THE SERIES BREAKDOWN

• This will mark the 15th meeting between UIC and Southern Illinois (and the third this year), with the Salukis maintaining a 10-4 series lead.

• Ten of the past 11 games in the UIC-Southern Illinois series have been decided by 10 points or less, with an average margin in those games of just 5.8 ppg.

• Since UIC joined the MVC prior to last season, three of its four matchups with SIU have been decided on the final possession, including their most recent meeting on Feb. 3, when the Flames had a look at a go-ahead shot with less than :02 left but it did not fall and the Salukis made the last of their 26 free throws for a 74-71 decision.

MORE ON SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

• Southern Illinois finished sixth in the MVC this season with an 11-9 record, and carries a 19-12 overall mark into Thursday's first-round game.

• The Salukis dropped their final two regular-season contests, most recently falling at home to UNI, 82-70 on Sunday.

• SIU is led by graduate student guard (and George Mason transfer) Xavier Johnson, who leads the Valley in scoring (22.0 ppg.) and assists (6.1 apg.), while junior forward (and Saint Peter's transfer) Clarence Rupert is SIU's rebounding leader (5.6 rpg.)..

• First-year UIC assistant coach Tony Wills joined the Flames' staff during the offseason after spending the 2022-23 season as a graduate assistant at Southern Illinois, focusing mainly on the Salukis' defense.

• SIU assistant coach Brendan Mullins spent two seasons in the same role at UIC (2015-16 and 2016-17), helping the Flames reach the semifinals of the 2017 College Basketball Insider (CBI) Tournament.

• Mullins was also on the staff at Illinois State in 2017-18, when current UIC director of player personnel Madison Williams was in his sophomore season with the Redbirds before a medical hardship ended his playing career.

TOURNAMENT TIDBITS

• UIC is playing in its second MVC Tournament. The Flames were also the No. 11 seed last year in their inaugural Arch Madness appearance, falling in the opening round to Missouri State 74-57.

• From 1994-95 through 2021-22, UIC was a member of the Horizon League (formerly the Midwestern Collegiate Conference), posting a 24-26 record in Horizon League Tournament play and winning two titles (2002 and 2004) while finishing as the runner-up on two other occasions (1997 and 2020).

• The Flames' most recent conference tournament win came in the first round of the 2022 Horizon League Tournament (an 80-69 victory at Milwaukee).

• UIC began its Division I era as a member of the Association of Mid-Continent Universities (AMCU) and Mid-Continent Conference (now known as the Summit League) from 1982-83 through 1993-94. In that time, the Flames went 11-10 in the AMCU/Mid-Con Tournament when it was played (there was no event in 1983 or 1988), advancing to the championship game four times (1989, 1992, 1993, 1994).

THE ZAY-HEY KID

• Senior guard Isaiah Rivera has emerged as one of the Flames' top offensive threats this year, ranking 11th in the MVC in scoring with a team-high 15.2 points per game and fourth in the conference in three-point percentage (.421).

• Rivera has scored in double figures a team-best 23 times this year and has the first eight 20-point games of his career (eighth in the MVC), including a career-high 28 points on Feb. 3 against SIU.

• Rivera has been sharp down the stretch, averaging 17.4 ppg. in his last nine games, including three of his four career 25-point outings and his first career double-double (19 points/career-high 12 rebounds vs. Drake on Feb. 28).

KEEPING UP WITH JONES

• Sophomore guard CJ Jones has clearly been one of the MVC's most improved players this season, ranking third in the Valley with 4.87 assists per game and 10th with a 1.72 assist/turnover ratio.

• Jones has more than doubled his assist average from last year (2.1 apg.) and improved his assist/turnover ratio over 27 percent from a season ago (1.35). 

• Jones is also averaging 11.6 points per game this season (up more than 87 percent from last year's 6.2 ppg.) and is logging 3.4 rebounds per game (improving nearly 79 percent from last year's 1.9 rpg.).

• Jones has recorded 5+ assists in 14 games this season, including 10 contests in which he had at least seven assists.

• Jones leads the MVC with three double-digit assist games this season (career-high 14 vs. Drake on Feb. 28; 11 against Western Michigan on Dec. 16; 10 vs. Evansville on Feb. 21).

