CHICAGO (March 5, 2026) – UIC graduate student guard Sam Silverstein has earned a spot on the 2025-26 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete Team, the conference announced Thursday. The Flames have now had a representative on this squad during all four seasons they have been a member of the MVC, with Filip Škobalj chosen for the Scholar-Athlete Team the previous three years.
 
Silverstein, a native of Glencoe, Ill., has a perfect 4.0 grade-point average during his post-graduate studies at UIC, after earning a similar 4.0 GPA while completing his undergraduate degree in applied mathematics at Harvard in 2023-24. He is part of a UIC men's basketball program that posted a 3.26 team GPA during the Fall 2025 term, its highest semester GPA since at least the 2010-11 academic year.
 
On the court, Silverstein has been an invaluable contributor in a reserve role, appearing in all 31 games for the Flames this season, averaging 3.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. He is tied for 14^th in the MVC in steals and is just outside the top 20 in rebounding entering this week's MVC Tournament. Silverstein scored a season-high 10 points on Nov. 7 at Oregon State and has grabbed at least seven rebounds in eight games, including a season-best nine rebounds in a Jan. 10 win at Illinois State. He has also tied his career high with four assists on three occasions this year, most recently on Feb. 24 in a home victory over Bradley.
 
UIC (17-14, 12-8 MVC) finished in a tie for third place in the final MVC standings with its best conference finish since 2017-18, and will be the No. 5 seed for the 50^th annual MVC Tournament (aka "Arch Madness"). The Flames will open against fourth-seeded Murray State in the quarterfinal round at 2:30 p.m. (CT) Friday from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
 
Friday's quarterfinal will be televised live on the MVC TV Network, which includes ESPN+, and all UIC games at Arch Madness will be broadcast live and free of charge globally on the Flames Network at UICFlames.com. More information on the tournament can be found at both the UIC Arch Madness Fan Central and official Arch Madness Tournament web sites. All-session and single-session tickets in the UIC cheering section for Arch Madness are on sale through the UIC Athletics Ticket Office by calling 312-413-UIC1 (8421) or e-mailing athleticsticketing@uic.edu.
 
UIC's 12 conference wins this season were the most for the Flames in their four years as a Valley member and most in any conference since 2017-18, when they went 12-6 and placed third in the Horizon League (their last top-three league finish). UIC comes into Friday's Arch Madness quarterfinal having won 12 of its last 16 games and earned a first-round bye in the MVC Tournament for the first time since joining the conference.
 
For more information on UIC men's basketball, fans are encouraged to visit UICFlames.com, or follow the Flames on social media through X (@UIC_MBB and @UICFlames) and Instagram (@uic_mbb and @uicflames).