Horizon League Notebook
by Cory Eve
Coaching Shake-up in the Horizon
Jimmy Collins, who holds the record for all-time wins at Illinois-Chicago, took a personal leave of absence from the team on Saturday citing personal reasons. There is no specific timetable for Collins to return, and associate head coach Mark Coomes has taken over the head coaching role for the time being. Collins has taken the Flames to the NCAA tournament three times in his 13 years as head coach and compiled a record of 168-146.
It’s up in the air how this will affect the Flames who are now 6-8 after a home loss to Illinois State on Saturday, but right now they are struggling. The Flames are currently on a three-game losing streak with losses to Ole Miss, Penn, and Illinois State. The future does not get any easier for the Flames either because three out of their next four games are against the three top teams in the league, Wright State (5-5), #15 Butler (12-1), and Loyola (Ill.) (9-4). It’ll be interesting to see if the absence of Collins sparks the Flames or drenches them with a fire hose.
Despite what has happened to Illinois-Chicago over the past week, the other teams in the Horizon League played a little better basketball. The league posted a record of 7-6 in the past week which is just a smidgen better than the 1-7 record it had in the previous week. Youngstown State got a good win over a Kent State team that only lost to Duke by seven points at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and even though they lost, Wisconsin Green-Bay played a tough game at #25 Michigan State and only lost by 12. Although they did not play a pretty game, Butler continued to win as they beat the Evansville Aces 76-65. Even the struggling Detroit Titans notched a win for the Horizon League in the past week.
Who’s Hot
1. A.J. Graves, Butler:
Graves has put up 47 points in his past two games against Purdue and Evansville. In those two games, he shot a combined 50 percent from the three-point line (7-14), 100 percent from the free-throw line (14-14), and 54 percent from the field (13-24).
2. Dashaun Wood, Wright State:
Although Wright State is only 3-2 in their past five games, it is to no fault of Dashaun Wood. The Raiders guard has scored at least 17 points or more in all of their past five games, and is averaging 21.2 points per game over that five game span.
3. Ryan Evanochko, Wisconsin Green-Bay:
Let’s not forget about the guys that distribute the ball either. The Phoenix’s guard has recorded 26 assists and only seven turnovers in his past three games, including a Steve Nash-like performance with 16 assists against Chicago State in a winning effort. That’s nearly a 4-1 assist to turnover ratio over the past three games.
4. Quin Humphrey and Kreston Roberts, Youngstown State:
The best duo in the Horizon League, and they do it every single game. Quin Humphrey is the second leading scorer in the Horizon League averaging nearly 18 points per game, and he has not had a game less than 10 points this whole season. He’s scored over 20 points five times and over 15 points nine times. He’s also averaging just above six rebounds a game to go along with his scoring. Kreston Roberts is averaging just over 17 points per game, including an average of 23 points per game over his last five games. Kreston has only scored less than 10 points twice, and that was in the first two games of the season. The other teams in the Horizon are going to have a tough time shutting down this duo the rest of the season.
Who’s Not
1. Josh Mayo, Illinois-Chicago:
The Flames’ second leading scorer has scored 23 points in his last three games, which is an average of about 7.7 points per game, nearly four points lower than his regular average of 11 points per game. Although four points may not sound like a lot, Josh is only shooting 30 percent (6-20) from the field in the past three games, and Illinois-Chicago has lost all three contests.
2. Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2-11):
After a loss to Sam Houston State on Friday, the Panthers have now lost seven straight games, and they have the top two teams in the Horizon, Butler and Loyola (Ill.), coming up in their next four games.
