• FLASH SALE TICKETS - $5 each for any seat in the lower arena bowl (except courtside seats) for all fans wearing UIC gear
• '70s Night - free UIC Flames/State Farm rollabanna sign giveaway to early-arriving fans, courtesy of the Missouri Valley Conference

• UIC and Southern Illinois will square off for the 18th time in their series history, with the Salukis holding a 12-5 lead against the Flames (4-3 in games played in Chicago).
• SIU has won all six regular-season meetings since UIC joined the Missouri Valley Conference in 2022-23, with the Flames prevailing in the only postseason matchup between the schools (84-82 in double overtime at the 2024 MVC Tournament in St. Louis).
• Although the series record may lean in SIU's favor, the margins in nearly every game have been close. In fact, after the first three games were decided by a minimum of 15 points, the past 14 games between the Flames and Salukis have all featured margins of 12 points or fewer, including 11 of those 14 by single digits, and five of the past seven that have come down to key plays in the final minute.
• Last year's game in Chicago featured 14 ties and 12 lead changes and UIC held a two-point lead with under a minute to go. However, SIU's Kennard Davis Jr. converted a three-point play with 39 seconds left and the Salukis iced the 89-85 win by making 6-of-6 free throws down the stretch.

• Southern Illinois has eight newcomers to go along with six returnees from last year's squad that posted 14 wins, including eight in MVC play.
• The Salukis are off to an 8-8 start this season and have played 11 single-digit games this season, including their last six contests.
• SIU has opened the new year with a pair of MVC victories over Valparaiso (75-70) and at Belmont (68-67), the latter on a Quel'Ron House shot with 0.1 seconds to play.
• House leads the Salukis and ranks fifth in the Valley in scoring this season (14.6 ppg.), while placing fourth in the conference with 1.69 steals per game, just ahead of teammate Damien Mayo Jr. (1.63 spg.). Rolyns Aligbe also ranks fifth in the MVC in rebounding (6.6 rpg.).
• Head coach Scott Nagy is in his second season at SIU and 31st on the sidelines with a 599-359 career record, including a 22-27 record during his time in Carbondale. He is 11-4 all-time against UIC, including his last stop at Wright State.

NOTING THE FLAMES

• UIC ranks among the top 50 teams in the country in both offensive rebounding (26th; 14.1 orpg.) and free throw percentage (41st; .765), with the latter figure on pace to challenge the program record for a single season (.752 in 2012-13). Individually, freshman guard Andy Johnson ranks 30th nationally in foul shooting (.909).
• Seven different UIC players have led the team in scoring at least once, tying for the fourth-most unique game-high scorers of any team in the nation this season (only VCU-9, Creighton-8 and Northeastern-8 have had more). Most recently, junior guard/forward Mekhi Lowery had a career-high 17 points and graduate student forward Abdul Momoh added a season-best 17 points to pace the Flames' Dec. 29 win over Illinois Tech.
• To say UIC's schedule has been challenging this year is putting it mildly. Five of the Flames' 13 Division I opponents have been ranked in the top 20 of the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 poll at tipoff, including a stretch of three in a row from Dec. 7-17 — No. 6 High Point, No. 3 Yale, No. 5 Belmont, No. 10 UNI and No. 19 Murray State (Oregon State and Robert Morris were receiving votes when they faced UIC).
• The Flames are also in the midst of a five-game stretch in which they will face three ranked opponents — No. 19 MSU at home Jan. 1 (lost 81-77); No. 7 Illinois State on the road this Saturday; now-No. 5 UNI on the road Jan. 13.
• 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 all four MVC games to date (average of 5.0 ppg. vs. Belmont, UNI, Murray State and Valparaiso). UIC has also led at halftime in all four of its conference games this season.
• 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 entire 394+ minutes of game time in that span (the exception was the final 53 seconds of OT at Charlotte on Dec. 21). In this current stretch of 4 1/2 games, the Flames have led for 121:30 and only trailed for 59:44.   
• Five of those 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.
• 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's dynamic freshman guard duo of Andy Johnson and Rashund Washington Jr. is combining to average more than 21 points per game (Johnson - 13.0 ppg./tops among MVC freshmen and 12th overall; Washington - 8.5 ppg.).
• Graduate student Abdul Momoh has been a strong rim protector for the Flames this season, ranking fourth in the MVC in blocks (1.6 bpg.) and recording multiple blocked shots in seven games, including a season-best four swats on Nov. 20 against High Point.
• One of the brighter spots for UIC this season has been the growth of redshirt freshman forward Jayce Nathaniel. The Atlanta native has doubled his scoring from last year (4.3 to 8.6 ppg.) and nearly done the same with his rebounding (3.3 to 5.3 rpg.), ranking second in the MVC in offensive rebounds (2.87 orpg.). He has also scored in double figures five times this year (including a career-high 17 points against Murray State on Jan. 1), and posted his first career double-double on Dec. 3 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff with 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
• On Dec. 13 at Belmont, 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.
• UIC men's basketball has also 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 the 2010-11 academic year.
• 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).
• UIC has looked sharp against its fellow Chicagoland schools across all sports during the 2025-26 academic year. With men's basketball's Dec. 29 win over Illinois Tech, Flames teams are now 12-0-2 head-to-head against Windy City opponents this year (3-0 men's basketball; 3-0 volleyball; 3-0-1 men's soccer; 2-0 women's basketball; 1-0-1 women's soccer), the best intracity record by any of Chicago's Division I schools.
   

UP NEXT: ILLINOIS STATE
The Flames make the two-hour drive south to Normal, Ill., on Saturday for a 4 p.m. (CT) matinee against Illinois State at CEFCU Arena. The game will be televised live on ESPN+.
 

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