ST. LOUIS (March 7, 2024) – Senior guard
Isaiah Rivera (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo/Colorado State) scored 16 of his career high-tying 28 points in two overtime periods, as the UIC men's basketball team captured its first-ever Missouri Valley Conference Tournament win with an 84-82 victory over Southern Illinois on Thursday night at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
Rivera, who also tallied nine rebounds and five assists, made both ends of a 1-and-1 free throw situation with 3.7 seconds left in the first overtime to force the second extra session. He then connected on a clutch shot in the lane with 29 seconds to go in the second OT to give the Flames (12-20) a three-point lead and added 1-of-2 foul shots with 2.7 seconds left that provided the final margin of victory.
Playing not far from his hometown just across the Mississippi River, sophomore guard
CJ Jones (East St. Louis, Ill./East St. Louis) added his own dash of heroics by making a game-tying layup with 6.8 seconds to play in regulation to set the stage for #MVCAfterDark.
Junior guard
Ethan Pickett (Pensacola, Fla./Cherokee/Triton) scored a career-high 16 points, with 11 of those coming in the first half. Jones added 15 points and six assists while committing just one turnover in 47 minutes of action. Redshirt sophomore forward
Jaden Brownell (Sandy, Utah/Alta) played a pivotal role off the bench, making all four of his shots (three from beyond the arc) and finishing with 11 points, none bigger than his three-pointer with 18.1 seconds left in regulation that helped UIC send the game to overtime.
COACH'S COMMENTS
"I'm just really excited for our guys," said head coach
Luke Yaklich. "We've weathered some storms this year and I've said on multiple occasions this year that we have a locker room full of character. The process of staying with it, the preparation and competitiveness that goes into this game tonight was still around from January and February. That kind of grit and resiliency was on display tonight. We were really able to execute at the end of regulation to get it to overtime, and then to just keep fighting and late in each overtime to get to the free throw line and make big free throws. It's a hard-fought win and there's a million plays that happen — I talked to our guys about that against Drake when we lost in three overtimes at home. You can go through a myriad of plays and play calls and substitutions and you just do your best. That's what our guys did – their best – and they came out victorious because of their heart, their character and togetherness. Really proud of our group – it's a great first (tournament) win for our UIC program in the Valley and these guys will remember that one."
FIRST HALF
- The Flames jumped on the scoreboard first, courtesy of layups from Jones and Rivera for an early 4-0 lead at the 17:38 mark.
- Southern Illinois answered with eight consecutive points during the next 1:39.
- Pickett took a pass from Rivera for a dunk that ignited an 8-0 run for UIC, capped by a top-side triple from Brownell to make it 14-8, Flames with 12:46 to go.
- SIU cut the margin to 20-18 just past the midpoint of the first half and it was 24-20 UIC after a Saluki basket with just under eight minutes left.
- Graduate student guard Marquise Kennedy (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice/Loyola) hit a tough layup while being fouled to go into the media timeout (7:29) with momentum and a six-point lead.
- Kennedy's drive would be the opening salvo in a 12-2 UIC run that included two big highlights from Pickett — another hammer dunk and a three-pointer that gave the Flames a 36-22 lead with 4:20 to play.
- Southern Illinois got as close as 11 points, but junior forward Filip Skobalj (Belgrade, Serbia/Don Bosco-Schule Rostock) rebuilt UIC's largest lead of the half on a three-pointer from the left wing with 44 seconds to play, sending the Flames to the locker room on top, 41-27.
- Pickett led all scorers with 11 points, while Jones added nine points and Rivera had eight for UIC, which shot 56.3 percent (18-of-32) from the field, including 40 percent (4-of-10) from three-point range in the first half.
SECOND HALF
- UIC scored four of the first six points to open the second half and took its largest lead of the night at 45-29 on Rivera's layup with 15:56 remaining.
- Southern Illinois went on a 21-4 run during the next eight minutes and took its first lead since the early stages of the first half at 50-49 with 7:15 left.
- Kennedy responded with a tough turnaround shot in the lane that briefly restored order for the Flames with a 51-50 lead and 7:01 to go.
- SIU then scored eight in a row and took its largest lead of the game at 58-51 with 4:40 to play.
- Brownell drilled a three-pointer on the Flames' next possession (58-54, 4:24).
- The Salukis twice opened up six-point leads down the stretch, the last at 62-56 with :38 left.
