• UIC Men's Basketball Senior Day (pregame at approximately 1:40 p.m. CT)
• Baum Family Fund Day
• UIC students also encouraged to ride a free shuttle to the game. Free game shuttles will pick up at all East Campus dorms and outside Student Center East starting one hour before tipoff.

• The UIC-Valparaiso series is the fifth-most frequently played rivalry in Flames' basketball history, with Saturday marking the 66th matchup between the schools. UIC holds a 35-30 edge in the all-time series, including a 22-10 edge on its home court in Chicago.
• The Beacons have won the past two meetings with UIC, prevailing in last year's MVC Tournament first-round game (67-50) and then rallying for a 66-59 win over the Flames earlier this season (Jan. 4) at Valparaiso.
• UIC and Valparaiso have shared membership in three conferences for portions of the past 44 years, first in the Association of Mid-Continent Universities/Mid-Continent Conference (now Summit League) from 1981-82 to 1993-94, and in the Horizon League from 2007-08 through 2016-17, prior to their current MVC membership.
• In that four-decade span, the schools have met 61 times in conference or postseason tournament play, with UIC owning a 33-28 record in those games. As MVC members (since 2022-23), the schools are tied 4-4 — UIC leads 4-3 in the regular season, while Valpo is 1-0 at Arch Madness.

• Valparaiso comes into Saturday's game as one of the hotter teams in the MVC, having won seven of its last 10 games, including four of its last five.
• Nine of those last 10 games have been decided by 10 points or fewer, with Valparaiso winning twice in overtime.
• The Beacons picked up a pair of home wins in the past week, downing Indiana State (76-75) on Sunday, then ousting Bradley (79-72) in their most recent contest on Wednesday night.
• Owen Dease leads Valparaiso in scoring (13.5 ppg.) and three-point percentage (.411), while JT Pettigrew is second in scoring (11.9 ppg.) and tops in rebounding (6.6 rpg.). Rakim Cheney adds 10.0 points and a team-high 2.8 assists per game for the Beacons.
• Head coach Roger Powell Jr. is in his third season at Valparaiso with a career head coaching record of 37-57. He is 3-3 all-time against UIC.

• UIC picked up its third consecutive win and 11th in the past 13 games on Wednesday with an 84-46 victory at Evansville.
• With Wednesday's victory, UIC improved to 11-6 in MVC play this year, its most conference wins in a single season since 2017-18 (12-6 in the Horizon League). It also secured the first winning conference season for the Flames since 2019-20 (10-8/.556 in the Horizon League).
• Wednesday's 38-point margin of victory was the Flames' largest in a road game in 73 years, dating back to a 116-60 win at George Williams College on Feb. 13, 1953 (well before UIC's program elevated to NCAA Division I status in 1981-82).
• Wednesday was UIC's largest-ever conference victory, topping a 77-44 Horizon League win at Detroit Mercy on Jan. 18, 2003.
• UIC connected on a season-high 16-of-27 three-point attempts at Evansville, the most triples in the two-year Rob Ehsan era and one off the school record, set three times (most recently on Jan. 12, 2019, against Cleveland State).
• The Flames welcomed one of their largest home crowds in the past decade for the Feb. 6 Belmont game, with 3,599 fans (including 1,400 UIC students) coming through the turnstiles at Credit Union 1 Arena.
• UIC's eight-game winning streak earlier this season (all against MVC opponents) was its longest since Nov. 17-Dec. 15, 2012, a run that included one non-Division I victory. It was also the Flames' longest conference (and entirely Division I) winning streak since Jan. 24-Feb. 28, 2004, when UIC won its final 10 Horizon League games of the season — it then won both conference tournament games, capped by a 65-62 victory at Milwaukee in the Horizon League final to earn UIC's most recent NCAA Tournament berth.
• Eight different UIC players have led the team in scoring at least once, tying for the fourth-most unique game-high scorers in the nation this year (George Washington, Tarleton State and VCU have nine, while UIC is one of 11 schools who 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 (21 games) and freshman guard Andy Johnson (16). 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 17 games, starting three freshmen in guards Andy Johnson and Rashund Washington Jr., along with redshirt forward Jayce Nathaniel in 13 of those games (and all three averaging more than 20 minutes per night). The Flames are one of four schools in the nation (Arizona, Fairfield, UT Martin) to have three freshmen start at least 13 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 (13) of the Flames' 26 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 last month's wins at No. 7 Illinois State and No. 10 UNI, UIC has five victories over ranked mid-major squads (four vs. 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 10 of their 12 losses by 10 points or fewer and/or in OT, including all six MVC losses to date (average of 5.5 ppg. vs. Belmont (2x), UNI, Murray State (2x) and Valparaiso).
• UIC has led at halftime in 13 of its 17 conference games this year and has been tied or up at the break in 19 of its 28 games overall.
• Six of UIC's close losses have come against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the College Insider Mid-Major poll (OSU, HPU, BEL-2x, UNI, MSU-2x), 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 clean looks each time, the shots did not fall.
• 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 and Indiana Junior All-Star pick last year at Crown Point High School, posting 16.2 ppg., 6.7 rpg. and 3.4 apg., while helping the Bulldogs go 24-2 and make the Indiana Class 4A semistate final. He also had 12.9 ppg. and 5.9 rpg. in the summer 2025 club season with Indiana Elite 3SSB (3Stripes Select Basketball).
• Earlier this year, head coach Rob Ehsan was selected as a "Chicagoan You Should Know" by Ankin Law, one of the premier firms in the Chicagoland area.

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