CHICAGO (Feb. 11, 2024) – Sophomore guard
CJ Jones (East St. Louis, Ill./East St. Louis) poured in a game-high 24 points and junior forward
Filip Skobalj (Belgrade, Serbia/Don Bosco-Schule Rostock) added a career-best 21 points and did not miss a shot as the UIC men's basketball team picked up its second consecutive Missouri Valley Conference win, 71-65 over Northern Iowa on Sunday afternoon at Credit Union 1 Arena.
Jones connected on 10-of-15 shots from the field, while Skobalj went 7-for-7, including a career-high 5-for-5 from the three-point line and also converted both ends of a 1-and-1 with 19 seconds left and the Flames leading by four.
UIC (10-15, 3-11 MVC) shot 50.9 percent from the floor and 41.2 percent from the three-point line in Sunday's victory. The Flames also held UNI (13-12, 7-7) to 4-of-21 (.190) from the three-point line, including 1-of-11 (.091) in the second half, on the way to picking up their first win over the Panthers since 2008 and first in three matchups since UIC joined the Missouri Valley Conference prior to last season.
COACH'S COMMENTS
"The guys came out and played incredibly hard in the first half," said head coach
Luke Yaklich. "Were it not for that four-point play at the end of the half, we take a 12-point lead into halftime and we played really hard. Our guys gave great effort and we built a lead that they had to work back from. You get a lead like that and they have to work really hard to get back in the game. They expended some energy and then we responded to each of their runs. I thought CJ's three,
Ethan Pickett's two free throws,
Toby Okani's block and then our free throws down the stretch were absolutely pivotal plays in the game. We played with resiliency, grit and toughness, and I'm proud of our group. "
FIRST HALF
- Skobalj got the Flames fired up early with a pair of three-pointers, the second giving UIC a 6-4 lead with 17:56 left in the half.
- Jones followed 45 seconds later with an old-fashioned three-point play to put the Flames in front, 9-5.
- Northern Iowa scored seven of the next nine points to take a 12-11 lead with 15:25 to go.
- The Flames regained the lead at 13-12 on a driving layup by senior guard Isaiah Rivera (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo/Colorado State) at the 14:36 mark.
- Buckets by graduate student guard Marquise Kennedy (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice/Loyola) and Jones stretched the UIC lead to 17-12 with 12:14 left.
- UNI used a 7-0 run to briefly take a 21-19 lead with 9:24 remaining in the half.
- Kennedy drew the Flames level with a driving layup at the 8:18 juncture before the teams traded baskets to remain square at 23-23 with seven minutes left.
- UIC then went on a 14-2 run over a nearly four-minute span, highlighted by six points and two emphatic dunks from senior guard Toby Okani (Orange, N.J./Cushing Academy (Mass.)) to take a 37-25 lead at the 2:54 mark.
- Skobalj drained his fourth three-pointer in as many tries during the first half with 15 seconds left to put UIC ahead 40-28 before the Panthers scored the last four points of the period to get the margin back to single digits.
- Skobalj led all scorers with 14 points (5-5 FG, 4-4 3FG), while Jones added 11 points for the Flames, who shot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) in the first half, including 5-of-9 from three-point range.
- UIC made 13 of its final 18 shots (.722) in the opening 20 minutes.
SECOND HALF
- Northern iowa scored the first four points of the second half, but UIC responded with four of its own on baskets by Skobalj and Jones to keep the margin at eight points (44-36, 17:52).
- After the teams traded scores, UNI whittled the lead to 46-42, but Jones answered with a three-pointer to rebuild a seven-point lead with 14:43 left.
- UNI went on a 9-2 run and tied the score at 51-51 on a three-point play with 11:26 to go.
- Jones answered with a driving layup on the next UIC possession to take back the lead and after UNI split two foul shots, Rivera hit a pullup jumper to make it 55-52 just past the midpoint of the second half.
- The Panthers scored the next four points and briefly grabbed a 56-55 lead at the 7:39 mark.
- Junior guard Ethan Pickett (Pensacola, Fla./Cherokee/Triton) answered with a clutch drive down the left side of the lane to put the Flames back ahead, 57-56 with 6:40 to play.
- Pickett sank two foul shots to stretch the margin to three points, but again UNI scored four in a row and took a 60-59 lead with 4:04 left.
- Pickett again rose to the occasion with another jumper from the right baseline on the ensuing Flames possession, giving UIC the lead it would never relinquish at 61-60 (3:39).
- After getting a defensive stop, Skobalj connected on a huge three-pointer from the right wing (his only triple of the second half) for a two-possession lead (64-60, 3:09).
- UNI halved the lead, but Jones delivered another key basket on a floater in the lane to make it 66-62, UIC at the 1:53 mark.
- Okani then came up with a massive block at the defensive end with 48 seconds to play and the Flames would salt the victory away at the foul line, making 5-of-6 free throws in the closing 37 seconds.
NOTES
- UIC picked up its first win over Northern Iowa since Nov. 19, 2008, when the Flames defeated the Panthers, 84-77, also at Credit Union 1 Arena.
- All three games between UIC and Northern Iowa since the Flames joined the MVC have been decided by single digits.
- UIC's .509 field-goal percentage was its best in MVC play this year and best against any opponent since Dec. 16, when the Flames connected at a .565 clip in a win over Western Michigan at Credit Union 1 Arena.
- UIC had two players score 20 points in a game for the first time since its Nov. 25 win over George Washington in the Bahamas, when Rivera scored 23 points and Jones added 22 points.
- Skobalj's 21 points topped his previous career high of 18 points at Missouri State on Jan. 24, 2023.
- Skobalj's 5-for-5 effort from three-point line was the best by a UIC player since Feb. 22, 2020, when Jamie Ahale also went 5-for-5 from distance against IUPUI.
- Jones nearly posted a career-high scoring total, finishing one shy of his personal best set on Jan. 13 against Bradley.
- Okani moved into 10th place on the UIC single-season blocks list with 53 swats, passing Sherell Ford (52 in 1994-95).
UP NEXT
UIC heads back downstate Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. (CT) Missouri Valley Conference contest at Bradley. The game will be streamed live from Carver Arena on ESPN+ and fans can tune in to the free live Flames Network radio feed at
UICFlames.com.
Tickets for all remaining UIC basketball home 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 day.
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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