• UIC and Illinois State will match up for the 32nd time this weekend, with the Redbirds maintaining a 20-11 series lead, including a 13-4 mark in Normal.
• The teams have split their last eight meetings, while the Flames have won their last two visits to CEFCU Arena (only the second time they have won back-to-back games in Normal, the other coming in 2002 and 2004).
• This is another of UIC's series that has been closely played, as 21 of the prior 31 games with Illinois State have been decided by 10 points or fewer — including the past seven (and all six since UIC joined the Valley in 2022-23).
• Last year, the schools split their season series, each winning on the other's home court. UIC won 73-67 on Dec. 29, 2024, in Normal, rallying from a 12-point deficit for its biggest comeback victory in three years. ISU responded with an 81-79 win on Feb. 5, 2025, at Credit Union 1 Arena, navigating 15 lead changes and eight ties while dodging a missed game-winning three-point try by the Flames at the final horn.

• Illinois State is the reigning College Basketball Invitational (CBI) champion and returns three of its top four scorers from last year's squad. Thus, it's no surprise the Redbirds were the preseason favorite in the MVC and have been ranked in the College Insider Mid-Major poll throughout the balance of the 2025-26 campaign.
• ISU has won 11 of its last 13, but is coming off a 77-71 loss at Valparaiso on Wednesday. The Redbirds' only other losses were at neutral sites to USC and Utah State, and at Ohio.
• Chase Walker is seventh in the MVC in scoring (13.8 ppg.) and ninth in field-goal percentage (.510), while Johnny Kinzinger adds 12.2 ppg. and is seventh in the Valley in steals (1.44 spg.), and Boden Skunberg is fifth in the conference with a .435 three-point percentage.
• Head coach Ryan Pedon is in his fourth season at Illinois State with a 60-56 record at the Redbirds' helm. He is 3-3 in his head coaching career against UIC.

NOTING THE FLAMES

• UIC is coming off its first conference win of the season, a near wire-to-wire 70-57 victory over SIU. It was the Flames' first regular-season win over the Salukis since Feb. 21, 2009 (74-67 in Chicago) and second-largest margin of victory ever against SIU (76-61 during the 1981-82 season, also in Chicago).
• Seven different UIC players have led the team in scoring at least once, tying for the fifth-most unique game-high scorers of any team in the nation this season (only VCU with nine, and Creighton, Kentucky and Northeastern 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 a season-best 17 points to pace the Flames' 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 (14 games) and freshman guard Andy Johnson (11). The 10 different double-digit scorers ties for second-most in the MVC behind only Illinois State (11).
• To say UIC's schedule has been challenging this year is putting it mildly. Five of the Flames' 14 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 Saturday; now-No. 5 UNI on the road next Tuesday.
• 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 of five 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 all five 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 434+ 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 5 1/2 games, the Flames have led for 156:51 and only trailed for 63:35.   
• 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's dynamic freshman guard duo of Andy Johnson and Rashund Washington Jr. is combining to average more than 21 points per game (Johnson - 13.1 ppg./tops among MVC freshmen and 11th overall; Washington - 8.2 ppg.).
• Another bright spot for UIC has been the growth of another freshman, redshirt forward Jayce Nathaniel. The Atlanta native has doubled his scoring from his three-game redshirt year (4.3 to 8.4 ppg.) and nearly done the same with his rebounding (3.3 to 5.3 rpg.), ranking second in the MVC in offensive boards (2.88 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.
• Graduate student Abdul Momoh has been a strong rim protector for the Flames this season, tying for third in the MVC in blocks (1.63 bpg.) and recording multiple blocked shots in eight games, including a season-best four swats on Nov. 20 against High Point.
• 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 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.
• 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: NORTHERN IOWA
The Flames continue their MVC road trip Tuesday with a 6 p.m. (CT) contest against Northern Iowa at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The game will be carried live on the MVC TV Network, which includes ESPN+ as well as several Gray Media-owned and non-Gray syndicated over-the-air stations located within the Conference's six-state footprint of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee.
 

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