GAME NOTES: A pair of teams sporting 1-3 records continue play in the Men Against Breast Cancer Classic at Kent State University on Sunday, as the Salukis of Southern Illinois tangle with the Flames of Illinois-Chicago.

Southern Illinois opened the season with a narrow loss at Saint Louis (62-59), before logging its first win in an 84-67 decision against visiting Tennessee State. The start of the this event brought about a pair of setbacks for the Salukis, who fell to host Kent State on Friday, 74-51, before succumbing in a 53-46 final versus Yale on Saturday.

Illinois-Chicago has been on the same trajectory as SIU, as it lost a heartbreaker to DePaul in the season opener (72-71), before logging its first win in a 67-64 verdict at home against Western Illinois. This event has not gone according to plan, as the Flames have been extinguished in their two games thus far, 70-58 versus Yale, and 78-60 against host Kent State.

SIU owns a narrow 5-4 advantage in the all-time series with UIC, however the Flames have won a pair of neutral-site affairs.

Southern Illinois has had its share of difficulty putting the ball in the basket this season, doing so for just 60 ppg behind typical shooting efforts of .394 overall and .318 from 3-point range. Despite the team's issues, its top two players, Anthony Beane (16.8 ppg) and Sean O'Brien (15.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg) have performed admirably, and both are shooting well with the former at 46.9 percent and the latter at 55 percent.

O'Brien scored a career-high 19 points, but he was the only one to hit double figures as the Salukis lost to Yale on Saturday. SIU shot just 35.8 percent from the floor, which included a dismal 2-of-11 showing from beyond the arc. The team's defensive effort was on point though, as the Bulldogs were successful on only 36.7 percent of their total shots, which included a mere five makes on 21 3-point attempts.

Illinois-Chicago boasts three double-digit scorers in Jake Wiegand (19.5 ppg, 9.3 rpg), Jay Harris (14 ppg) and Paris Burns (10.8 ppg), although Marc Brown (9.8 ppg) is close to joining the ranks. Still, a 38.5 percent shooting effort, which encompasses its 27.3 percent showing from 3-point range, has kept the team from igniting beyond the 64 ppg it is putting up at the moment. Defensively, the Flames have had some difficulty, as foes are connecting on 36.1 percent of their long-range launches en route to 71 ppg.

In Saturday's loss to Kent State, Wiegand had a monster outing in scoring 26 points and grabbing nine rebounds, while Harris made his first appearance of the season and finished with 14 points thanks to a 7-of-8 performance at the free-throw line. Collectively. UIC shot just 35.3 percent from the floor, missing the mark on 11 of its 13 3-point tries, while the Golden Flashes drained 11 treys and logged a 40-30 edge in the rebounding department. The Flames, who had only four assists on 18 total baskets, were guilty of a scant five turnovers in the game, which is certainly something positive to build on.

Neither team has done much to get overly excited about here in the early stages of the 2014-15 campaign, and with a near equal amount of talent on both rosters, this one is tough to call. Give the edge to the Flames, if for no other reason than it has performed slightly better on offense to this point.