It’s the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, better known as Arch Madness, coming to you from the Gateway City. The 11th-seeded UIC Flames are the “road” team as they take on the sixth-seeded Missouri State Bears Thursday night with the winner advancing to take on third-seeded Southern Illinois in the quarterfinals. UIC finished their regular season with a 68-65 home loss to Southern Illinois, though they covered the line as a six-point underdog, in their previous game Sunday. Missouri State held on for a 66-62 road win over Indiana State Sunday in their previous game, winning outright as an eight-point underdog. In the all-time series between the teams, the Bears own a 15-4 advantage and took both meetings this season, including a 63-59 home win in the most recent matchup January 24.
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UIC saw their two-game win streak snapped as they were edged by Southern Illinois in a game that was tighter than most would have expected. The Flames enter this game 12-19 overall and finished the regular season 4-16 in conference play. Against Southern Illinois, UIC led by as many as five in the opening half only to trail by one at intermission. In the second half, the Flames trailed by eight with 9:30 remaining only to rally to tie the game at 60 with 2:41 to play. UIC gave up the next four points and couldn’t get closer than one the rest of the way to take the tough loss. The Flames shot 43.9% from the field, including seven of 23 from three-point range, and turned the ball over 13 times in the defeat. Jace Carter led UIC with 22 points and 12 rebounds in the loss.
The Flames put up an average of 67.5 points per game this season, putting them 289th in the nation in scoring offe nse. UIC pulls down 32.5 boards per contest and hands out an average of 13 assists per contest. The Flames are slightly below average on the defensive end of the floor as they are 226th in the country in that department as they allow 71.5 points per game. Jace Carter leads the team with 16.7 points and seven rebounds per contest. Toby Okani (11.1 points, 7.1 boards) and Trevante Anderson (13.2 points) each are averaging in double figures. Jalen Jackson, Filip Skobalj, Christian Jones, Steven Clay, Jaden Brownell, Cameron Fens, Bessanty Saragba and Griffin Yaklich are key rotation pieces for the Flames. UIC shoots 41.7% from the field as a team on the year. The Flames sink 8.1 three-pointers a night while hitting 33.2% of their attempts from long range. UIC is struggling at the stripe this season, knocking down 65.8% of their chances. That number is just 335th in the country.
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