ST. LOUIS — UIC sophomore guard Elijah Crawford scored a career-high 28 points and led four Flames in double figures, but it wasn't enough to overcome a hot-shooting Northern Iowa sauad, as the sixth-seeded Panthers downed No. 5 seed UIC, 84-69 in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament (Arch Madness) championship game on Sunday at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The Flames, who lost for just the fifth time in their last 19 games stretching back more than two months, were competing for their first conference title and NCAA Tournament berth since 2004.
Junior guard Ahmad Henderson II came off the bench to score 13 points, while redshirt freshman forward Jayce Nathaniel and freshman guard Rashund Washington Jr., each scored 10 points for UIC (19-14). The Flames battled gamely all day, trailing by just seven (48-41) at halftime and closing within 56-54 on a three-pointer by Washington with under 13 minutes to play. However, UNI responded with an 8-0 run during the next two minutes and while the Flames remained incredibly competitive down the stretch, not enough shots were able to drop as the Panthers pulled away in the closing moments for the win.
The full box score and play-by-play recap from Sunday's game against UNI can be found here.
SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- UIC was seeking its first conference tournament title and NCAA Tournament automatic berth since 2004. This was the Flames' first spot in the Arch Madness title game since joining the Valley in 2022-23 and first conference tournament finals appearance of any kind since the 2020 Horizon League Tournament championship game (a 71-62 loss to Northern Kentucky in Indianapolis).
- Overall, this was UIC's ninth conference tournament championship game appearance, including four title game berths each in the Association of Mid-Continent Universities (AMCU)/Mid-Continent Conference/Summit League (1989, 1992, 1993, 1994) and the Horizon League (1997, 2002, 2004, 2020).
- UIC's 69 points on Sunday were the most it has scored in a conference tournament championship game since 2002, when it edged Loyola, 76-75 in overtime to win the Horizon League Tournament title and the program's second of three NCAA Tournament bids.
- UIC's current run of 14 wins in 19 games is its best since the 2017-18 season, when it had a similar 14-5 stretch in 2017-18.
- UIC's 19 wins are currently the most for the Flames since that '17-18 campaign, a season that concluded 20-16 with a spot in the CIT championship game.
- UIC falls to 13-17 all-time against UNI, including 1-2 in conference tournament play (the teams split AMCU Tournament matchups in 1989 and 1990).
- UIC had a season-low five turnovers, one fewer than its total in a Jan. 13 road win at Northern Iowa, and fewest in head coach Rob Ehsan's two seasons. It was also the fewest giveaways by the Flames since Jan. 20, 2024, when they also had five turnovers in a road game at Valparaiso.
- Eljah Crawford scored a career-high 28 points in Sunday's game, surpassing his 26 points in a win at Bradley on Jan. 24.
- Crawford's 13 made field goals were the most by a UIC player in the two-year Ehsan era. They also wound up just outside the top 10 on the program's single-game charts.
- Crawford's 29 field goal attempts tied for the fifth-most in a single game by a UIC player and most since Feb. 16, 2016, when Dikembe Dixson tried a school-record 39 shots at Youngstown State.
- Crawford and Rashund Washington Jr. were named to the MVC All-Tournament Team, the first Flames to make a conference all-tournament squad since Tarkus Ferguson and Marcus Ottey earned spots on the 2020 Horizon League All-Tournament Team.
- Sam Silverstein was chosen as the MVC Elite 18 Award winner for men's basketball, with the award going to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA among those competing at the finals site in each of the MVC's 18 championship sports. A 4.0 graduate student guard for the Flames, Silverstein is the third UIC student-athlete (and first male) to receive this award, all during the 2025-26 academic year, joining seniors Hannah Gryzik (women's soccer) and Molly Kroeger (women's swimming & diving). This trio is also the first to collect Elite 18 Awards since UIC joined the conference four years ago.
- Ahmad Henderson II scored in double figures for a career-best (and team-leading) 26th time this season.
- Jayce Nathaniel posted his seventh double-digit scoring game this year and first since a Jan. 27 win over Indiana State (also 10 points).
UP NEXT: SELECTION SUNDAY
UIC will now await the determination of its postseason destination with the announcements of both the NCAA and NIT tournament fields next Sunday evening. Knocking on the door of the top 100, the Flames have among the highest KenPom and Torvik ratings of any MVC school outside of the conference's regular-season champion (Belmont) and tournament champion (UNI), not to mention come into postseason tournament action having won 14 of their last 19 games, one of the hottest programs in the country, all while playing in the nation's No. 9-ranked conference, the MVC.
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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).
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