• Sunday will mark the fourth all-time meeting between UIC and Charlotte, with the 49ers having won each of the first three series matchups.
• Curiously, this will be the first time the schools have met on either campus. The prior three encounters all came at neutral sites — March 12, 1998 (NCAA First Round in Hartford, Conn.), Dec. 21, 1999 (Puerto Rico Shootout in San Juan, P.R.) and Nov. 17, 2007 (Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands).
• This is the front end of a home-and-home series, with the 49ers making the return trip to Chicago next season.
• UIC is 6-11 (.353) all-time against teams from the state of North Carolina and is facing a Tarheel State school for the third consecutive year (58-57 loss to UNCG in 2023 at the Baha Mar Nassau Championship in the Bahamas; 72-55 loss to ECU in 2024 at the Boardwalk Battle in Daytona Beach).
• The Flames are seeking their first win over a North Carolina school since Nov. 10, 2017 (65-55 at home vs. NC Central), and first road win in the state of North Carolina since its Dec. 12, 2004, victory at UNC Wilmington (76-67).

• Much like UIC, Charlotte has a lot of new faces in its camp, with 12 newcomers joining four returning letterwinners.
• The 49ers (5-7) are in the midst of a four-game homestand that will resume after the holiday break with their start in American Conference play.
• UIC is the last of three MVC opponents on Charlotte's schedule this year. The 49ers defeated Indiana State (92-76) on Nov. 3 and fell to Illinois State (79-69) on Nov. 27 at the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando.
• Charlotte last played on Thursday, connecting on a school record-tying 17 three-pointers en route to an 81-67 victory over Lafayette at Halton Arena.
• Sophomore guard Ben Bradford leads the 49ers in scoring (13.5 ppg.), followed by 7-foot-2 junior center/Providence transfer Anton Bonke, who is averaging 10.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.
• Head coach Aaron Fearne is in his third season at Charlotte with a 35-41 record. This will be his first matchup with UIC.

NOTING THE FLAMES

• To say UIC's schedule has been challenging this year is putting it mildly. Four of the Flames' first 11 opponents were ranked in the top 10 of the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 poll at tipoff, including a recently-completed stretch of three in a row — No. 6 High Point, No. 3 Yale, No. 5 Belmont and No. 10 UNI (Oregon State and Robert Morris were also receiving votes when they faced UIC).
• Three other UIC opponents (all in the Valley) are currently appearing in the College Insider Mid-Major poll — No. 15 Illinois State, No. 23 Murray State and a Bradley squad that is receiving votes this week.
• The Flames have come oh-so-close to an even better start this season, with five losses by 10 points or fewer (four against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 poll), including three by three points or fewer. In those latter three games, UIC had the final possession with a chance to tie or win the game.
• UIC rang up 14 steals in Wednesday's matchup against UNI, the most thefts for the Flames against a Division I opponent in nearly 18 years (school-record 25 vs. Howard on Dec. 22, 2007, also at Credit Union 1 Arena).
• UIC leads the MVC (and ranks 30th nationally) with a .771 free-throw percentage. In their Dec. 13 outing at Belmont, the Flames went a perfect 13-of-13 from the line, their first spotless day from the stripe since Jan. 9, 2013 (school-record 18-of-18 against Valparaiso).
• In that same Belmont game, graduate student guard Josiah Hammons torched the nets for a career-high 31 points on 8-of-16 three-pointers, the most points by a UIC player in a regulation game since Nov. 23, 2016 (32 by Dikembe Dixson vs. Elon). Hammons' eight triples were one off the school record and his 16 attempts tied the UIC record set by Cedrick Banks vs. Wright State on Feb. 23, 2005.
• One of the brighter spots for UIC this season has been the growth of redshirt freshman forward Jayce Nathaniel. After averaging 4.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in three games last season, the Atlanta native has nearly doubled his scoring output (7.9 ppg.) and rebounding production (5.5 rpg.), leading the MVC in offensive rebounds (3.18 orpg.). He has also scored in double figures four times this year, including a career-high 16 points at Oregon State on Nov. 7, and posted his first career double-double on Dec. 3 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff with 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
• UIC's dynamic freshman guard duo of Andy Johnson and Rashund Washington Jr. ranks second and third on the team in scoring this year, combining to average nearly 23 points per game (Johnson - 13.5 ppg./tops among all Missouri Valley Conference freshmen and 10th overall; Washington - 9.4 ppg.).
• Graduate student Abdul Momoh has been a strong rim protector for the Flames this season, tying for fourth in the MVC in blocks (1.45 bpg.) and recording multiple blocked shots in five games, including a season-best four swats on Nov. 20 against High Point.
• UIC has looked sharp against its fellow Chicagoland schools across all sports during the 2025-26 academic year. Flames teams are 11-0-2 head-to-head against Windy City opponents this year (3-0 volleyball; 3-0-1 men's soccer; 2-0 men's basketball; 2-0 women's basketball; 1-0-1 women's soccer), the best intracity record by any of Chicago's Division I schools.
• On Nov. 13, UIC announced the signing of Dikembe Shaw, a 6-7 forward from Crown Point, Ind. for 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: ILLINOIS TECH
After a season-long eight-day break, UIC returns to action Dec. 29, hosting Illinois Tech at 3 p.m. (CT) in the nightcap of a doubleheader (UIC women vs. Drake at noon CT). Fans may purchase discounted tickets for this game (and all UIC men's and women's home games through Jan. 4) for $5 each by going online to Ticketmaster and using the promo code "HOLIDAY". This promotion is available for all lower level sideline and baseline tickets for UIC men's games during the promotional window, while all general admission tickets at UIC women's games are eligible for the online discount.