends

CHICAGO – Coming off a disappointing season, sometimes a team would like to get away.

The UIC Flames were able to do just that, taking a summer tour of Canada as an opportunity to regroup. With a stockade of newcomers and some very important returners, the Flames look to return to the defensive brand of basketball for which they were previously known.

The Flames spent the first two games of a five-games-in-six-days stint getting used to a different rule set, to know each other and, perhaps most importantly, getting to know themselves.

“In those early games in Canada, they were just feeling out each other and feeing out the FIBA rules,” UIC coach Howard Moore said at the Horizon League men’s basketball media day. “We probably had a bunch of travels just because the guys weren’t used to putting the ball on the floor before we take off, like what we do in America. There was a lot of adjustment in the first two games.”

The Flames suffered two losses in Ottawa to open the trip – a 79-76 defeat at the hands of defending national runner-up University of Ottawa and a 64-49 defeat to Charleton University, which has played for the title in nine of the past 10 seasons.

It was once the tour moved to Toronto that the Flames found their stride. An 87-50 win over Toronto and an 81-57 victory against York gave UIC a taste of the success they will strive for heading into a once-again turbulent Horizon League schedule.

But it was the final game of the trip that proved to Moore his team is heading in the right direction. The Flames trailed Brock University by six points at the end of the third quarter. A defensively dominant fourth quarter produced a 71-57 win and a confident mindset heading back to campus.

“I saw a different look in their faces. I saw a lot more leadership. Those guys did it with their defense, and that’s the main thing is group is willing to do to establish our identity,” Moore said. “I don’t think we did that last season. Two years ago, we won 18 games because we played defense. That’s our identity, that’s who we are and this season I know we’re going to reestablish that identity.

“We’ve got to get back to playing good, defensive, UIC basketball. That’s the key.”

The resurgence of the program didn’t start in Canada, however. The Flames hit the gym hard over the summer, working to create the kind of team atmosphere and attitude it felt was lacking when they went 6-25.

As one of UIC’s key returners, senior forward Marc Brown was a driving force behind reestablishing the identity of the Flames. With just one year left in his collegiate career, Brown doesn’t want a repeat of last season’s disappointment to leave a sour taste in his mouth once it’s all said and done.

“I’m just ready to give the team my all,” Brown said. “Throughout my whole career I’ve been pushing to be the best player I can be. Once I leave UIC, I can say that I did that.”

Led by Brown, the program’s returners hope to instill a burning desire and solid work ethic in the team’s many new faces. It has been a long offseason, working all summer and into the fall to move on from the memories of last season.

“I’ve been quick to tell them that last season is not any indication of who they are,” Moore said. “When I look into the faces of the returning players, I look in their eyes and I know they’re going to show the fire and determination that they need to, to do what we need to do this season.”

The Flames were picked last in the preseason Horizon League poll, adding motivation to a group that Moore believes didn’t necessarily need an added boost. His players carry themselves the right way, he said, and have a chip on their collective shoulders for the right reasons.

The fact that the team finished last in the preseason poll wound up playing for a Horizon League tournament championship each of the past two years has no bearing on the Flames.

“It doesn’t matter. Those guys are not us,” Moore said. “It’s different circumstances; different teams, different programs. All I want to focus on is what UIC is doing right now. I think once we understand who we are as a team, then the sky is the limit.”

That’s why summer workouts and the trip to the Great White North meant so much to the Flames.

“It was pretty exciting; I’m happy with the results. I thought it gave our guys a lot of confidence moving forward; and that’s what this is about, having confidence in themselves and understanding what they need to do,” Moore said. “They’re hungry, they’re determined, they’re very motivated and driven. It’s going to be exciting to watch this group transform and come together as the season progresses.”

The early weeks of the season will again be a learning experience for the Flames, once more working to learn who they are and who they need to be. But the team hopes to hit its stride, like it did in Canada, in time for the opening of the Horizon League season.

And they know what they need to do.

“We [have to come] to practice just feeling hungry every day,” Brown said. “We have to keep working hard and giving it our best.”