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thevalley
2024 MVC Men's Basketball Championships
Doug DeVoe
47
UIC UIC 12-21,4-16 MVC
74
Winner Bradley BRAD 22-10,13-7 MVC
UIC UIC
12-21,4-16 MVC
47
Final
74
Bradley BRAD
22-10,13-7 MVC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UIC UIC 25 22 47
Bradley BRAD 27 47 74

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men’s Basketball Falls to Bradley in MVC Quarterfinals

Flames set MVC record for highest blocked shot average in a single season

ST. LOUIS (March 8, 2024) – The UIC men's basketball team found itself just 20 minutes away from a spot in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinals, battling well in a highly-competitive, one-possession game following one of its strongest defensive halves of the season. However, some untimely struggles on the offensive end in the second half proved to be the Flames' undoing, as their season came to a close with a 74-47 loss to Bradley in the MVC quarterfinals on Friday night at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
 
After advancing to the MVC quarterfinals in the program's second season in the conference, UIC (12-21) stayed right with Bradley throughout the opening 20 minutes, closing within 27-25 at halftime on a dunk by senior guard Toby Okani (Orange, N.J./Cushing Academy (Mass.)) with two seconds left in the first half. The Flames then had opportunities early in the second half to regain the lead, but were not able to connect, while Bradley seemingly could not miss, pulling away in the second half.
 
Freshman forward Nathan Ojukwu (Boise, Idaho/DME Academy (Fla.)) came off the bench to score a career-high 10 points in less than nine minutes of action. Okani and senior guard Isaiah Rivera (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo/Colorado State) each scored nine points, with Okani and sophomore guard CJ Jones (East St. Louis, Ill./East St. Louis) tying for team-high honors with five rebounds and three steals apiece.
 
As a team, UIC recorded a season-high 12 steals, including nine in the first half alone. The Flames also finished the season averaging 5.33 blocks per game, which set a new MVC record, surpassing the old mark of 5.1 bpg., set by former Valley member Wichita State in 2013-14. UIC is just the second MVC school to average more than five blocks per game for an entire season since blocked shots became an official NCAA statistic in 1985-86.
 
COACH'S COMMENTS
"I thought our first half was outstanding," said head coach Luke Yaklich. "We really played aggressively. We matched their physicality, and sometimes exceeded it, and really played connected basketball. The start of the second half, when we went 0-for-14 and the other team goes 10-for-11, it's hard to match that. We missed some easy shots tonight, but in the end, they deserved the victory with a well-played second half."
 
FIRST HALF
  • UIC got off to a solid start at both ends, taking an early 4-0 lead with 18:29 left on jumpers by Okani and Rivera.
  • Bradley came back with the next five points before junior forward Filip Skobalj (Belgrade, Serbia/Don Bosco-Schule Rostock) put the Flames back on top, 7-5 with a three-pointer at the 15:24 mark.
  • That started a stretch of six lead changes during the next two minutes that featured a triple from Rivera (14:48) and a driving layup by Jones that made it 12-11, UIC (13:51).
  • The Braves went on a 9-2 run during the next 3:14 to take their largest lead of the first half (20-14).
  • The game then settled into a defensive battle, with the Flames closing within one possession four times, the last at 24-23 on two free throws by Okani with 2:56 remaining.
  • Bradley hit a three-pointer on its next possession, but UIC then held the Braves scoreless the rest of the period.
  • Conversely, Jones came up with a steal on Bradley's final possession, poking the ball to sophomore guard Steven Clay (Milwaukee, Wis./Menomenee Falls), who alertly found Okani for a breakaway dunk with :02 to go, cutting the Braves' halftime lead to 27-25.


  • Rivera tied for game-high scoring honors with nine points in the first half, while Okani added eight points for UIC. The Flames' defense was also sharp, forcing 11 turnovers (nine on UIC steals) in the opening 20 minutes.
 
SECOND HALF
  • The Flames had the first possession of the second half and the opportunity to tie or take the lead, but their shot did not fall.
  • Conversely, Bradley went on a 23-4 run during the first eight minutes of the second half to take control of the contest.
  • Junior guard Ethan Pickett (Pensacola, Fla./Cherokee/Triton) connected on UIC's first basket of the second half with a putback layup at the 7:59 mark.
  • Ojukwu came off the bench to lead a determined effort by the Flames down the stretch, battling through to the finish line and connecting on both a three-pointer (1:24) and a dunk (:07) in the closing minutes.
 
NOTES
  • UIC finished the season averaging 5.33 blocks per game to set a new MVC record (former Valley member Wichita State had 5.1 bpg. in 2013-14). UIC is just the second MVC school to average more than five blocks per game for an entire season since blocked shots became an official NCAA statistic in 1985-86.
  • UIC's season-high 12 steals topped their previous best of 10 steals on two occasions (Nov. 24 against Middle Tennessee in the Bahamas; Nov. 30 in the MVC opener against Illinois State). It was the most steals for the Flames in a game since Nov. 11, 2022, when they also had 12 against Loyola.
  • Rivera went over the 500-point mark for the season, finishing with 508 points in his first campaign at UIC after transferring last summer from Colorado State. He also now has 971 career points, putting him in position to reach the 1,000-point career milestone early next year.
  • Okani finished this season with a conference-best 66 blocks, good for ninth on the UIC single-season list. He also has 131 career blocks, including 105 during his two seasons with the Flames since transferring from Duquesne.
  • With his career-high 10 points, Ojukwu became the 10th different UIC player to score in double figures at least once this season. That includes career highs for Rivera (24 double-digit games), Jones (18), Skobalj (12), redshirt sophomore forward Jaden Brownell (9), Pickett (7) and Clay (5).
  • Five different Flames set career highs for 20-point games this season — Rivera (9), Okani (4), Jones (3), Brownell (1) and Skobalj (1). Of those five, only Okani had scored 20 points in a game prior to this season.
  • Jones currently leads the MVC with three double-digit assist games this season, while Okani ranks fourth with seven double-digit rebounding games this year.
 
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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