Thursday Night League Action Features Chicago vs. Northeastern Ohio

Thursday, Jan. 5 Horizon League Men's Basketball Schedule:
UIC at Cleveland State, 7 p.m. ET (Horizon League Network)
Loyola at Youngstown State, 7:05 p.m. ET (Horizon League Network)

Two of the teams near the top of the Horizon League ladder will attempt to fend off two opponents looking to climb the standings on Thursday night. UIC (5-9, 1-3 Horizon) meets Cleveland State (12-3, 2-1 Horizon), while Youngstown State (7-6, 2-1 Horizon) hosts Loyola (5-9, 0-4 Horizon).

At the Wolstein Center, a fiesty UIC bunch will try to hand Cleveland State its second straight loss in conference play. While the Flames are 1-3 in League play, all four games have come down to the wire. After dropping two road games by a total of five points - one in overtime at League-leading Milwaukee - UIC knocked off Detroit by four points before succumbing in overtime against Wright State. The results have been a microcosm of the year for the Flames, who have played a total of eight games decided by five points or less.

Cleveland State will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Youngstown State last Saturday. Over the last four games, the Vikings have struggled defensively, with three of those opponents reaching 64 or more points, including the Penguins' 73-point performance on Dec. 31.

A key for CSU against UIC will be to force turnovers. Led by D'Aundray Brown, who ranks seventh nationally with 2.7 steals per game, the Vikings rank 10th in the country with a 4.7 turnover margin; UIC is last in the Horizon League with a -4.6 mark. The Vikings have forced an average of 19.0 turnovers per game, having forced six opponents into 20 or more miscues. The Flames enter Thursday night's game averaging a League-worst 16.4 turnovers.

Brown and Jeremy Montgomery will be tasked with stopping the prodcutive UIC back court of Gary Talton and Daniel Barnes, who have shouldered the scoring load for the Flames. Talton had 21 points in consecutive games last week, while Barnes has gone over 17 points five times this year. Up front, UIC will turn to Darrin Williams to dominate the post; Williams has hit 60 percent of his field goals this season, second in the League. Williams' 6.6 rebounds per contest ranks eight in the conference.

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After playing three straight road games to open League play, Youngstown State returns to the Beeghly Center to face a Loyola squad looking for its first conference win of the year. The Penguins sit in a four-way tie for third and are a one-point loss at Wright State away from being the lone unbeaten team in the Horizon League.

One of the most veteran squads in the League, Youngstown State has relied on the three-pointer this season, attempting 24.8 threes per game. Knocking down 9.6 per game, the Penguins rank fifth in the country. Blake Allen and Du'Shawn Brooks have led the aerial assault, with Brooks hitting 3.2 per game and 43.8 percent of his attempts. Brooks is connecting on 47.3 percent of his three-pointers, including an absurd 63.2 percent in three League games. Through the first two weeks of League play, Brooks leads the conference with 19.3 ppg.

In the post, Damian Eargle will look to build on a double-double effort at Cleveland State that earned him Horizon League Player of the Week honors. The junior, renowned for his shot-blocking, had just one versus the Vikings, but tallied 20 points and 10 rebounds in the win. On the year, Eargle is averaging 4.1 blocks per game, third in the NCAA.

Tasked with slowing Eargle will be the Loyola tandem of Ben Averkamp and Walt Gibler. Over his last six games, Averkamp is putting up 20.3 ppg and 7.7 rpg. The junior is just one of two players in the Horizon League to be ranked in the top five in both scoring and rebounding.

His fellow pre-med major, Gibler is closing in on becoming the 18th player in Loyola history to reach the 1,000-point and 500-rebound plateaus. Over Loyola's last five games, in which the Ramblers have gone 3-2, Gibler has posted 16.0 ppg and 8.3 rpg. The duo each posted double-doubles on Saturday, with Averkamp recording 20 points and 11 boards, while Gibler added 10 points and 11 rebounds.