Illinois-Chicago now counts a Big 10 team (Michigan State), a Big Eight team (Iowa State) and a three-time defending AMCU champion and NCAA qualifier (Southwest Missouri State) among its big-name victims this season at the Pavilion.
Question: When do they stop calling them upsets?
Each time, UIC (10-4) has been helped by one important emotion:
Inspiration. Against Southwest Missouri, a 66-61 victim Saturday, it was a chance to break a 10-game UIC losing streak against coach Charlie Spoonhour`s Bears.
Monday, inspiration might be a little harder to dredge up against 5-6 Eastern Illinois. But UIC would be well-advised to come up with some.
The Panthers are either under construction-or already rebuilt, depending on how you look at it.
Eastern has lost five of its top seven scorers from a year ago, including AMCU Player of the Year Jay Taylor.
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The inexperienced Panthers are led by by 5-10 junior guard Gerald Jones and 6-7 sophomore forward Barry Johnson. But they almost upset AMCU contender Wisconsin-Green Bay Saturday at Green Bay before falling 58-56.