2024-25 (Redshirt Senior):
- Selected to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Bench Team.
- Played in all 31 games, collecting eight starts.
- Fourth in the MVC and second on the team in rebounds, averaging 6.4 rebounds a game.
- Tallied a double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds) in his first game in a UIC uniform against St. Francis (Ill.) in the 91-43 victory.
- Scored a career high 18 points in UIC’s 82-77 victory at home against Evansville on Feb. 22.
Modestas Kancleris (name pronounced Mo-DEST-iss Con-SLARE-iss) joined the UIC men's basketball program in May 2024, transferring from Cal State Bakersfield after a prior stint at Creighton.
At Cal State Bakersfield, Kancleris appeared in 50 games, starting 19 times, and averaged 6.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. He registered a pair of double-doubles and scored in double figures 12 times during his career with the Roadrunners, including a personal-best 20 points (and 10 rebounds) in a win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Nov. 22, 2022. He also posted 14 games with 8+ rebounds, including six double-digit rebound games and a career-high 13 boards on Jan. 20, 2024, in a win over Cal Poly.
This past season, Kancleris averaged a career-best 6.5 points and team-high 6.1 rebounds per game (ranking fifth in the Big West Conference in the latter category) while playing in all 32 CSUB games and starting 15 times. He scored a season-high 17 points (9-12 FG) on Dec. 19, 2023, to help the Roadrunners defeat South Dakota, and nearly charted a double-double in CSUB’s Big West Tournament first-round game against UC Riverside on March 13, 2024, finishing with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Prior to his time in Bakersfield, Kancleris was enrolled for two years at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. After missing his freshman season as a medical redshirt due to a torn ACL, he played in 14 games during the 2021-22 campaign for the Bluejays, who advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before a narrow loss to the eventual national champion Kansas.
Kancleris will also bring extensive international experience to UIC. A constant contributor for several of Lithuania’s U16 and U18 national teams, he helped his country place seventh at the 2019 FIBA U18 European Championship, averaging 4.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game despite a sprained ankle. He previously averaged 9.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game as part of Lithuania’s sixth-place finish at the 2017 FIBA U16 European Championship.
In addition, Kancleris spent four seasons with European club power BC Zalgiris, based in his hometown of Kaunas, Lithuania, earning a spot on the 2019 adidas Next Generation Tournament All-Star Team after averaging 13.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.
