The UIC men’s basketball team is set to embark on its inaugural season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. In his third season at the helm of the men’s basketball program, head coach Luke Yaklich will look to balance returning talent, veteran transfers and talented freshmen as the program navigates a new era of UIC basketball.

Jace Carter and Filip Skobalj return for their sophomore seasons and anchor the returning core for the Flames. Carter, a native of Titusville, Florida garnered conference All-Freshman Team honors a season ago after averaging 8.1 points per game while ranking second on the team with 5.4 rebounds per game. After missing time at the start of the year due to injury, the guard returned to be a factor in the UIC lineup, starting 17 of the final 18 games of the season.

Skobalj appeared in 29 games during his rookie campaign, making 22 starts. The 6-foot-7 forward out of Serbia averaged 6.2 points per game and 3.4 rebounds per contest a season ago while ranking fourth on the team with 43 made 3-pointers on the season. Skobalj collected his first collegiate double-double against Northern Kentucky with a season-high 15 points and a season-best 11 rebounds. 

Griffin Yaklich, the son of head coach Luke Yaklich, and Jaden Brownell, who redshirted a season ago, also return to add depth to the UIC bench.

Complementing Carter and Skobalj on the court will be a trio of talented and veteran transfers in Tre Anderson and Toby Okani. Anderson, a graduate student, joins UIC after spending last year at Idaho and his first three seasons at San Francisco. While with the Vandals, Anderson ranked second on the team in scoring (14.4) and led the team in assists (3.5), accounting for 25.6% of the team’s assists.

Okani joins the Flames as a junior after spending two seasons at Duquesne. During his time with the program, Okani made 25 career starts and scored a season-high 13 points against Richmond this past season. The 6-foot-8 forward also excels at the rim, ranking third on the team in rebounding as a freshman.

UIC’s roster is capped off by five incoming freshmen in Jalen Jackson, Steven Clay, Christian Jones, Bessanty-Aime Saragba and Cameron Fens. Clay and Jones both enter as three-star recruits, with Clay ranked as the No. 6 prospect in Wisconsin while Jones is the No. 8 player in Illinois.