SCOUTING LA SALLE

• UIC and La Salle will be meeting for just the second time ever and the first in nearly 30 years when they step onto the hardwood Friday morning.

• The Flames and Explorers previously met as conference opponents in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now Horizon League) on Jan. 5, 1995, in Philadelphia, with La Salle edging UIC, 83-77.

• UIC and La Salle were both members of the MCC/Horizon League for the 1994-95 season, which turned out to the Flames' first in that conference and the Explorers' last before they moved to their current home, the Atlantic 10 Conference.

• La Salle won its first four games this season, including a hard-fought three-point win at crosstown rival Drexel before dropping its opener here at the Boardwalk Battle to UC San Diego, 72-67 on Thursday.

• A trio of transfers spark the Explorers' diverse attack this season. Graduate student guard Corey McKeithan (Rider) leads the team in scoring (18.6 ppg.) and assists (3.4 apg.) while knocking down a team-high 12 three-pointers this year. Graduate student guard/forward Jahlil White (Temple) (13.8 ppg., 7.2 rpg., .658 FG%) and junior forward Demetrius Lilley (Penn State) (9.6 ppg., 9.8 rpg.) are solid complements to McKeithan on the wings and in the post.

• Legendary head coach Fran Dunphy is early in his third season at his alma mater, where he was a two-sport standout (basketball and baseball) for the Explorers from 1967-70. The winningest coach in Philadelphia Big Five history, Dunphy is now in his 33rd season on the sidelines, with prior head coaching stops at Penn and Temple. He has a 615-362 career record (42nd on the NCAA Division I all-time wins list), including a 37-39 mark in his tenure at La Salle.

TOURNAMENT NOTES

• UIC is playing in a multi-team event (MTE) for the eighth time in the past nine seasons (all but the 2020-21 season that was truncated due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

• The Flames have finished second at their MTE the past two seasons. In 2022, UIC went to Bronx, N.Y., and won two of three games to place second at Fordham's Tom Konchalski Classic. Last year, the Flames competed at the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship in Nassau, Bahamas, reaching the championship game before falling to UNCG on two last-second foul shots, 58-57.

• UIC last played in an MTE in the state of Florida in 2019-20 in the Boca Raton Beach Classic, which was a split tournament with the first two rounds played at campus sites before relocating to the FAU campus in Boca Raton. The Flames went a combined 1-3 in that tournament, picking up an 89-83 win over San Diego in the finale in Boca Raton.

GAME #5 RECAP - JAMES MADISON

• Sophomore guard Ahmad Henderson II scored a season-high 17 points and sophomore forward Saša Ciani nearly posted a double-double with a career high-tying 15 points and nine rebounds, but UIC ran into a hot-shooting James Madison squad and fell, 99-81 in the opening round of the Boardwalk Battle on Thursday at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Fla.

• Playing their third NCAA Tournament second-round participant in the first five games of the season, the Flames (3-2) went toe-to-toe with the Dukes for nearly the first 30 minutes of action, grabbing leads of seven and six points in the first half. Then, after JMU moved ahead, UIC battled back within 60-57 and had a possession to tie with under 12 minutes to play before the Dukes finally pulled clear of the Flames for good. James Madison was led by reserve Bryce Lindsay, who scored 28 points in 22 minutes on 10-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-6 from three-point range.

NOTING THE JAMES MADISON GAME

• UIC has shot 45 percent or better from the field in all five games this season, with this marking the Flames' third game over 50 percent (also St, Francis on Nov. 4 and Saint Mary's on Nov. 16).

• UIC scored 80 points in a game for the fourth time in five tries this year. The last time the Flames opened with as many 80-point games was 2016-17, when they reached that mark in each of their first six games.

• UIC saw its streak of four consecutive games with 10+ three-pointers snapped, as the Flames made a season-low three triples.

• Ciani has scored in double figures in all four of his games this season, tying or surpassing his previous career high in each game he has played. Ciani had 15 points (and eight rebounds) in his last outing on Nov. 12 at Northwestern.

• Henderson posted his fourth double-digit scoring game in his first five outings this year. His previous season high was 14 in his UIC debut, a win over St. Francis on Nov. 4 at Credit Union 1 Arena.

• Junior guard Jordan Mason logged his second double-digit scoring game of the year, having tallied a season-high 16 points in the Nov. 8 home win over Yale.

