• Pride Night (free Pride shirts/flags to be given away to early-arriving fans)
• UIC Faculty & Staff can purchase discounted $5 tickets for themselves and guests by showing their University ID at the arena box office on game night.
• 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 campus halls starting one hour before tipoff.

• UIC and Indiana State will be meeting for just the eighth time in their series history on Tuesday night. The Sycamores are 6-1 all-time in the series, including a 3-1 edge in games played in Chicago.
• The Flames won the inaugural matchup between the clubs, 70-54 on Nov. 18, 2001, at Credit Union 1 Arena. Since then, Indiana State has won the past six contests, incliuding all five since UIC joined the Missouri Valley Conference prior to the 2022-23 season.
• The last two times UIC and Indiana State have met in Chicago, the margin has been six points or fewer. On Jan. 24, 2024, there were 13 ties and 18 lead changes and neither side led by more than six in an 89-83 Sycamores' win.
• Then, in their most recent encounter on Feb. 1, 2025 at Credit Union 1 Arena, UIC nearly rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit, getting within one possession eight times in the final four minutes and having a look at a go-ahead triple with 1:28 left before Indiana State held on for the 88-83 victory.

• Indiana State is another MVC team with a balanced mix of returnees (7) and newcomers (9) this season, as the Sycamores are only one year removed from winning the Valley title and advancing to the NIT championship game.
• Indiana State opened the season strong, winning seven of its first 11 games. Coincidentally, the Sycamores mirrored UIC's 2-1 record against their three common opponents (loss to Charlotte, wins over Illinois Tech, Southern Indiana).
• ISU has dropped six of its last seven, but nearly all have been close. Most recently, the Sycamores fell at home to Drake, 76-62 last Saturday.
• Ian Scott leads ISU in scoring (14.3 ppg.; fifth in the MVC) and rebounding (7.0 rpg.; second in the MVC), while Camp Wagner adds 12.2 ppg. with a team-high 52 three-pointers this season (2.48/game; third in the MVC).
• Head coach Matthew Graves is 23-30 in his second season at Indiana State, with an 88-126 overall mark in seven years (five at South Alabama). He is 1-0 all-time against UIC.

NOTING THE FLAMES

• UIC ran its current winning streak to six games with an 85-70 victory at Bradley last Saturday night. The Flames used a 22-6 run midway through the first half to take the lead for good en route to their second consecutive road win over the Braves. Sophomore guard Elijah Crawford scored a career-high 26 points and graduate student guard Josiah Hammons added 18 points (15 in the second half) to pace UIC to the victory.
• UIC's current six-game winning streak (all against MVC opponents) is its longest in conference play since joining the Valley in 2022-23 and longest in any conference setting since Jan. 18-Feb. 8, 2018, when the Flames won seven in a row while competing under the Horizon League banner.
• Sophomore guard Elijah Crawford was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week on Monday after averaging 21.5 points, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game in both UIC wins last week. Crawford also shot .615 from the field and .667 from the three-point line in the two victories, including a career-high 5-of-6 from three-point range in Saturday's win at Bradley.
• 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.
• Eight different UIC players have led the team in scoring at least once, tying for the second-most unique game-high scorers of any team in the nation this season (VCU has nine, while Arizona, Creighton, Illinois, Kentucky, Northeastern and Saint Louis also have eight).
• 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 (16 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 10 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 10 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 (10) of the Flames' 19 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).
• 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.
• 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 led at halftime in nine of its 10 conference games this season (the lone exception on 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 639+ 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 10 1/2 games, the Flames have led for 298:19 and only trailed for 100:03.
• 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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