CHICAGO - Even though they were playing less than two miles from their own campus, Saturday's tilt with the University of Illinois felt like a road game for the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) Flames. The United Center was packed with orange as if it were a larger version of Assembly Hall.
But after a 40-minute grueling in-state rivalry game, the Flames were the ones that showed the Illini that Chicago was their town. UIC led most of the way, and walked off the court Michael Jordan once made famous with a 57-54 stunning victory over the then 14th ranked Fighting Illini.
The only player to play all 40 minutes of the upset was Maroa-Forsyth alum Robo Kreps, who was a part of the Trojans' most recent state championship in 2007.
Kreps led the Flames with a team-high 15 points, and also contributed five rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal to the winning effort. He began the game's scoring by draining a three in the opening minute and had nine points, all from beyond the arc, in the game's first four and a half minutes.
"The coaches told me I needed to be more aggressive and keep attacking," Kreps said. "I knew tonight I would need to be a leader for my team and attack on the offensive end."
"When Robo gets it going, it gives the team a huge lift offensively," Kreps' UIC teammate Zavion Neely said. Neely added 11 points and four assists for the Flames.
The teams were tied at 28 at the half, but the Flames did not trail until D.J. Richardson sank a three-pointer to give Illinois a 53-51 lead with 9 minutes, 41 seconds to go in the game.
Illinois then opened up 49-41 lead and were seemingly ready to pull away. But Kreps hit a huge three with 5:34 to go to cut the Illini lead to five.
UIC would grab a 53-52 lead in the final minute and hold off three Illini possessions where they had a chance to retake the lead. Kreps hit one of two free throw shots in the final seconds to seal the 57-54 victory.
"Obviously this is a huge win," Kreps said. "I think this is a springboard for us. We proved to ourselves that we can beat no matter who we are playing. In our conference, we need to focus on Butler and Cleveland State who are undefeated right now. This (win) gives us a ton of confidence."
Asked on how it was to quiet down a crowd of mostly Illini fans even though they were about a mile away from campus, Kreps responded: "Midway through the second half I took a look at the crown and noticed that the second tier was orange and the third tier was orange. When Illinois scored it was loud and when we scored, it was relatively quiet. But we've been in some tough games before and I thought we fought through really well today."
Flames head coach Howard Moore credited his seniors, including Kreps, for the win.
"You want to have moments like this for your seniors to remember," UIC head coach Howard Moore said.
The loss dropped the Fighting Illini in the polls, and Illinois is currently on a two-game losing streak; losing to the University of Missouri just days after the UIC defeat.
UIC followed the win with a road loss to Oregon State Wednesday night.
Photo: UIC guard and Maroa-Forsyth alum Robo Kreps (3) is guarded by the Illini's D.J. Richardson (1) during Saturday's stunner at the United Center.
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