Men's Basketball

Men's Basketball Tips Off NIT Action Wednesday Night at Cal

Flames and Golden Bears to meet for first time at 10 p.m. (CT) from Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif., live on ESPN2

BERKELEY, Calif. – For the first time in 23 years and the second time in school history, UIC will take the floor in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) as the Flames travel west for a first-round game at ACC member California. Wednesday's NIT opener will tip off at 8 p.m. PT (10 p.m. CT) from Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif., and will be televised live to a national audience on ESPN2, the third consecutive nationally-televised game and fourth this season for UIC. Roxy Bernstein will handle the play-by-play duties, while Corey Williams will provide color analysis.

UIC's first NIT appearance came in 2003, when the Flames dropped a 63-62 decision at Western Michigan. That NIT berth came during a seven-year stretch that also saw UIC make three trips to the NCAA Tournament (1998, 2002, 2004).

UIC is one of five Missouri Valley Conference schools competing in the postseason. Along with NCAA qualifier UNI, a record-setting four MVC teams earned a spot in this year's NIT field (UIC, Bradley, Illinois State and Murray State).

GAME #35
2026 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) - First Round
UIC "Flames" (19-15, 12-8 MVC) at No. 2 seed California "Golden Bears" (21-11, 9-9 ACC)
When: Wednesday, March 18th  |  8 p.m. PT/10 p.m. CT
Where: Berkeley, Calif.  |  Haas Pavilion/Pete Newell Court
TV: ESPN2 (Roxy Bernstein, p-b-p/Corey Williams, color)
Radio: None
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Official NIT Tournament Website: Click Here

SERIES BREAKDOWN
  • UIC and California will meet for the first time ever on Wednesday. The Golden Bears are the third first-time opponent for the Flames this year, along with two-time Big South champion High Point and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
  • Cal will be the first Power Four conference opponent for UIC since Nov. 12, 2024, when the Flames fell at Big Ten Conference member Northwestern, 83-74. UIC is seeking its first win over a Power Four opponent since Dec. 1, 2012 - a 50-44 victory at Northwestern. (Of note: the Flames won at BIG EAST member DePaul, 80-75 on Dec. 14, 2016, and at home vs. UCF prior to the Knights joining the Big 12, 71-60 on Dec. 11, 2014).
  • It should be noted UIC did play at one-time (and future) Pac-12 Conference member Oregon State earlier this season (Nov. 7 in Corvallis), dropping a narrow 76-73 decision.
  • The Flames are 2-10 all-time against current Atlantic Coast Conference schools and will be playing an ACC member for the first time since Nov. 6, 2018 (an 84-67 loss at Notre Dame). UIC's last win over an ACC school came on Dec. 14, 2008 (66-60 at Georgia Tech).

MORE ON CALIFORNIA
  • California has shown marked growth this season with a 21-11 record, including a 9-9 record in ACC play. The Golden Bears, who opened the season with 13 wins in 15 games, were also considered to be on the bubble for an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament prior to Selection Sunday.
  • Cal comes into Wednesday's NIT matchup with UIC having lost three of its last four games. Most recently, the Golden Bears fell to Florida State, 95-89 in the first round of the ACC Tournament in Charlotte, N.C.
  • Third-team All-ACC guard Dai Dai Ames leads four Golden Bears scoring in double figures (17.2 ppg.), while honorable mention All-ACC guard Justin Pippen (son of Chicago Bulls' great and NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen) averages 14.3 points and a team-high 4.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game.
  • Head coach Mark Madsen is in his third season at Cal following four seasons at Utah Valley. He holds a 118-100 career record, including a 48-49 mark in Berkeley, while Wednesday will be his first-ever matchup against UIC.

