CHICAGO (July 17, 2025) – The UIC men's basketball team has been chosen as a recipient of the 2024-25 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Team Academic Excellence Award, the organization announced Thursday. In addition, four members of last year's Flames' squad earned a spot on the NABC Honors Court.
 
The NABC Team Academic Excellence Awards recognized nearly 400 programs across all levels of college basketball that completed the 2024-25 academic year with a team grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher. UIC finished with a 3.02 cumulative team GPA in '24-25 and was one of five Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball programs to receive the honor.
 
The NABC Honors Court, meanwhile, includes more than 2,400 junior, senior and graduate student players who completed last year with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher. The Flames were represented by the quartet of senior forward Filip Skobalj, graduate student guards Joshua Reaves and Koby Jeffries, and junior guard Grant Welch.
 
During head coach Rob Ehsan's first season at UIC in 2024-25, the Flames finished with a 17-14 record and tied for fifth place in the MVC. UIC also registered its best regular-season winning percentage (.567) since 2004 and picked up four Quad 1-2 wins (second-best in the Valley). What's more, the Flames posted five wins over teams that competed in the postseason, including victories over Drake, Yale, Bradley and Illinois State, and produced the program's second-highest scoring offense (76.0 ppg. – fourth in MVC) in the past 30 years.
 
Deposits on season ticket packages for the 2025-26 Flames' men's basketball campaign are currently being accepted, with further details on this year's schedule and ticket pricing available in the coming weeks. For more information, fans are encouraged to contact the UIC Athletics Ticket Office (312.413.8421; athleticsticketing@uic.edu).
 
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).