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UIC Athletics

thevalley
Ozzie Stern
93
Murray St. MUR 10-8,4-3 MVC
97
Winner UIC UIC 11-6,4-3 MVC
Murray St. MUR
10-8,4-3 MVC
93
Final
97
UIC UIC
11-6,4-3 MVC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 OT 2 F
Murray St. MUR 36 40 12 5 93
UIC UIC 33 43 12 9 97

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men's Basketball Wins 2OT Thriller Over Murray State, 97-93

Flames are 3-0 in OT games this season, defeating the Racers for the first time since 2006.

CHICAGO (Jan. 15, 2025) — Junior guard Javon Jackson (Houston, Texas/C.E. King/Southern Nazarene/Utah State) scored a career-high 30 points, capped by a tiebreaking 3-pointer from the left wing with 1:02 left in the second overtime as UIC outlasted Murray State, 97-93 in a Missouri Valley Conference barnburner on Wednesday night at Credit Union 1 Arena. It was the Flames' third win in as many overtime contests this season, as well as their first win over the Racers since 2006 (and first since both squads joined the MVC in 2022-23).

Jackson scored 26 points after halftime, including 19 in the second half for the Flames (11-6, 4-3 MVC), who shot 55.6 percent from the floor and 40.9 percent from three-point range. Graduate student guard Tyem Freeman (Springfield, Mo./Hillcrest/UCF/Kent State) narrowly missed his own career scoring high, finishing with a season-best 21 points. Senior forward Filip Skobalj (Belgrade, Serbia/Don Bosco-Schule Rostock) tallied 15 points, while sophomore forward Sasa Ciani (Nova Gorica, Slovenia/Koder School/Xavier) collected his second consecutive double-double and MVC-leading sixth of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The full box score and play-by-play recap from Wednesday night's win over Murray State can be found here.
 

COACH'S COMMENTS

SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
  • Dating back to last season, UIC has now won its last four overtime games — 84-82 in double overtime over Southern Illinois in the 2024 MVC Tournament opening round, as well as this year's victories over Dartmouth (69-68 at home on Dec. 8), Little Rock (77-69 on the road on Dec. 15) and Wednesday's 97-93 double-overtime triumph over Murray State at Credit Union 1 Arena.
  • UIC's three OT wins this season are second-most in program history, topped only by the 2005-06 Flames' squad that went 5-1 in overtime games.
  • That 2005-06 season also marked the last time UIC won four or more consecutive overtime games — that year, the Flames won their last five OT contests, then added a sixth OT win the following season (2006-07).
  • This was UIC's first multiple-overtime win at home in almost exactly 17 years — Jan. 12, 2008, when the Flames defeated Loyola, 78-68 in two overtimes.
  • Jackson's 30 points were the most by a UIC player since Feb. 28, 2024, when Toby Okani scored 31 points in a triple-overtime loss to Drake at Credit Union 1 Arena.
  • Jackson set a new career scoring high, topping his previous best of 25 points at Arkansas Tech on Jan. 12, 2023, when he was playing for Southern Nazarene.
  • Freeman scored a season-high 21 points (previous was 19 vs. Yale on Nov. 8) and just missed his career high of 22 points at Tulane on Jan. 14, 2023, when he was playing for UCF.
  • This marked the first time UIC had two 20-point scorers in a game since Feb. 11, 2024, against Northern Iowa, when CJ Jones (24) and Filip Skobalj (21) led the Flames to a 71-65 win over the Panthers at Credit Union 1 Arena.
  • UIC's 21 assists were the most for the Flames since Nov. 16, when they dished out 31 dimes in a win over Saint Mary's (Minn.) at Credit Union 1 Arena. 
  • The Flames had four double-digit scorers for the 10th time this season and topped the 90-point mark for the fifth time (first since a 96-83 win over La Salle on Nov. 22 at the Boardwalk Battle in Daytona Beach, Fla.).
  • UIC shot better than 50 percent from the field for the eighth time this year.
  • UIC improves to 2-4 all-time against Murray State, capturing its first win over the Racers since Nov. 28, 2006 (74-68 in Chicago).

UP NEXT
UIC heads back on the open road for three of its next four MVC games, starting Saturday with a 3 p.m. (CT) contest at Valparaiso. ESPN+ will televise the game live from the Athletics-Recreation Center, while fans are encouraged to listen to the game free of charge on the Flames Network at UICFlames.com.

FOLLOW THE FLAMES
For more information on UIC men's basketball, 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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