CHICAGO - The UIC men's basketball team loaded the bus Friday afternoon en route to Terre Haute, Ind., where the Sycamores of Indiana State await a Saturday match-up with the Flames at the Hulman Center. 

MATCHUP BREAKDOWN

• Saturday's match-up will be just the third all-time, with the series currently tied 1-1. 
• The two haven't played one another since Dec. 23, 2002, a road loss for the Flames a year after beating the Sycamores at home.
• The Sycamores are enjoying a great start to the season under first-year head coach Josh Schertz, as they come in with a 12-4 record overall, and are currently undefeated in MVC play at 5-0.
• Courvoisier McCauley leads the way for the Sycamores, averaging almost 17 points per game and over five rebounds per contest.

FLAMES NOTES

• UIC (9-7, 1-4 MVC) will look to snap a current two-game losing skid Saturday, as they face off against the Sycamores. 
• The Flames are currently 4-4 in games played away from Credit Union 1 Arena, including two neutral-site victories in the Tom Konchalski Classic mutli-team event over the Thanksgiving holiday. 
• Jace Carter has lead the way for the Flames in MVC play to this point, averaging 16 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per contest in UIC's five conference games.
• Scoring has been an issue to this point in MVC play for UIC, who averages only 57.2 points per game in those five games while surrendering an average of 70.0 points.

TV NOTES

• As the Missouri Valley Conference selected Wildcard match-up, Saturday's game will be broadcast on Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports Indiana, Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports Southeast, and NBC Sports Chicago. 
• The game will also be broadcast on ESPN+ for those not in the footprint of any of the networks listed above.
• The Bally Sports Midwest-Indiana-Kansas City-South footprint states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and Tennessee will be blacked out on ESPN+, but the game will stream on the Bally Sports app and BallySports.com in Bally Sports Midwest, Indiana, Kansas City and South footprints. 

The Flames Network will carry an audio stream of Saturday's game live from the Hulman Center, with the Voice of the Flames Jonathan Hood calling all of the play-by-play action, joined by former Flame Kenny Williams serving as the color analyst. You can find that stream here, or via the blue button at the top of this release, as well as on the men's basketball schedule page.