• On Jan. 13 against Bradley, Jones had a career-high 25 points, and on Feb. 11, he nearly matched that output with 24 points in a win over UNI.

• Jones also has logged his first two career double-doubles this season, both of the points/assists variety and both in the past three games (17/10 vs. Evansville on Feb. 21; 16/14 vs. Drake on Feb. 28).

TOBY OKANI - SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

• Senior guard Toby Okani leads the MVC in blocks (2.03 bpg.), while ranking sixth in double-doubles (4), and seventh in rebounds (6.81 rpg.), defensive rebounds (5.26 drpg.) and steals (1.45 spg.).

• Okani is one of just two players in the MVC to rank in the top 10 in the conference in the three primary defensive categories (rebounding, steals and blocks).

• Okani is fourth in the Valley with seven double-digit rebound games this season.

• Okani has recorded at least three blocks in nine games this season, including a season-high six rejections in the Nov. 6 opener at Cincinnati.

• Okani has a conference-high and career-best 63 blocks this year, good for ninth on the UIC single-season list.

TRIPLE SHOT POWER

• UIC has been quite proficient beyond the arc this season, making at least 10 three-pointers in 13 games and shooting over 35 percent from deep 19 times.

• Eight different UIC players have made at least 10 three-pointers this year, including five with 30 treys.

• UIC is the only school with two players among the top five in the MVC in three-point percentage (and shooting better than 40 percent from distance) — junior forward Filip Skobalj (2nd - .435) and senior guard Isaiah Rivera (4th - .421).

• The Flames are third in the MVC in both three-point percentage (.371) and three-pointers made (8.94 per game).

FLAMES THROWING A BLOCK PARTY

• As of Wednesday, UIC leads the MVC and is ninth in the land in blocks (5.5 bpg.).

• Since blocks became an official NCAA statistic in 1985-86, only one MVC team has finished an entire season averaging better than 5.0 bpg. (Wichita State had 5.1 bpg. in 2013-14).

MAKING THE GRADE

• The UIC men's basketball team posted a program-record 3.18 Fall 2023 GPA, the third time in four semesters the Flames have finished with a record-setting GPA.

• Three Flames players — senior guard Isaiah Rivera, junior forward Filip Skobalj and sophomore guard Drew King — earned a 4.0 GPA last semester.

• The men's basketball team's performance was part of a larger academic success story for UIC athletics last fall, as the 300 Flames' student-athletes combined for a 3.34 department-wide GPA.

THIS & THAT

• During the non-conference portion of its schedule, UIC banked several key wins away from home. The Flames captured victories over two Atlantic 10 Conference opponents (Loyola and George Washington), as well as a 30-point victory over Conference USA preseason co-favorite Middle Tennessee.

• The Flames' dual wins over A-10 schools, both away from home (at Loyola on Nov. 14; vs. George Washington in the Bahamas on Nov. 25), marked the first time in program history UIC defeated two A-10 teams in the same season.

LAST TIME OUT: MISSOURI STATE

• Senior guard Toby Okani tallied a game-high 14 points to lead four UIC players in double figures, but the Flames ran into a dry spell down the stretch and dropped their regular-season finale at Missouri State. 69-59 on Sunday. 

• UIC had battled within 59-56 on two free throws by senior guard Isaiah Rivera with 5:02 remaining. However, Missouri State ended the game on a 10-3 run to secure the decision.

CARLOS HARRIS SIGNS WITH UIC

• On Nov. 9, UIC announced point guard Carlos Harris (6-2, 180) has signed a national letter of intent to play for the Flames beginning in 2024-25.

• One of the top players in the Chicago Public League for Curie High School, Harris was a first-team all-city selection by the Chicago Sun-Times after leading the Condors to a 31-3 record and a Class 4A sectional title this season.

• Last year, Harris averaged 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals per game in helping Curie to a 20-11 record.

• Prior to this season, Harris was rated a three-star athlete who was the No. 35 point guard in the country and the No. 13 player in the state of Illinois.

UP NEXT: MVC QUARTERFINALS

• With a win on Thursday, UIC would advance to Friday's MVC Tournament quarterfinals against No. 3 seed Bradley at 8:30 p.m. (CT) at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. That quarterfinal will be broadcast live on MVC TV and the Flames Network at UICFlames.com.