THE (OFFENSIVE) EFFICIENCY EXPERTS

• Entering this week's Boardwalk Battle, UIC was treading on rare ground with its early offensive output.

• UIC averaged 93.3 points per game through its first four games this year, its highest four-game scoring average to start a season in the program's 78-year history.

• For the first time ever, UIC opened with three 90-point performances in its first four outings.

• Prior to the start of the tournament (Wednesday), UIC was sharing the basketball like no other team in the country, ranking No. 1 in the nation in assists (22.8 apg.), including 31 dimes in last Saturday's win over Saint Mary's (Minn.), the program's highest single-game assist total since Dec. 1987.

• Heading into the Boardwalk Battle, UIC ranked among the top 25 in the nation in 10 statistical categories: assists (1st - 22.8 apg.), effective field goal percentage (11th - .616), bench points per game (14th - 40.75), scoring offense (15th - 93.3 ppg.), three-point percentage (15th - .430), three-pointers per game (17th - 11.5), field-goal percentage (18th - .529), assist/turnover ratio (19th - 1.86), scoring margin (20th - +27.3 ppg.) and rebound margin (22nd - +12.3 rpg.).

• At the same time, UIC led the Missouri Valley Conference in six of those categories (assists, bench points, scoring offense, three-pointers per game, assist/turnover ratio and rebound margin), as well as fastbreak points (18.75 per game/31st in nation).

NEW FACES, NEW PLACES

• There are a lot of new faces in Sparky's camp this season, as UIC welcomes 11 newcomers to its roster, including eight transfers (all from Division I programs).

• Three of those arrivals bring with them playing experience in the NCAA Tournament from their prior stops — Javon Jackson (Utah State), Modestas Kancleris (Creighton) and Joshua Reaves (Mount St. Mary's).

• Among the new arrivals to Chicago's College Team are junior guard Jordan Mason (9.4 ppg. in two years at Texas State), graduate guard Joshua Reaves (7.5 ppg. and a .368 3FG% in four years at Mount St. Mary's), junior guard Javon Jackson (10.5 ppg. in two years at Southern Nazarene and Utah State) and sophomore guard Ahmad Henderson II (11.2 ppg. in one year at Niagara).

INTERNATIONAL HOUSE

• UIC's roster has a distinct international flair this season with four student-athletes hailing from abroad (all from Europe).

• Senior forward Filip Škobalj is a native of Belgrade, Serbia, while redshirt senior forward Modestas Kancleris is originally from Kaunas, Lithuania.

• Sophomore forward Saša Ciani is from Nova Gorica, Slovenia, while UIC's youngest player, freshman Iker Garmendia, is a product of Barcelona, Spain.

• The last time UIC had four international players on its roster was the 2020-21 season — Škobalj (Serbia), graduate student guard Jamie Ahale (Australia), junior forward Marcus Larsson (Norway) and graduate student guard Jalen Warren (Canada).

MAKING THE GRADE

• The UIC men's basketball team posted a 3.12 GPA during the 2023-24 academic year, spotlighting a trend that has seen the Flames post a record-setting GPA in three of the past five semesters.

• The men's basketball team's performance was part of a larger academic success story for UIC athletics last year, as the 300 Flames' student-athletes combined for a 3.35 department-wide GPA.

UP NEXT: BOARDWALK BATTLE

• UIC will wrap up its stay in Daytona on Saturday with a final game in the Boardwalk Battle. The Flames will play at either 10 a.m. (CT) or noon (CT) against either East Carolina or Stetson, which will mark UIC's first-ever meeting against either program.

• Like previous Boardwalk Battle games, Saturday's UIC contest will be broadcast live on the subscription-based BallerTV (ballertv.com) and free of charge on the Flames Radio Network via UICFlames.com.

THE HOTTEST TICKET IN TOWN

• Tickets for all UIC basketball home games may be purchased online through Ticketmaster or UICFlames.com/Tickets, by contacting the UIC Athletics Ticket Office (312-413-UIC1; athleticsticketing@uic.edu) or visiting the Credit Union 1 Arena box office on game night.

• Fans can also purchase passes for the US Solar Courtside Club at Credit Union 1 Arena through the UIC Athletics Ticket Office or the arena box office.