Friday, March 7th, 8:20 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Hinkle Fieldhouse (11,043) -- Indianapolis, Indiana. Television: None. Home Record: Loyola 8-6, UIC 12-2. Away Record: Loyola 4-12, UIC 5-9. Neutral Record: Loyola 0-0, UIC 0-3. Conference Record: Loyola 6-12, UIC 9-9. Series Record: Illinois-Chicago leads, 26-13.

GAME NOTES: For the third time in the last four seasons, the Illinois-Chicago Flames and the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers mix it up in the postseason as the two squads match up tonight at Hinkle Fieldhouse during the second round of the Horizon League Tournament. The fourth-seeded Flames, who have two tournament titles to their credit, took care of Youngstown State on Tuesday night in a 70-59 decision. The win was the second straight for the team and the third in the last four outings. As for the eighth-seeded Ramblers, who closed out the regular season with three straight road tilts, they bounced back from back-to- back losses by beating Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the opening round on Tuesday by a score of 57-51. With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, UIC leads by a count of 26-13. The winner of this game advances to the semifinals on Saturday where it will be pitted against top-seeded Butler.

On the road at U.S. Cellular Arena three nights ago, the Ramblers were paced by J.R. Blount who made good on 8-of-11 shots from the floor to finish with 23 points, followed by Tracy Robinson and Ross Forman with 13 and 10 points, respectively. The team survived despite suffering 16 turnovers and shooting a mere 22.2 percent behind the three-point line. Over the course of 30 starts this season, Blount has led the program with his 15.4 ppg, but his 39.1 percent shooting from the field has done little to impress the opposition. Worse yet, for some reason he considers himself a three-point threat even though he has converted a mere 27-of-112 out on the perimeter. The team as a whole is shooting a feeble 27.9 percent behind the three-point line and is posting only 61.7 ppg.

Luckily the Flames built their 16-point lead in the first half against YSU on Tuesday, because in the second half the team burned out with just nine total field goals. Robert Bush posted a club-best 14 points, followed by Josh Mayo and Spencer Stewart with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Scott VanderMeer contributed just seven points, but made a big difference on the glass where he cleared 13 boards. One of the top three-point shooters in the league this season, Mayo has been able to knock down 48.4 percent of his tries out on the perimeter, resulting in his team-best 17.5 ppg. But more than just a scorer, Mayo is also second on the roster with 104 assists and first with 39 steals. Because of Mayo's efforts, UIC has hit a combined 40 percent from three-point range. VanderMeer (9.4 ppg) is not only the leader in rebounding with seven and a half per game, he's also accounted for 82 of the unit's 145 blocks.

Both of these programs rely heavily on just one primary scorer, but in the case of the Flames they know they can also count on VanderMeer to do some things on the inside to bring the team into the winner's circle.

Predicted Outcome

Illinois-Chicago 66, Loyola-Chicago 60