It’s not a good idea to show up for the Big Dance with two left feet. And it’s hard to take the next step when your two best scorers can’t hit the eastern time zone with a jump shot.
Now Illinois-Chicago knows that. Now it knows that in order to advance in the NCAA tournament, it needs to have its best players playing their best. That didn’t happen Thursday, as North Carolina-Charlotte ended the Flames’ dream season 77-62. But it didn’t take away from the accomplishments of a 22-6 season and UIC’s first NCAA tournament bid.
“This program has come a long way,” said second-year coach Jimmy Collins.
With Mark Miller and Bryant Lowe struggling on offense, however, UIC had no way to answer the 49ers’ DeMarco Johnson (30 points, 15 rebounds) and Sean Colson (18 points, 13 assists). Lowe shot 2 of 11 from the field, and Miller shot 4 of 12, with two of his baskets coming on alley-oop dunks.
“Maybe me and Mark were a little over-geeked, a little too excited,” Lowe said.
It makes sense that nerves strangled UIC. This was the first tournament invitation in 51 years of Flames basketball. They wished they had put on a better show, but the process of getting here will form the memories that endure.
“Nobody expected us to be in the tournament,” Collins said. “We’re a good ballclub. We don’t have a post attack. Nor do we have anybody in there who can defend. . . . We beat a lot of good teams with three players.”
The problem Thursday was that UIC had only one player on his game. Point guard Anthony Coomes scored 19 points, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
The Flames trailed 36-31 at halftime and had every reason to think they could win. Johnson was getting his points, but UIC was eking out an existence on the boards. That ended early in the second half. Time of possession normally is a statistic used in football, but it fit Thursday. For the first one minute, eight seconds of the second half, the 49ers controlled the ball, grabbing several missed shots before Colson hit a jumper.
Thus began North Carolina-Charlotte’s 13-5 run, and thus began the beginning of the end for the Flames. UIC got within 11 points, at 58-47 on Coomes’ steal and layup with 10:23 left, but it turned out to be an illusion.
The Flames couldn’t contain Colson, who seemed to drive the lane whenever he wanted, and they couldn’t handle Johnson, who found enough time from his work inside to hit two of three three-point attempts.
“He’s just like a horse, man,” Lowe said. “He’s big, he’s strong, he’s 6-9.”
Johnson, the Conference USA Player of the Year, was delighted with his working conditions Thursday.
“It kind of surprised me for a while that they played me one-on-one,” he said. “My eyes got a little big.”
UIC struggled all year against teams with talented, physical players, so Thursday didn’t come as a surprise. The way UNC-Charlotte shut down Miller did, however. Its strategy was to contest every perimeter shot.
“I just never got a good look at the basket,” said Miller, who scored eight points, well below his 20.1 average.
Collins said that if anyone had predicted a 22-6 record for UIC before the season, they would have been “taken to a hospital.” And after their first taste of the tournament, the Flames wanted more.
One of the bigger cheers of the afternoon came after UIC walk-on Frank Wade made a layup with eight seconds left in the game. Every player on the roster got a taste of playing in the tournament.
That wasn’t what Collins had in mind when he woke up Thursday, but it wasn’t a bad consolation. He clapped along with the crowd.