Illinois-Chicago (5-3, 2-1) vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (3-5, 2-5)
Hilliard Gates Center, Fort Wayne, Indiana; Saturday, 5 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Illinois-Chicago seeks revenge on Purdue Fort Wayne after dropping the first matchup in Fort Wayne. The teams last met on Jan. 8, when the Mastodons shot 53.6 percent from the field while holding Illinois-Chicago to just 42.9 percent on their way to a seven-point victory.
LEADING THE WAY: Purdue Fort Wayne’s Jarred Godfrey has averaged 18.5 points and 4.9 rebounds while Jalon Pipkins has put up 12 points. For the Flames, Teyvion Kirk has averaged 15.9 points, seven rebounds and 8.5 assists while Rob Howard has put up 13.8 points and 6.8 rebounds.
TAKE IT UP A NOTCH: The Mastodons have scored 78.3 points per game against conference opponents so far, an improvement from the 67 per game they recorded in non-conference play.
FUELING THE OFFENSE: Kirk has been directly responsible for 59 percent of all Illinois-Chicago field goals over the last three games. The junior guard has 29 field goals and 28 assists in those games.
PASSING FOR POINTS: The Flames have recently created baskets via assists more often than the Mastodons. Purdue Fort Wayne has an assist on 36 of 87 field goals (41.4 percent) over its past three contests while Illinois-Chicago has assists on 57 of 96 field goals (59.4 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: Both Illinois-Chicago and Purdue Fort Wayne are ranked at the top of the Horizon when it comes to 3-point shooting. The Flames are ranked first in the conference with 9.8 3-pointers made per game this season while the Mastodons are ranked second at 8.4 per game.
___
For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25
___
This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
