DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the second consecutive year, UIC will head to Daytona Beach, Fla., for its annual multi-team event (MTE) as the Flames take part in the Geico Boardwalk Battle. UIC will open this year's tournament at 1:30 p.m. CT (2:30 p.m. ET) Thursday against High Point in a first-round game at the Ocean Center. All games at this year's Boardwalk Battle will be streamed live on BallerTV, a subscription platform, at a cost of $5 per game. Nevada Cullen will call the play-by-play for BallerTV at the Boardwalk Battle.

High Point is one of three UIC opponents on this year's schedule who participated in the 2025 NCAA Tournament (the others being Robert Morris and Yale). The Panthers come into Thursday's game ranked No. 6 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 and tied for 21st in the Mid-Major Madness Top 25, while UIC is receiving votes in the College Insider poll for the second week in a row.

GAME #5
Geico Boardwalk Battle - First Round
UIC "Flames" (3-1, 0-0 MVC) vs. High Point "Panthers" (4-1, 0-0 Big South)
When: Thursday, Nov. 20th  |  1:30 p.m. CT/2:30 p.m. ET
Where: Daytona Beach, Fla.  |  Ocean Center
TV: BallerTV (Nevada Cullen, p-b-p)
Radio: None
Live Stats: StatBroadcast

SERIES BREAKDOWN

• This will mark the first time UIC and High Point have met in any sport.
• The Panthers are the first of two new opponents on the Flames' schedule this season, UIC will meet Arkansas Pine Bluff for the first time on Dec. 3 at Credit Union 1 Arena for the Flames' Education Day Game (11 a.m. CT tipoff).
• UIC is playing a new opponent at the Boardwalk Battle for the second consecutive year. Last November, the Flames matched up with James Madison and East Carolina for the first time while playing in Daytona Beach, Fla.
• High Point is the first of two North Carolina schools on UIC's schedule this season. The Flames will travel to Charlotte for their final pre-Christmas game on Dec. 21.
• UIC is facing a North Carolina school in an MTE for the third year in a row (UNCG - 2023 Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship; East Carolina - 2024 Boardwalk Battle).
• The Flames are 6-10 all-time against North Carolina opponents and are seeking their first win against a team from the Tarheel State since Nov. 10, 2017 (65-55 vs. NC Central at Credit Union 1 Arena).

• High Point is the two-time defending Big South Conference champion and is coming off the program's first Big South Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance. The Panthers went 29-6 last season and pushed Purdue deep into the second half of their NCAA first-round game before falling, 75-63.
• This season, High Point is off to a 4-1 start, rebounding from its first loss of the season (91-74 at UAB on Nov. 14) with a 93-50 win at home over Canisius on Monday.
• Cam'Ron Fletcher leads four Panthers in double figures at 17.2 points per game, while adding a team-high 8.2 rebounds a contest with a .607 field-goal percentage. Rob Martin is right behind with 15.6 points and a team-high 5.4 assists per game.
• Flynn Clayman is in his first season as the head coach at High Point following two years as associate head coach at HPU and a prior stint as an assistant coach at Southern Utah. This will be his first head coaching matchup with UIC.

NOTING THE FLAMES

• UIC is playing in a multi-team event (MTE) for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons (all but the 2020-21 season that was truncated due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
• The Flames have finished second at their MTE in two of the past three years. In 2022, UIC went to Bronx, N.Y., and won two of three games to place second at Fordham's Tom Konchalski Classic. In 2023, the Flames competed at the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship in Nassau, Bahamas, winning twice to reach the title game before falling to UNCG on two last-second foul shots, 58-57.
• UIC has earned single wins in each of its last two MTE appearances in Florida. In 2019, the Flames won their finale at the Boca Raton Beach Classic (89-83 over San Diego) and last year, UIC won the middle of its three games at the Boardwalk Battle (96-83 over La Salle).
• UIC has looked sharp against its fellow Chicagoland schools across all sports during the 2025-26 academic year. Thus far, Flames teams are 9-0-2 against Windy City opponents this year (3-0 volleyball; 3-0-1 men's soccer; 2-0 men's basketball; 1-0-1 women's soccer), the best intracity record by any of Chicago's Division I schools.
• On Nov. 11 against St. Francis, the Flames shot a sizzling 65.1 percent from the floor (its best since Jan. 29, 2005 - .667 at Butler) and 66.7 percent from three-point range (best since Nov. 23, 2011 - .692 vs. Evansville), assisting on 29 of their 41 field goals and fueled by a second-half barrage that saw the Flames shoot .697 from the field and make all four of their three-point tries. UIC was equally prolific at the defensive end, coming up with 17 steals, the most for a Flames' squad in nearly 11 years (also 17 steals on Dec. 30, 2014, vs. Judson).
• UIC's 76-73 loss at Oregon State on Nov. 7 was the Flames' closest call against a power conference opponent since an 80-75 win at BIG EAST member DePaul on Dec. 14, 2016.
• UIC's last three matchups with power-conference schools have all been road losses decided by 11 points or fewer — 69-58 at Cincinnati in 2023, 83-74 at Northwestern in 2024, and 76-73 at Oregon State earlier this year.
• UIC's 13 steals at OSU were the most it had recorded against a Division I opponent since Nov. 16, 2016, when it also had 13 thefts in an 86-78 win over UTSA at Credit Union 1 Arena.
• Henderson's career-high seven steals at OSU were the most by a UIC player since Jan. 9, 2013, when Daniel Barnes had eight steals in a 75-70 home loss to Valparaiso. It also tied for the fifth-most thefts by a Missouri Valley Conference player in the past 30 seasons.
• With its Nov. 3 victory over Detroit Mercy, UIC picked up its second consecutive season-opening win, the first time the Flames have started with a victory in back-to-back seasons since 2019-20 and 2020-21. UIC is 39-40 (.494) all-time in season openers, including a 24-21 (.533) mark since moving to NCAA Division I in 1981-82.
• Rob Ehsan is the first UIC head coach in 40 years to win his first two season openers as the Flames' skipper (the last to do so was Willie Little in 1983-84 and 1984-85).
• On Nov. 13, UIC announced the signing of Dikembe Shaw, a 6-7 forward from Crown Point, Ind., to a National Letter of Intent to join the Flames starting in 2026-27. Shaw was an all-state selection and Indiana Junior All-Star pick last year while attending Crown Point High School, averaging 16.2 ppg., 6.7 rpg., 3.4 apg. and 1.3 spg., while helping the Bulldogs to a 24-2 record and a berth in the Indiana Class 4A semistate final. He also averaged 12.9 ppg. and 5.9 rpg. during the summer 2025 club season while competing for Indiana Elite 3SSB (3Stripes Select Basketball).

UP NEXT: INCARNATE WORD/SOUTHERN INDIANA (BOARDWALK BATTLE)
UIC will close out play at the Boardwalk Battle on Saturday, facing either Incarnate Word or Southern Indiana in the championship game (6 p.m. CT/7 p.m ET) or third-place game (4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET). That game will also be streamed live on BallerTV.