UIC (11-10 and 5-5) is one of the best home teams in the league having won nine of its 10 games at the UIC Pavilion. Outside of the comfy confines of the Pavilion, the Flames are just 2-9. UIC’s latest home victim was Cleveland State. Josh Mayo scored 29 points against the Vikings on Thursday night. Mayo was 9-of-11 from the field, 4-of-5 from behind the 3-point arc and was 7-of-9 from the line. UIC outscored Cleveland State 47-37 in the second half in the come-from-behind victory.

    Earlier this season, the Penguins defeated the Flames 80-68 on Jan. 3 at the Beeghly Center. Both Barber and Vytas Sulskis scored career highs in the contest. After losing the first 16 all-time meetings, YSU has won the last two games - both at Beeghly. Youngstown State has never won at the UIC Pavilion dropping all eight decisions.

    YSU returns home for the first time since Jan. 19 on Thursday to play host to Detroit.

• This is the 19th all-time meeting between YSU and UIC. The Penguins have won the past two meetings winning the final game of last season and first meeting this year.

• In eight games at the UIC Pavilion, YSU has been outscored by an average of 79.3 to 65.3 points per game.

• YSU has made 24-of-27 from the free-throw line (88.8 percent) the past two games. The Guins were 8-of-10 at Loyola on Thursday and 16-of-17 at Green Bay.

• The Penguins shot a season-high 57.1 percent from the field at Loyola. It was the team’s fourth-best shooting performance in 80 games under Coach Slocum.

• YSU is 2-0 following one-point losses under Coach Slocum. After a 79-78 loss at Robert Morris last year, the Guins won three straight. After an 85-84 loss at UIC two years ago, YSU went on to win its next two.

• YSU is 5-2 when making at least seven 3-pointers in a game.

• YSU had won 15 straight games when leading at halftime, but has now dropped its last two consecutive when leading at the break (Valpo and Green Bay).

• The Guins have won 12 of their last 14 games when shooting 50 percent and won their last seven when scoring 80 points.

• In the seven wins, YSU has averaged 76 points, shot 47.8 percent from the field, had 128 assists on 189 baskets, committed 87 turnovers and shot 39.8 percent from 3-point range.

• YSU has made at least 10 3-pointers on 11 occasions under Coach Slocum.

• Senior guard Byron Davis has scored in double figures in a career-best 17 games this year. He had 14 points at Loyola.

• Senior forward John Barber has scored in double figures 17 times this season. He had 23 double-figure point games entering the year. Barber had 19 at Loyola on Thursday.

• Twice this year YSU has had five players score in double figures (Lock Haven, Robert Morris). Six times at least four players have reached double digits, including Thursday’s game at Loyola.

• Barber will be playing his 108th career game on Saturday while senior Dwight Holmes will appear in his 102nd contest.

• Davis has played in 108 career contests - 57 at New Mexico State and 51 at YSU.

    UIC is 9-1 at home this season while posting a 2-9 record outside of the UIC Pavilion. The Flames’ only home loss was a 76-75 setback to Wright State on Jan. 17. UIC has scored at least 74 points in nine of its 10 home games, while on the road they have scored that many just once.

    UIC got off to a hot start and never looked back in an 80-64 win over Youngstown State at the UIC Pavilion on Dec. 2, 2006.

    The Flames shot 66.7 percent in the first half (18-of-27) and took a 44-23 lead at halftime. YSU battled in the second half thanks to 16 points from Quin Humphrey to keep the game within reach.

    UIC took its largest lead of the game at 57-35 with 13:52 remaining, but YSU got the margin down to 15 with a 3-pointer by Keston Roberts with 6:32 remaining. That was as close as the Guins would get.

    The Flames shot 50 percent for the game while YSU shot 34 percent.

    Humphrey finished with 18 points while Roberts contributed 14.

    Vytas Sulskis scored a career-high 26 points and John Barber posted his sixth career double-double with a career-best 24 points and 15 rebounds as YSU knocked off UIC 80-68 on Jan. 3 at the Beeghly Center.

    The Penguins, who shot 50 percent from the field, converted 20-of-33 (60.6 percent) from the floor in the first half to take a 53-42 at halftime. YSU made seven 3-pointers in the first half, including four by Sulskis.

    The Guins led 42-40 with just over four minutes remaining in the first half before closing on an 11-2 run to own an 11-point advantage at the break.

    In the second half, the Flames pulled within eight midway through the stanza but would not get any closer.

    Youngstown State has never won at UIC in eight previous meetings. The Flames have scored 70-or-more points against the Guins in seven of those meetings. YSU has scored 70 just twice at the Pavilion.

    Youngstown State suffered a 69-68 loss at the Gentile Center on Thursday night when Loyola’s Tracy Robinson drained a 3-pointer as time expired.

    The Penguins took a 67-66 lead with just under 29 seconds left on a pull-up 15-foot jumper by John Barber. Loyola had a chance to regain the lead, but Aric Van Weelden’s 3-pointer from the corner rimmed out and the ball caromed out of bounds in possession of YSU.

    On the in-bounds pass, the Guins were able to take five seconds off the clock before a foul by Andy Polka put Byron Davis at the line in a one-and-one situation.

    Davis made the first shot, but his second rimmed out and Van Weelden grabbed the ball. YSU put some pressure on, but J.R. Blount pushed the ball up the floor.

    The Penguins, leading 68-66, cut Blount’s lane to the basket off, but he passed the ball to Robinson who beat the buzzer.

