• Early arriving fans on Tuesday will receive a UIC Athletics t-shirt, while students attending the game can exchange a clean t-shirt from another school for a free UIC t-shirt and $5 UIC Bookstore gift card (while supplies last).
• UIC students can also attend the Flames Force Pregame Party at the Student Center East Bowling Alley from 5-6:30 p.m., then ride a free shuttle to the game. Free game shuttles will pick up at all dorms starting one hour before tipoff.

• UIC and Evansville will match up for the 13th time in their series history, with the Flames holding a 10-2 edge over the Purple Aces, including a 6-0 record in Chicago.
• UIC has won five of the six meetings between the schools since the Flames joined the Missouri Valley Conference prior to the 2022-23 season.
• UIC has won the last three games in the series, including a sweep of last year's set — 78-67 in Evansville (Jan. 22, 2025) and 82-77 in Chicago (Feb. 22, 2025).
• Nine of the 12 series games between UIC and Evansville have been decided by single digits, including four of the six in MVC play. In addition, all six of the Flames' wins over the Purple Aces in Chicago have featured single-digit margins.

• Evansville has two starters and six returnees from last year's 11-win squad that finished ninth in the MVC, blending with nine newcomers on this season's roster. 
• The Purple Aces are 5-14 overall (1-7 in MVC play), but have looked sharp during the past two weeks, shooting over 50 percent in their last three games. Evansville dropped a 10-point decision at home to Murray State, followed by a road win at Indiana State, and most recently, a 94-90 overtime loss at home to Bradley on Jan. 13.
• Senior forward Connor Turnbull, the reigning MVC Defensive Player of the Year, leads UE in scoring (12.4 ppg.), rebounding (6.2 rpg.) and blocked shots (2.6 bpg.), pacing the entire MVC in the latter category. Freshman guard Leif Moeller is third in the Valley in assists (4.1 apg.), including a conference-best 4.4 apg., and a 2.19 assist/turnover ratio (6th in the Valley) in MVC games.
• Head coach David Ragland is in his fourth season at Evansville with a 38-80 record. He is 1-5 all-time against UIC.

NOTING THE FLAMES

• UIC picked up its fourth consecutive win on Saturday with a near wire-to-wire 74-67 victory over Drake. Outside of an early 8-8 tie, the Flames led throughout (and by as many as 15 points) to earn their second win over the Bulldogs in the past three tries.
• UIC's four-game winning streak has come entirely against MVC opponents, its longest conference winning streak since the 2018-19 season, when the Flames had a similar four-game run against Horizon League opposition.
• With its recent road victories at No. 7 Illinois State and No. 10 UNI, UIC has five wins over ranked mid-major squads (and four against top-10 programs) in head coach Rob Ehsan's two seasons. Last year, the Flames defeated No. 1 Drake, No. 4 Bradley and No. 13 Yale.
• Graduate student forward Abdul Momoh scored a career-high 21 points on a perfect 9-of-9 shooting in UIC's Jan. 13 win at UNI. It was the best shooting night by a UIC player since at least the 2000-01 season, with further research ongoing. In his last seven games, Momoh is averaging 13.1 points per game with a .740 field-goal percentage (37-of-50).
• Sophomore guard Elijah Crawford continues to shine in his return since missing almost all of the first two months of the season with a lower leg injury. In his last four games, Crawford is averaging 10.3 points and 5.3 assists per contest, including career highs of 14 points and nine assists in the Jan. 13 win at UNI.
• Seven different UIC players have led the team in scoring at least once, tying for the sixth-most unique game-high scorers of any team in the nation this season (only VCU with nine, and Creighton, Kentucky, Northeastern and Saint Louis with eight, have had more). Most recently, junior guard/forward Mekhi Lowery had a career-high 17 points and graduate student forward Abdul Momoh added 17 points in the a Dec. 29 win over Illinois Tech.
• Of the 12 players on UIC's roster who have seen playing time this year, 10 have scored in double figures at least once this season, led by junior guard Ahmad Henderson II (15 games) and freshman guard Andy Johnson (12). The 10 different double-digit scorers ties for second-most in the MVC behind Illinois State (11).
• UIC has gone very young with its lineup during the past eight games, starting three freshmen in guards Andy Johnson and Rashund Washington Jr., along with redshirt forward Jayce Nathaniel. The Flames are one of only four schools in the nation (along with Arizona, Fairfield and UT Martin) to have three freshmen start at least eight times this year, with only one other school (New Mexico) having fielded a three-freshman lineup even once this year.
• To say UIC's schedule has been challenging this year is putting it mildly. More than half (9) of the Flames' 17 Division I opponents have been ranked or receiving votes in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 poll at tipoff, including a stretch of three in a row from Dec. 7-17 (No. 3 Yale, No. 5 Belmont, No. 10 UNI).
• The Flames have come oh-so-close to victory on several occasions this year, with eight losses by 10 points or fewer and/or in overtime, including four MVC games to date (average of 5.0 ppg. in losses to Belmont, UNI, Murray State and Valparaiso).
• UIC has also led at halftime in seven of its eight conference games this season (the lone exception being Jan. 13 at UNI by a 32-29 margin).
• Five of UIC's close losses have come against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the College Insider Mid-Major poll (OSU, HPU, BEL, UNI, MSU), and four close losses have come by three points or fewer and/or in overtime (OSU, UAPB, BEL, CHA). In those latter four "one-possession" games, UIC had the ball each time with a chance to tie or win the game in the closing seconds, but despite a clean look each time, the Flames' shots did not fall.
• Since trailing 16-6 with 9:56 left in the first half on Dec. 17 vs. UNI, UIC has either led or trailed by just single digits for nearly the full 559+ minutes of game time in that span (all but the final 53 seconds of OT at Charlotte on Dec. 21). In this current stretch of 8 1/2 games, the Flames have led for 233:42 and only trailed for 86:56.
• UIC men's basketball has been hitting the books at a record-setting level this year. The Flames posted a 3.26 team GPA during the Fall 2025 semester, the program's highest semester GPA since at least 2010-11.
• 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).

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