NOTING THE FLAMES
  • The Flames are playing in a postseason tournament for the eighth time since elevating to NCAA Division I status in 1981-82. All told, UIC has earned berths in three NCAA tournaments (1998, 2002, 2004), two NIT (2003, 2026), one CBI (2017) and two CIT (2013, 2018) during its 45 Division I campaigns.
  • UIC's most recent postseason appearance came in 2018, when the Flames advanced to the championship game of the College Insider Tournament (CIT) with a home win over Saint Francis-Pa. (84-61), followed by road victories at Austin Peay (83-81) and Liberty (67-51). UIC would eventually fall at Northern Colorado in the 2018 CIT title game, 76-71.
  • Northern California is a familiar locale for UIC head coach Rob Ehsan, who is a Sacramento native and graduated in 2005 from UC Davis (bachelor's degree in economics) where he was a four-year letterwinner on the Aggies' basketball team and finished among the top 25 nationally in free throw percentage as a junior.
  • Prior to taking the UIC head coaching post in April 2024, Ehsan spent three seasons (2021-24) on the coaching staff at Stanford, where he was the lead recruiter for the Cardinal. He was also the architect of a Stanford offense that ranked among the top 35 nationally and reached 20-year highs for offensive efficiency. In his final season on The Farm (2023-24), the Cardinal defeated No. 5 Arizona by 18 points, the largest-win ever for Stanford against a top-five opponent.
  • Another member of the UIC coaching staff that previously worked at Stanford is assistant coach David Berkun. The Buffalo native spent eight seasons (2016-24) with the Cardinal men's basketball program, most recently as assistant coach (2023-24) before prior assignments as Assistant Athletics Director, Men's Basketball (2021-23) and Director of Operations (2019-21). He also spent time as Stanford's Director of Player Development (2018-19) and began his career in Palo Alto with two seasons as a men's basketball intern.
  • UIC has won 14 of its last 19 games, culminating with its first-ever trip to the MVC Tournament championship game (and first in any conference since the 2020 Horizon League final). The Flames advanced to the Valley title game with wins over Murray State and Drake (the latter snapping the Bulldogs' 11-game MVC Tournament winning streak and three-year reign as tournament champions) before falling to Northern Iowa, 84-69 in the championship after trailing but only six points with just over five minutes to play.
  • The Flames' current 14-5 stretch is its best 19-game run at any point in any season since Dec. 15, 2017-Feb. 23, 2018, when UIC posted a similar string of 14 wins in 19 games.
  • At 19-15, UIC has posted its highest win total since 2017-18, when the Flames finished 20-16 and reached the CIT championship game. That was both UIC's most recent 20-win season and its only such campaign since it last won a conference tournament title and made the NCAA Tournament in 2004 (24-8 record).
  • UIC went 12-8 in MVC play this year, its highest conference win total since joining the Valley and tied for its second-highest in any conference (done four times before, most recently with a 12-6 record in the 2017-18 Horizon League campaign).
  • After going 12-8 this year and 10-10 last year, UIC has posted its first back-to-back .500 or better conference seasons since the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, when the Flames went 10-8 each year in the Horizon League. Of note, UIC had a combined eight conference wins in its first two seasons as a member of the Valley and has 22 in its first two years under head coach Rob Ehsan.
  • The Flames' third-place MVC finish is its best in conference play since the 2017-18 campaign, when UIC took third in the Horizon League with the aforementioned 12-6 record.
  • UIC had a trio of players earn MVC postseason honors this year. Sophomore guard Elijah Crawford was a dual honoree, being named to the All-MVC Second Team and MVC All-Newcomer Team, the first all-conference pick for the Flames since Jace Carter in 2022-23 (UIC's inaugural Valley season). Guard Andy Johnson was chosen for the MVC All-Freshman Team (UIC's first-ever selection for that Valley team) and graduate student guard Sam Silverstein earned a spot on the MVC Scholar-Athlete Team, the fourth straight year a Flames' player made that squad.
  • Crawford and freshman guard Rashund Washington Jr. were voted to the MVC All-Tournament Team, the first time UIC had two players on a conference all-tournament squad since 2020, when Tarkus Ferguson and Marcus Ottey made the Horizon League All-Tournament Team.
