CHICAGO (Nov. 30, 2023) – Junior forward
Filip Skobalj (Belgrade, Serbia/Don Bosco-Schule Rostock) scored a season-high 17 points, but Illinois State rallied in the second half to edge past the UIC men's basketball team, 69-64 on Thursday night in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both schools at Credit Union 1 Arena.
Senior guard
Isaiah Rivera (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo/Colorado State) added 15 points for the Flames (5-3), while sophomore guard
CJ Jones (East St. Louis, Ill./East St. Louis) tied his career high with eight assists.
HEAD COACH LUKE YAKLICH'S COMMENTS
"I thought we came out of the gate strong tonight. We let our game lapse late in the first half, and that turned out to be the difference tonight. We didn't show the fight we have shown all season, and that cost us in the second half."
FIRST HALF
- UIC surged from the gate, jumping to a 10-4 lead on a three-pointer by Jones at the 15:13 mark.
- Illinois State responded with a 9-3 run to draw even at 13-13 (12:16).
- The Flames then countered again, this time with a 12-2 charge to build the game's first double-digit lead at 25-15 on a Rivera triple with 8:17 remaining in the half.
- UIC stretched its lead out to 32-19 on Skobalj's third three-pointer of the first half with 4:52 to go.
- Senior guard Toby Okani (Orange, N.J./Cushing Academy (Mass.)) converted an acrobatic reverse layup to make it 36-25 Flames at the 2:25 mark.
- Illinois State scored the final five points of the half, but UIC still took a 36-30 lead to the locker room.
- Skobalj led all scorers with 13 points in the first half, while Jones added eight points and five assists.
SECOND HALF
- Okani hit an early bucket and was fouled to keep UIC in front, 38-33 with 18:52 to play.
- After ISU scored the next five points (38-38 at 18:02), the game settled into a one-possession affair in both directions, with neither side leading by more than three points for the next 10 minutes.
- Rivera gave the Flames a 49-48 lead when he converted two foul shots with 8:40 remaining.
- The Redbirds then went on a 14-3 run to take the lead for good.
- UIC made a late push and got within the final five-point margin on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Steven Clay (Milwaukee, Wis./Menomenee Falls) in the closing seconds.
NOTES
- Skobalj's 17 points were one off his career high set on Jan. 24, 2023, at Missouri State.
- Skobalj also tied his career high with four three-pointers, the 10th time he's done that in his career and second time this season.
- Jones matched his career high for assists, having also delivered eight assists on Nov. 19 against Aurora.
- Rivera played in the 100th game of his career, the first 92 coming during his initial three seasons at Colorado State.
- UIC tied its season high with 10 steals, originally reaching that total on Nov. 24 against Middle Tennessee at the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship in the Bahamas.
UP NEXT
UIC will be off for the next week to focus on final exams before returning to action Dec. 8, when it travels to Jacksonville, Ala., for a non-conference matchup with Jacksonville State. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. (CT), with the game streamed live on ESPN+ and live stats available at
UICFlames.com.
Tickets for all UIC basketball games can be purchased online through
Ticketmaster and
UICFlames.com/Tickets, as well as through the UIC Athletics Ticket Office (312-413-UIC1) or by visiting the Credit Union 1 Arena box office on game night.
For more information, fans are encouraged to visit
UICFlames.com, or follow the Flames on social media through X (
@UIC_MBB and
@UICFlames) and Instagram (
@uic_mbb and
@uicflames).
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