    Guard Byron Davis has scored in double figures 17 times while scoring 20-or-more points on four occasions. He had nine double-figure scoring games last year.

    Davis scored a career-high 23 points against Valparaiso on Jan. 17. On Jan. 24, he finished with 22 at Milwaukee. He had 21 points at Saint Francis (Nov. 28) and 20 against Robert Morris (Dec. 17).

    Against Valpo, he set a career high by making 10 shots. He tied his career high making four 3-pointers at UWM.

    In his career (New Mexico State and YSU) he has scored 907 points, making 115 3-pointers while dishing out 280 assists.

    Senior forward John Barber has scored in double figures in 17 games. He had picked up his eighth career double-double and fourth of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds at Loyola last Thursday.

    In the past 19 games, he has scored 255 points (13.4 per game) while grabbing 137 rebounds (7.2 per contest). He has grabbed at least five rebounds in 18 games.

    For his career, Barber has scored 898 points while grabbing 523 rebounds.

    Freshman guard Vytas Sulskis has set a school record by making 32 3-pointers this season. The previous best was 31 held by Mike Alcorn in 1990-91. Sulskis is 32-of-77 from 3-point range for an impressive 41.6 percent conversion rate.

    Sulskis has scored in double figures nine times this season, including a career-best 26 points against UIC on Jan. 3. His effort against the Flames tied for the third most by a Penguin freshman since 1980. Only Tim Jackson’s 32 and 31 point outings in 1987-88 season were better.

    In the past three games, Sulskis has scored 36 points and grabbed 15 boards.

    Freshman guard Vance Cooksey is tied for the team lead with 57 assists and leads the Guins with 27 steals. After starting 16 of the first 17 games, he has come off the bench the last four games.

    Cooksey has scored in double digits against UCLA, Weber State, Notre Dame, Robert Morris and at Loyola on Thursday where he had 11 points. In the final five minutes of games, Cooksey is 22-of-25 (88 percent) from the free-throw line.

    Cooksey has made at least two 3-pointers on five occasions this year.

    Junior forward Jack Liles continues to provide a strong presence in the post.

    Liles, who has come off the bench the past two games, is shooting 52.7 percent from the field. He has made 89-of-169 shots from the field. For the year, he is averaging 10.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest. He has scored in double figures 13 times, including 11 of the last 16 games.

    He has attempted double figures in shots eight times this season. Liles leads the team with 18 blocked shots and ranks fourth in school history with 73 career swats.

    Senior forward Dwight Holmes had a career-best 19 points at Loyola on Thursday night. Holmes, who’s previous career high was 12 at Duquesne on Nov. 13, 2007, was 7-of-9 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. He also played a career-best 32 minutes.

    Holmes has started the last two games for YSU and started 23 times last year. He has seen an increased role since the Robert Morris game on Dec. 17.

    Entering that contest Holmes had played just 70 minutes and had 16 points and 17 rebounds. Since that time, Holmes has played 226 minutes in the last 13 games (17.4 per game). He has scored 73 points and grabbed 25 rebounds in those games. He is 26-of-49 from the field (53.1 percent) in those contests. He has also made 14 of his last 15 free-throw attempts.

    Junior guard Mel Johnson is the Penguins’ version of Vinnie Johnson. As the sixth man, Johnson has scored 67 points, grabbed 48 rebounds, has 23 steals, 18 assists and nine blocks. He had a career-high three blocked shots on Thursday night at Loyola.

    Junior guard Mikko Niemi has started the last four games at the point guard spot for the Penguins. Niemi had started just one of the previous 17 contests.

    Niemi has played double figures in minutes in 10 of the last 11 contests after seeing that much time just three times in the first 10 contests. At Green Bay last Saturday he played a season-high 35 minutes.

    He had five assists in 19 minutes of action against the Flames at the Beeghly Center on Jan. 3. He also made a 3-pointer. The Guins are 3-1 in contests when he makes a 3-pointer this season.

    The Penguins have either been on from the line or way off. Case in point, YSU shot 94.1 percent at Green Bay (16-of-17) after making 56.3 percent (9-of-16) at UWM in less than two days last week.

    Eight times, YSU has shot 76.7 percent or better from the line while on nine other occasions the Penguins have shot 60 or below. Twice this year, YSU has shot in the 30s -- vs. Valpo (38.5 percent) and at Wright State (36.4 percent).

    YSU has shown spurts of playing well during different halves this season.

    In the first three games of the season, the Penguins had 126 first-half points compared to just 90 second-half points. Included in that total was a 60-point effort against Lock Haven, the Guins’ most since February 1992.

    In an eight-game stretch (Nov. 24-Dec. 29), the Guins totaled 216 points in the first half (27 points a half) and 292 in the first half (36.5 a half).

    From Jan. 3-12 (five games) YSU had scored 187 points in the first half and 128 in the second. In three games before Green Bay, YSU scored 75 first-half points and 114 second-half points.

    At Green Bay YSU scored 33 points in the first half and 25 in the second. At Loyola on Thursday, the Guins had 27 in the first half and 41 in the second.

    The Penguins have relied on seven players to handle the scoring duties this year. Of the 1,364 points scored, John Barber, Byron Davis, Jack Liles, Vance Cooksey, Vytas Sulskis, Mel Johnson and Dwight Holmes have contributed 1,292. Overall, 94.7 percent of YSU’s scoring goes through those seven.