The cities of Green Bay and Chicago are no strangers to rivalry games, and despite UIC jumping to Missouri Valley Conference, the two schools continue to play this rivalry. The 110th rendition of this series went down to the wire on Tuesday night, when Green Bay upset the Flames 70-68 after Elijah Jones hit the game winner with 0.6 seconds left in the game. It was Green Bay’s first and only lead of the night.
UIC started off blazing hot from the field, starting the game on a 12-2 run and leading by as much as 12 points throughout most of the 1st half. However, as it has almost all season, the Phoenix chipped away little by little, bringing the game back to as close as 3 before going into the break trailing 37-31. The Flames would go onto to extend the lead to as much as 10 with with 12:30 remaining in the game.
Despite the lead swelling, Noah Reynolds followed the Coach Sundance mantra, and Brought the Juice, leading the Phoenix to charge back into the contest. Reynolds led all scorers with 31 points on 11-20 shooting from the floor and 8-10 from the line. David Douglas Jr. and Elijah Jones also reached double digits, scoring 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Green Bay doesn’t have much time to celebrate this one, as the Phoenix travel to Norman, OK to take on the 11th ranked Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday evening.