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CHICAGO, Ill. – In the first of back-to-back nights of exhibition games against Division I opponents, the Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team lost by an 81-60 score to Illinois-Chicago at The UIC Pavilion on Thursday, Nov. 1.
 
"I was overall happy with our effort," IWU head coach Ron Rose told WJBC Radio in a postgame interview. "After only two weeks of practice I think we competed hard and playing a game like this gives us some idea of what we need to get better at."
 
IWU shot 34 percent from the field (22 of 65) and made 5 of 23 from 3-point range (22 percent). The Flames shot 45 percent from the floor (29 of 64) and hit on 7 of 24 of their 3-point efforts (29 percent).
 
Illinois Wesleyan got 16 points from sophomore Doug Wallen and 13 points out of senior Brady Rose. Junior Alex O'Neill collected a team-high eight rebounds and senior Jason Gregoire nabbed seven.
 
The Titans trailed by a 14-5 score early but closed to within one at 23-22 with 8:29 before half but the Flames closed out on a 12-3 run to take a 35-25 lead into the locker room.
 
Illinois-Chicago had five players score in double figures, led by Jordan Blount with 17 and Tarkus Ferguson with 15. Blount also got a game-high 11 rebounds as the Flames outrebounded the Titans, 46-44, and UIC committed only nine turnovers compared to 16 for Illinois Wesleyan.

Illinois Wesleyan will play another Division I exhibition game against the University of Illinois at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2, at Champaign's State Farm Center.
The Illini were 14-18 overall and 4-14 in the Big 10 Conference under first-year head coach Brad Underwood. The top returners for Illinois include sophomore guard Trent Frazier (12.5 point average) and junior forward Kipper Nichols (10.0 points). It will be the first game for Illinois graduate transfer Adonis De La Rosa, junior college transfer Andres Feliz and freshmen Ayo Dosunmu, Tevian Jones, Alan Griffin, Giorgi Bezhanishvili, Samba Kane and Anthony Higgs.

The Titans and Illini last met in an exhibition game on Nov. 3, 2005, at the Assembly Hall in a game won by Illinois, 82-60. IWU trailed by only one at 45-44 with 13:23 to play before the Illini went on a 10-point run to grab a 55-44 lead with 10:25 left.

Prior to that game, the schools had not met since the 1933-34 season. Illinois has a 6-0 record against IWU in intercollegiate varsity games.
 

DATE	SCORE	LOCATION
January 5, 1912	Illinois 44, Illinois Wesleyan 12	Champaign, Ill.
December 30, 1912	Illinois 18, Illinois Wesleyan 13	Champaign, Ill.
December 12, 1914	Illinois 50, Illinois Wesleyan 39	Champaign, Ill.
January 1, 1916	Illinois 25, Illinois Wesleyan 18	Bloomington, Ill.
December 16, 1921	Illinois 35, Illinois Wesleyan 19	Champaign, Ill.
December 16, 1933	Illinois 39, Illinois Wesleyan 19	Champaign, Ill.

The Titans open their regular season on Sunday, Nov. 11 against the University of Chicago. Go here to see the entire IWU men's basketball schedule.