Kent State University
4-0
University of Illinois - Chicago
1-3
Men's Basketball improves to 4-0 with a 78-60 win over UIC
11/22/2014 9:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball
KENT, Ohio – Derek Jackson, Devareaux Manley, Kris Brewer and Jimmy Hall all scored in double-figures and 10 different players entered the scoring column for Kent State in a 78-60 win over Illinois-Chicago on Saturday night at the M.A.C. Center.
The total team effort helped the Golden Flashes improve to 4-0 on the young season, setting up a matchup with Yale at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday for the championship of the Men Against Breast Cancer Classic. Both teams are 2-0 after the tournament's first two days.
Jackson led the Flashes with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, including 3-of-4 from three-point range. Manley added 15 while going 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. Brewer and Hall contributed 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Kent State outscored Illinois-Chicago by 27 points on three-pointers alone, hitting 11-of-22 compared to 2-of-13 for the Flames, who shot just 35.3 percent (18-for-51) from the field overall.
"We just shared the ball and played defense," said Brewer. "This year there has been a big emphasis of not letting teams come in here and do what they want to do. Tomorrow we just have to keep it up and play like we did tonight and yesterday (a 74-51 win over Southern Illinois)."
"The staple of our program is playing hard every night," added Jackson. "We are playing hard, the seniors are taking leadership, and we are playing well together as a team … The ball was moving around and I knocked down some shots."
For the second night in a row, Jackson was also the leader of an impressive team effort on defense.
"Derek has been fantastic defensively," said head coach Rob Senderoff. "Paris Burns was 1-for-10 tonight. Yesterday, the kid Derek guarded came in averaging 23 per game, and he had just 11 points and turned it over four times."
Kent State's only issue on the night was finding a way to slow down Illinois-Chicago power forward Jake Wiegand, who scored 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting. He also added nine rebounds.
Take Wiegand out of the box score, and the Flames converted just 19 percent from the field (7-of-36). Jay Harris provided some help in the second half for Illinois-Chicago, scoring 10 of his 14 after the break.
Kent State out-scored UIC off of the bench 29-10 and won the rebounding battle 40-30 thanks to a 10-rebound effort by Khaliq Spicer.
The Flashes also played a clean game offensively with 14 assists on 26 baskets and just seven turnovers. Kellon Thomas contributed a career-high five assists off the bench.
