By Joe Henricksen

Coach Howard Moore and the UIC basketball program headed out of state to secure a pair of commitments on Monday, landing two big men in 7-0, 225-pound Matt Gorski and 6-8, 225-pound Jake Wiegand. Both Gorski and Wiegand, who visited UIC the last weekend in September, are from Fishburne Military Academy in Virginia.

Fishburne Military Academy coach Ed Huckaby believes Moore and the Flames have landed a pair of prospects who will be ready to play immediately.

"UIC and Howard [Moore] made these kids a priority," said Huckaby. "And they really did beat some people out for them. Matt isn't a 7-foot stiff. He's a really, really skilled 7-footer who can step away from the basket and shoot it. And Jake has size, athletic, shoots the ball and will post you up."

Current UIC freshman, 6-10 Will Simonton, is also a product of Fishburne. Simonton was part of Moore's first recruiting class that includes Jerome Brown of Morgan Park, Ahman Fells of Simeon, Rob Robinson of St. John's Military Academy and a Simeon product, junior college point guard Gary Talton, Greg Travis of Curie and Marc Brown of Dallas.