ST. LOUIS — UIC sophomore guard Elijah Crawford led five Flames in double figures with 19 points and a game-high six assists as fifth-seeded UIC charged past No. 4 seed Murray State, 92-79 in the quarterfinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament (aka "Arch Madness") on Friday afternoon at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. With the victory, the Flames advance to the semifinal round on Saturday, where they will take on Drake at 2:30 p.m. (CT).
UIC's freshman backcourt duo of Andy Johnson and Rashund Washington Jr. each scored 17 points, with Washington adding nine rebounds. Junior guard Mekhi Lowery turned in a balanced line with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists, while junior guard Ahmad Henderson II scored all 11 of his points in the second half to help seal the Flames' victory.
UIC (18-14) shot an even 54 percent from the floor, opening up a 50-32 halftime lead. The margin widened to as much as 25 points twice in the opening six minutes of the second half before the teams were settle into largely trading scores the remainder of the afternoon. Murray State (20-12) made a late push but never got closer than the final margin of 13 points.
The full box score and play-by-play recap from Friday's win over Murray State can be found here. (NOTE: due to some technical issues, the XML version of the box score is not currently available. Once corrected, it will be linked to the online recap).
SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- UIC advances to the MVC Tournament semifinals for the first time in its four seasons as a Valley member, and reaches the semifinals in any conference tournament for the first time since March 10, 2020, when the Flames made it to the Horizon League Tournament title game with wins over IUPUI (93-59), Youngstown State (67-61) and Wright State (73-56) before falling to in the final to Northern Kentucky, 71-62 in Indianapolis.
- Friday marked UIC's first Arch Madness win since the first round of the 2023 tournament, when the Flames picked up their inaugural MVC Tournament win, 84-82 in double overtime over Southern Illinois.
- UIC earned its 18th win of the season, its highest win total since the 2019-20 COVID-shortened season when the Flames went 18-17 and made the aforementioned trip to the Horizon League final.
- UIC's 92 points were the most it has scored in a regulation game against a Division I opponent this season (previous came in a 91-71 season-opening win over Detroit Mercy on Nov. 3 at Credit Union 1 Arena).
- UIC improves to 3-7 all-time against Murray State (this was the first neutral-site and postseason meeting in the series), picking up its first win over the Racers since Jan. 15, 2025 (a 97-93 double-overtime victory at Credit Union 1 Arena) and its first in regulation since Nov. 28, 2006 (a 74-68 win, also in Chicago). The 74 points in that game were also the previous Flames' high for a regulation game in the series with Murray State.
- UIC's current run of 13 wins in 17 games is its best since the 2017-18 season, when it had a similar 13-4 stretch from Dec. 15, 2017-Feb. 19, 2018.
- Murray State was the 15th UIC opponent this year to be ranked or receiving votes in the College Insider Mid-Major poll at tipoff (the Racers were earning votes). UIC is 6-9 in such games, including a 6-2 record in its last eight outings.
UP NEXT: DRAKE (MVC TOURNAMENT/ARCH MADNESS SEMIFINALS)
UIC will take on ninth-seeded Drake in the semifinals of the State Farm MVC Tournament/Arch Madness at 2:30 p.m. (CT) Saturday from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Saturday's semifinal will be televised live on CBS Sports Network and it can also be heard live and free of charge globally on the Flames Network at UICFlames.com. All-session and single-session tickets in the UIC cheering section for Arch Madness are on sale through the UIC Athletics Ticket Office at (312) 413-UIC1 (8421) or athleticsticketing@uic.edu, while additional tickets may be purchased on-site at the Enterprise Center box office.
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