Dominique Matthews wasn’t "trying to think negatively about the situation."
UIC coach Steve McClain sensed Matthews’ frustration nevertheless.
The "situation" was this: nine games (eight starts) into a promising freshman season in which he averaged 9.7 points, Matthews suffered a broken thumb and missed the rest of the 2015-16 season.
The upshot was the redshirt year the NCAA granted the 6-foot-2 guard from St. Rita, allowing him to return as a freshman this season. McClain, meanwhile, brought in three new freshman guards, and Tarkus Ferguson, Godwin Boahen and Marcus Ottey were all ahead of Matthews in the rotation.
"It was different for him," McClain said. "As much as anything, it was him getting back in the groove of playing every day. That is what I kept talking to him about. He was saying, ‘What am I not doing right?’ I told him just keep working and that feel will come back. To his credit, it did.
"The hardest thing is everybody wants to start, yet you can only start five. I kept telling him, ‘Your role will be bigger and bigger.’"
McClain’s vision for the Flames (13-13, 6-7) has been coming into focus all season. He was spot on with Matthews.
After scoring 22, 23 and 28 points in successive games, Matthews received Horizon League Freshman of the Week honors last week. He leads the Flames in scoring in conference play at 13.2 points per game, shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from 3-point range. Overall, he’s averaging 9.9 points in 19.5 minutes.
"It definitely took me a while to start getting in the rhythm and getting adjusted to everything again," Matthews said. "I just wanted to be able to take advantage of it when my time came.
"I’ve always been looked at as an underdog-type player, and I knew the hard work would show soon and everything would fall into place."
Matthews has been overlooked before. He has younger brother Charles Matthews — sitting out this season after transferring from Kentucky to Michigan — and Northwestern standout Vic Law to thank for that.
The three were high school teammates, and even though it was Dominique Matthews who was named Catholic League Player of the Year during his and Law’s senior season, he was an afterthought on the recruiting trail. So he spent a prep-school year at Victory Rock in Bradenton, Fla., competing against college-ready players daily in practice.
It didn’t take long to establish himself at UIC, scoring 17 points against DePaul in his third college game. He scored 18 in 15 minutes against Illinois and 20 against Illinois State before injury struck.
With Dikembe Dixson lost for the season to a torn ACL in December, Matthews has become the Flames’ best one-on-one scorer.
"This is what I envisioned him doing the second half of last year before he got hurt," McClain said.
Matthews’ increased workload coincided with a wrist injury that cost Ottey several games. When Ottey returned last week, Boahen went down with a high ankle sprain and is considered questionable for Friday night’s game against Detroit Mercy.
Minutes, McClain said, will not be a problem for his four productive freshman guards.
"In reality we are playing slower than I want to because we only have four," McClain said. "You should be able to play as fast as you can. Ideally you want to play five guards, maybe six, so you can put four on the court at the same time. There are plenty of minutes for all of them."
Promising sign: Matthews, Boahen and Ottey are the second trio of teammates to earn Horizon League Freshman of the Week honors in the same season.
Valparaiso’s Alec Peters, Lexus Williams and Clay Yeo did so in 2013-14. The Crusaders went 28-6 and 30-7 the next two seasons and are currently 21-5 and lead the conference by two games.
Local flavor: While they plucked Dixson, a potential NBA prospect, from West Virginia and Boahen and Ottey from Canada, McClain and his staff have worked feverishly recruiting in-state players.
Four of the Flames’ starters in Saturday’s 66-63 loss to Cleveland State — Matthews, Ferguson, Tai Odiase and K.J. Santos — were from Illinois.
"You hear all the criticism of the in-state schools recruiting in-state players," McClain said, "I had four of them starting the other night."
Doyle-stones: Milton Doyle reached double figures in scoring for the 29th consecutive time with 12 points in Loyola’s 64-46 victory over Missouri State on Wednesday night, and the milestones are starting to pile up.
The 6-4 Marshall product needs nine points to crack the top 10 in school history and 32 rebounds to become the second Loyola player to accumulate 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists, joining Blake Schilb (2003-07).
Doyle appears to be a strong candidate for Missouri Valley Player of the Year honors. He’s fourth in the conference in scoring (15.6 ppg) and third in assists (4.4). Co-leaders Wichita State and Illinois State don’t have a single statistically dominant player.
Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
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