• Doubleheader with UIC women's basketball (noon CT vs. Drake) - WBB game ticketholders are invited to stay for the MBB game free of charge, but may need to relocate seats
• Hoops for the Holidays ticket discount ($10 lower-level sideline/baseline seats) when purchase online via Ticketmaster using the code "HOLIDAY" or at the arena box office on game day
• '90s Day (turn back the clock and break out your best '90s gear - grunge, hip-hop, preppy, you name it!)

• Speaking of turning back the clock, UIC resumes its series with an opponent it hasn't played in a regular season game in nearly 50 years, when Illinois Tech comes calling Monday.
• This will be the 64th meeting between the Flames and Scarlet Hawks, with Illinois Tech holding a 39-24 series edge (the record is 13-13 when playing at UIC, although some series locations, mainly in the 1950s are unknown).
• UIC has won the past two times the schools met, most recently in the 1977-78 season (predating the Flames' ascension to the NCAA Division I ranks). That year, UIC won both ends of a home-and-home series, winning 86-73 at IIT and 81-77 back on campus.
• Illinois Tech is the second of two UIC opponents this year (along with Chicago State) that the Flames played during their inaugural season in 1947-48.
• IIT now plays at the NCAA Division III level, making the Scarlet Hawks the second non-Division I opponent for UIC this year. The Flames defeated NAIA opponent St. Francis (Ill.), 98-55 on Nov. 11 at Credit Union 1 Arena.
   

• Located less than five miles southeast of the UIC campus, Illinois Tech is off to a 4-7 start this season, including a 2-2 record in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC).
• The Scarlet Hawks will be playing their second MVC opponent of the season, falling in a Nov. 6 exhibition at Indiana State, 104-73.
• IIT has lost its last three games, following a three-game winning streak. The Scarlet Hawks last played on Dec. 20-21 at the Puerto Rico Clasico in Bayamon, P.R., dropping decisions to Catholic (84-48) and Johns Hopkins (75-50).
• Senior forward Garrison Carter leads IIT in scoring (14.7 ppg.) and rebounding (6.2 rpg.), while senior guard John Davis III is the other Scarlet Hawks' player scoring in double figures this year (14.0 ppg.).
• Terrence (TJ) Gray is in his sixth season as head coach at Illinois Tech with a 37-74 career record. Monday will mark his first-ever matchup against UIC.
   

NOTING THE FLAMES

• 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.
• 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. 18 Murray State and No. 25 Bradley. The Flames will face two of those three in their next four games (MSU at home Thursday; ISU on the road Jan. 10).
• The Flames have come oh-so-close to victory on several occasions this year, with six losses by 10 points or fewer and/or in overtime (four against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the College Insider Mid-Major poll), including four by three points or fewer and/or in overtime. In those latter four games, UIC had the final possession each time with a chance to tie or win the game, but despite a clean look each time, the Flames' shots did not fall.
• UIC rang up 14 steals in its Dec. 17 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 with a .763 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 vs. Valpo).
• 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 (8.0 ppg.) and rebounding production (5.5 rpg.), leading the MVC in offensive rebounds (3.17 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 more than 23 points per game (Johnson - 13.7 ppg./tops among MVC freshmen and ninth overall; Washington - 9.6 ppg.).
• Graduate student Abdul Momoh has been a strong rim protector for the Flames this season, ranking third in the MVC in blocks (1.58 bpg.) and recording multiple blocked shots in six games, including a season-best four swats on Nov. 20 against High Point.
• 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: MURRAY STATE
UIC plays back-to-back home games for the first time all season when the Flames return to Credit Union 1 Arena Thursday for an 8 p.m. (CT) New Year's matchup with Murray State. The game will air live on the MVC TV Network (which includes ESPN+, as well as several Gray Media-owned and non-Gray syndicated over-the-air stations located within the Conference's six-state footprint of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee) and the Flames Network.