ROCHESTER, Mich. – Behind its most dominant performance of the season, the UIC men's basketball team routed Oakland, 80-50, Thursday (Jan. 23) evening.
 
The victory, UIC's third consecutive conference win, was the Flames' first road win by 30 or more points since a 77-44 victory at Detroit on Jan. 18, 2003. The win also marked UIC's first win by 30+ points in any venue since a 84-45 home win over Trinity Christian on Dec. 23, 2017.
 
Tarkus Ferguson approached a triple-double for the second consecutive game, finishing with a game-high 19 points while adding eight assists, seven rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks. Godwin Boahen contributed 14 points, six rebounds and four assists off the bench while Michael Diggins scored 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
 
The Flames set season-highs as a team in 3-point field goals (12), made field goals (33), field goal percentage (60.0%), assists (25) and margin of victory (+30). UIC's 80 points rank as the second-most this year while the 50 points allowed are the second-fewest this year.
 
UIC looks to push its winning streak to four games on Saturday, Jan. 25, when the Flames take on Detroit Mercy. Tipoff in Detroit is set for 12 p.m. (CT).
 

Dunk, Dunk, Dunk, Dance!#ItsUIC?? | #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/x471ISLgYu

— UIC FL??MES ?? (@UICFlamesMBB) January 24, 2020

First Half Highlights

• Ferguson opened the game on a personal 5-0 run. After converting an old-fashioned three-point play to kick-start the scoring, he picked Oakland's pocket and finished with a fast break dunk. Braelen Bridges followed with a dunk of his own, spotting UIC a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.
• The Grizzlies responded to trim UIC's advantage to just two when a Ferguson 3-pointer spurred a 16-0 run over 4:22 of game action. The triple was the first of four made by the Flames during the run, with Ferguson knocking down a second and Godwin Boahen hitting pair of his own. The Flames also capitalized in the paint with Michael Diggins and Jacob Wiley both throwing down slam dunks.
• The 16-0 run built UIC's lead to 18. Jordan Blount later would score back-to-back layups to push the lead to 22, the largest of the half. for the Flames. UIC never trailed Thursday evening.
• UIC received a big boost off the bench, with the Flames' reserves outscoring Oakland 11-0. Boahen scored six, Travell Washington knocked down a 3 and Wiley adding the final two.

 
Second Half Highlights

• Oakland opened the second half with a 3-pointer to trim UIC's lead to eight, its first time being within single digits of UIC since the 13:52 mark of the first half.
• Ferguson countered with a triple of his own, kicking off a 17-4 UIC run which blew the game open to a 21-point advantage. The Flames later used a 14-0 run to push the lead to 30, the final margin of victory, at 73-43 with 4:19 remaining.
• UIC received balanced scoring in the second half, with seven different players scoring and six of the seven players scoring between five and eight points.

 
Facts and Figures

• The victory, UIC's third consecutive conference win, was the Flames' first road win by 30 or more points since a 77-44 victory at Detroit on Jan. 18, 2003. The win also marked UIC's first win by 30+ points in any venue since a 84-45 home win over Trinity Christian on Dec. 23, 2017.
• The Flames set season-highs as a team in 3-point field goals (12), made field goals (33), field goal percentage (60.0%), assists (25) and margin of victory (+30). UIC's 80 points rank as the second-most this year while the 50 points allowed are the second-fewest this year.
• Ferguson extended his streak of games with at least one block to nine games.
• UIC improved to 7-2 when outrebounding its opponent. The Flames used a 16-10 rebounding advantage in the second half to take home the 34-28 edge.
• Thursday marked UIC's first game with 30 or more field goals made since a 82-77 defeat at Green Bay on March 5, 2019.