• Saturday will mark the 19th all-time matchup between UIC and Southern Illinois, with the Salukis leading the series 12-6, including a 7-0 record in Carbondale.
• UIC and Southern Illinois will be meeting for the second time in a little more than three weeks, having first squared off on Jan. 7 at Credit Union 1 Arena. The Flames came away with a 70-57 victory that night, leading almost wire-to-wire, but needing an 8-0 game-ending run to hold off the Salukis who had trimmed an 18-point deficit to five points inside the final three minutes.
• The Jan. 7 win also represented the first regular-season victory for the Flames over the Salukis since the 2008-09 season (predating UIC's membership in the MVC).
• Aside from the first three games in the series, the last 15 games between UIC and Southern Illinois have all been decided by 13 points or fewer. That includes the past five times the schools have played in Carbondale.

• Southern Illinois returned to winning form on Wednesday with a 65-50 victory at home over UNI. The Salukis, who were coming off an unexpected week-long break due to Winter Storm Fern blowing through the Ohio Valley (which postponed SIU's game at Evansville), snapped a four-game losing streak that had included three losses by six points or fewer.
• Close games have been the story of the season for the Salukis, who have played 14 contests decided by single digits.
• Quel'Ron House returned from injury against UNI and scored 17 points off the bench, adding to his team-high 13.8 ppg. average this season. Rolyns Aligbe had a game-high 21 points against UNI and averages 9.6 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game (latter is third in the MVC).
• Head coach Scott Nagy is in his second season at Southern Illinois with a 23-31 record. A 31-year coaching veteran with prior stops at South Dakota State and Wright State, he is 600-363 all-time, including an 11-5 record against UIC.

• UIC has found numerous ways to win during his seven-game winning streak, and another of those appeared Tuesday, when the Flames got a last-second steal and layup from sophomore guard Elijah Crawford to defeat Indiana State, 76-74 at Credit Union 1 Arena. UIC had led by as many as 20 points in the first half and led virtually the entire night, except for a late Sycamores' run that briefly gave the visitors the lead before Crawford's heroics.
• Tuesday marked the Flames' first buzzer-beating win since Jan. 21, 2021, when Michael Diggins' tip-in gave UIC a 67-66 road win at Youngstown State.
• UIC's current seven-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 the Jan. 24 win at Bradley.
• Graduate student guard Josiah Hammons has been a microwave off the bench for the Flames of late, averaging 13.7 points in his last three games while shooting .647 from the three-point line (11-of-17). Hammons has scored in double figures in all three games, including 18 on the road at Bradley on Jan. 24.
• Eight different UIC players have led the team in scoring at least once, tying for the second-most unique game-high scorers 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 (17 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 11 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. Half (10) of the Flames' 20 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 10 of its 11 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 679+ 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 11 1/2 games, the Flames have led for 336:06 and only trailed for 100:25.
• 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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