By Mark Bennett
Within just 18 seconds, the Indiana State
Sycamores' predicament became clear Sunday night.
Illinois-Chicago point guard Martell Bailey
dribbled past ISU freshman Lamar Grimes and banged in a layup
off the glass in UIC Pavilion.
"Bailey set the tone right at the beginning
of the game, when he went right by us," Indiana State Coach
Royce Waltman said. All night. As a result, ISU got beat 70-54.
Before long, Bailey was routinely zipping
assists through the Sycamore defense, and his high school sidekick
Cedric Banks was roaring down the lane for second-chance baskets.
In ISU's first game of the 2001-02 college basketball season,
the Sycamores (0-1) learned minute by minute how much quicker
these Flames (1-0) were.
They'd seen Bailey, Banks and other Illinois-Chicago
players on the recruiting trails and heard scouting reports in
practice from the coaching staff and the Chicago-born Sycamores.
But Bailey and Banks - making their collegiate debuts after being
ineligible last season - were even better in real life.
"Not knowing about it was not near as
bad as finding out about it," Waltman said.
ISU senior guard Kelyn Block admitted to being
surprised by Illinois-Chicago, a team that struggled to an 11-17
record last season with Banks and Bailey in street clothes.
"Going over their offense in practice,
I don't think we really understood how they were moving and how
strong they were on the boards," said Block, who led the
team in points with 15, rebounds with five and assists with five.
By game's end, Bailey had 11 assists. The
Sycamores had 12 as a team. Illinois-Chicago grabbed 19 offensive
rebounds. ISU managed six rebounds on offense. Even UIC's smaller
players - labeled "miracle midgets" by Flames Coach
Jimmy Collins - crashed the boards. "We've been working
on things like that in practice," Banks said. The sophomore,
who stands 6-foot-2, had six rebounds to go with 12 points. And
his 12 points backed Jonathan Schneiderman's team-high 14 points.
Size wasn't ISU's problem.
"It was their quickness," Waltman
said of the Flames. "Their guards went by us and got offensive
rebounds."
If Bailey hadn't been passing, he might have
been scoring more. "Most of my assists came off penetration,"
he said.
Despite UIC's superior quickness, the Sycamores
stayed close ... for a while.
But a layup by Block with 14 minutes and 12
seconds left in the first half must have triggered something
in Banks, a 6-foot-2 forward. Block's basket put Illinois-Chicago
behind 12-9. Banks isn't used to losing in Chicago. As a high
schooler at Chicago Westinghouse, he Bailey won 132 of 135 games.
In less than five minutes the Sycamores' lead
had vanished. Three left-handed jumpers by Banks and a three-point
play by Armond Williams over ISU freshman Jerod Adler helped
the Flames move ahead 18-12.
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| Tribune-Star/Joseph
C. Garza |
| Trapped: Indiana State University
guard Kelyn Block finds himself in a trap as University of Illinois
at Chicago guard Jordan Kardos (right) attempts to wrestle the
ball away from him in the UIC Pavillion Sunday in Chicago. |
And twice when the Sycamores cut into Illinois-Chicago's
growing first-half lead, Bailey scored right back. The clincher
came as the half ended. Grimes worked for what seemed to be one
last shot, dishing off to Michael Kernan for a layup with five
seconds left.
But Bailey drove the length of the court for
a layup as the first-half buzzer sounded. Illinois-Chicago led
36-25.
The Sycamores spent the rest of the night
chasing the Flames.
The only other Sycamore to join Block in double
figures was center Terence Avery, who had 10 points and five
rebounds.
ISU's third senior, forward Djibril Kante,
was limited by foul trouble. The 6-8, 245-pound Kante finished
with four fouls. "We were kind fortunate that their big
guys got the early fouls," Collins said of ISU's frontcourt,
"and they seemed for a moment not to be as aggressive."
Still, some of those fouls came when Kante
and Avery had to pick up UIC's speedy guards on defense after
they'd driven past Sycamore teammates.
The evening was a lesson for Waltman's youngest
players, such as Grimes, who made his college starting debut
in his hometown, finishing with eight points, two assists and
three turnovers in 17 minutes. Three others made their Sycamore
debuts - junior-college transfer Batiste Haywood and freshmen
forwards Adler and Jake Sams - without scoring.
"This was a great game for them,"
Waltman said. "We've told them they have to find a different
pace to play at, and this game exposed that."
Their next chance comes at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday
when Valparaiso visits Hulman Center.
Sophomore guard Marcus Howard, who returned
from a stress fracture in his foot to get seven points in 19
minutes against Illinois-Chicago, said more intensity will be
necessary that night. Howard didn't get a rebound Sunday, and
ISU got outrebounded 41-29.
"We've just got to do a better job of
everyone going to the boards," Howard said, "me especially."
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