Perfection on the line

The No. 10 IU men's basketball team came close to putting a mark on the dreaded loss side Tuesday night in the victory over No. 9 Maryland.\nBut the Hoosiers pulled it out in the 80-74 overtime victory, remaining undefeated at 5-0. They hope to add to the left side once again 1 p.m. Saturday when they face University of Illinois-Chicago at Assembly Hall. \nThe Flames hope to keep a two-game winning streak alive when they roll into Bloomington this weekend, while the Hoosiers face the task of bouncing back from the emotional win against the Terps.\nBut don't think the Hoosiers will have any problem preparing for this game.\n"We shouldn't have a problem getting excited about the game," freshman guard Bracey Wright said. "It's not hard to get hyped about basketball. We have a lot of confidence; as well we should, since we have been playing well."\nThe Hoosiers are are enjoying their highest ranking in six years and off to a perfect 5-0 start for the fourth time in the past seven seasons.\nBut they are facing the UIC Flames for the first time in school history, and are facing a Horizon League team hungry for its first win against a Big Ten school in five years.\nThe Flames last picked up a victory against a Big Ten team in 1997, after beating Michigan State at home. The last time the Flames faced a Big Ten foe was last year in a loss to Purdue.\nBut now that the Hoosiers have put the demons of last season's NCAA Championship loss behind them, they can focus on the games ahead.\n"For our confidence, I think it will probably relax our guys," IU coach Mike Davis said, following the Maryland win. "We were so tight when the game started. If I would have called all the timeouts for how we played the first half, I probably would have had to borrow some from the next game. This should relax us for Saturday's game.''\nThe Hoosiers took Wednesday off, and returned to the court Thursday in a more subdued manner. Senior guard Tom Coverdale and senior forward Jeff Newton watched from the sidelines because of illness, and Wright and junior center George Leach shot around on the sidelines while other members of the team practiced.\nBoth teams look to keep their respective win streaks going. The Flames are fresh off a victory against Illinois State, in which they shot 70 percent en route to a 78-65 win. Junior guard Martell Bailey scored a season-high 20 points with nine rebounds and seven assists. He leads the team in scoring, averaging 67 percent from the field.\n"The coaches told us UIC probably won't be as physical as Maryland, but we didn't shoot particularly well either," Wright said. "We just have to make sure we've got energy, and the efforts got to be there."\nEspecially coming off a game in which the Hoosiers shot a dismal 29.9 percent in overall field goals, including going 7-for-39 beyond the arc.\nBut don't think IU is down about the uncharacteristic offensive performance.\n"I hope everybody knows how good of a team we can be and how good of a team we are," Coverdale said.