- Brownell then canned his critical trey with 18.1 seconds remaining to cut the UIC deficit to one (62-61).
- SIU would only split a pair of foul shots, and Jones made the Salukis pay on his game-tying layup with 6.8 seconds to go, as a final desperation shot went awry.
FIRST OVERTIME
- Rivera took over in the first added session, scoring all eight of UIC's points in that five-minute period.
- He started with an old-fashioned three-point play (3:33), followed by a driving layup and the Flames led 68-63 at the 2:53 mark.
- Rivera split two foul shots with 1:24 to go, but Southern Illinois came back with three-pointers on its next two possessions to retake a two-point lead with :26 remaining.
- After a UIC timeout, Rivera drove the lane and was fouled with 3.7 seconds left. He then made no mistake, calmly knocking down both charities to provide more bonus basketball for the late night crowd of 4,435 at the Enterprise Center.
SECOND OVERTIME
- UIC spotted the Salukis the first basket of the second OT, but Rivera answered with a score of his own, followed by a three-pointer that put the Flames in front for good, 76-74 with 2:43 left.
- After SIU made 1-of-2 free throws, Brownell came up with another key play, grabbing an offensive rebound and driving hard for the putback layup (78-75, 1:49).
- Jones was fouled on his own offensive rebound and putback attempt with 1:02 to go and his two free throws made it 80-76.
- The Salukis got a three-point play to close within one, but Rivera's critical layup in traffic with 29 seconds left restored an 82-79 lead.
- SIU had two shots to tie, but neither found the mark before Pickett was fouled on the rebounding action and split his two free throws (83-79) with 13 seconds to go.
- Southern Illinois made one more triple to again get within a point, but Rivera made 1-of-2 free throws with 2.7 seconds left (84-82) and SIU's hurried last-second shot from midcourt was off the mark.
NOTES
- UIC is the first No. 11 seed ever to reach the quarterfinals at the MVC Tournament.
- This was the first overtime game in the MVC Tournament since Drake beat Missouri State, 79-78 in the 2022 semifinals. It's the first 2OT game at the MVC Tournament since Northern Iowa defeated Missouri State, 79-74 in the 2004 title game.
- UIC earned its first overtime victory since Feb. 19, 2022, when it posted a 96-88 win at Robert Morris.
- The Flames captured their first multiple-overtime victory since Feb. 10, 2013, when they prevailed 88-83 in triple overtime at Youngstown State.
- UIC picked up its first conference tournament win since March 1, 2022, when it recorded an 80-69 win at Milwaukee in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament.
- Thursday marked UIC's first overtime win in a postseason game since one of the most iconic moments in program history — March 5, 2002, when the Flames downed Loyola, 76-75 in the Horizon League Tournament championship game (on Cedric Banks' jumper with five seconds left) to claim the program's first conference tournament title.
- UIC improves to 5-10 all-time against Southern Illinois, earning its first win over the Salukis since Feb. 21, 2009 (74-67 at Credit Union 1 Arena) and first away from home since Dec. 9, 2000 (88-79 in a game that was played at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.).
- Counting Thursday's result, 11 of the last 12 games between UIC and Southern Illinois have been decided by 10 points or less with an average margin in those games of just 5.5 ppg.
- Rivera tied his career scoring high of 28 points set just over a month ago (Feb. 3) against this same SIU squad at Credit Union 1 Arena.
- This was Rivera's ninth 20-point game of the season and his fifth 25-point outing, with four of those five 25-point games coming in UIC's last 10 games.
- Rivera's five assists were one shy of his career high set on Jan. 7, 2023, against Fresno State (when he was still playing at Colorado State).
- Pickett's previous career scoring high had been 13 points, which he set in each of UIC's first two games this season — Nov. 6 at Cincinnati and Nov. 10 vs. Little Rock.
UP NEXT
UIC advances to the quarterfinals of the MVC Tournament (Arch Madness) and will play Bradley at 8:30 p.m. (CT) Friday at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Friday's game will be televised live on the MVC TV Network (including NBC Sports Chicago, Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports Indiana, Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports Southeast and ESPN+) and can be heard worldwide live and free of charge on the Flames Network at
UICFlames.com.
Fans wishing to cheer on UIC at Arch Madness in St. Louis can still purchase tickets by contacting the UIC Athletics Ticket Office (312-413-UIC1;
athleticsticketing@uic.edu). The tournament continues through Sunday afternoon.
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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