  • Silverstein was also selected as the MVC Elite 18 Award recipient for men's basketball. The honor goes annually to the individual with the highest cumulative grade-point average who is competing at the site of the conference finals. Silverstein is a 4.0 graduate student at UIC (earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard in 2024 before a single year at Cal Baptist prior to coming home to Chicago) and he is the third UIC student-athlete to earn the Elite 18 Award in his/her sport during the 2025-26 academic year (Hannah Gryzik - women's soccer; Molly Kroeger - women's swimming & diving).
  • Part of the reason for UIC's resurgence during the second half of the season has been the return of sophomore point guard Elijah Crawford, who was injured in the Nov. 3 season opener against Detroit Mercy and missed nearly all of the next two months (aside from 12 minutes against Southern Indiana on Nov. 22). UIC's stretch run of 14 wins in 19 games has coincided almost exactly with Crawford's return on Jan. 4 at Valparaiso, and it's a second-half charge that included season sweeps of MVC runner-up Bradley and fellow third-place finisher Illinois State (both of whom are also playing in the NIT this week), a three-game sweep of Drake (UIC had never won back-to-back games against the Bulldogs prior to this season), and a win over the MVC's other third-place finisher, Murray State (likewise in the NIT this week).
  • UIC's eight-game winning streak earlier this season (all against MVC opponents) was its longest since Nov. 17-Dec. 15, 2012, a run that included one non-Division I victory. It was also the Flames' longest conference (and entirely Division I) winning streak since Jan. 24-Feb. 28, 2004, when UIC won its final 10 Horizon League games of the season — it then won both conference tournament games, capped by that 65-62 victory at Bruce Pearl's Milwaukee squad in the Horizon League final to earn UIC's most recent NCAA Tournament berth.
  • UIC's 84-46 win at Evansville on Feb. 18 was its largest margin of victory in a road game in 73 years, dating back to a 116-60 win at George Williams College on Feb. 13, 1953 (well before UIC's program elevated to NCAA Division I status in 1981-82).
  • The Evansville win was UIC's largest conference victory, topping a 77-44 Horizon League win at Detroit on Jan. 18, 2003.
  • To say UIC's schedule has been challenging this year is putting it mildly. Half (16) of the Flames' 32 Division I opponents were ranked or receiving votes in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 poll at tipoff, including a stretch of three consecutive top-10 opponents from Dec. 7-17 (No. 3 Yale, No. 5 Belmont, No. 10 UNI). UIC is 6-10 this year in games against ranked mid-major opponents, having won six of its last nine.
  • With its Feb. 24 win over No. 24 Bradley, and January wins at No. 7 Illinois State and No. 10 UNI, UIC has six victories over ranked mid-major squads (four vs. top-10 programs) in head coach Rob Ehsan's two seasons. Last year, the Flames beat No. 1 Drake, No. 4 Bradley and No. 13 Yale.
  • UIC has come oh-so-close to victory several times this year, with 11 of their 15 losses by 10 points or fewer and/or in OT, including seven of their eight MVC losses (average of 5.3 ppg. vs. Belmont (2x), UNI, Murray State (2x) and Valparaiso (2x)).
  • UIC led at halftime in 14 of its 20 conference games this year and has been tied or up at the break in 22 of 34 games overall (17-5 record in those contests).
  • UIC is 2-1 in overtime games this season and 5-1 when going an extra five minutes (or beyond) in head coach Rob Ehsan's first two seasons.
  • Six of UIC's close losses have come against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the College Insider Mid-Major poll (OSU, HPU, BEL-2x, UNI, MSU-2x), and four close losses have come by three points or fewer and/or in overtime (OSU, UAPB, BEL, CHA). In those latter four "one-possession" games, UIC had the ball each time with a chance to tie or win the game in the closing seconds, but despite clean looks each time, the shots did not fall.
  • Eight different UIC players have led the team in scoring at least once, tying for the 10th-most unique game-high scorers in the nation this year (nine schools have nine, while UIC is one of seven schools that have eight).
  • Ten of the 12 players on UIC's roster who have seen playing time this year have scored in double figures at least once this season, led by junior guard Ahmad Henderson II (career-high 26 games) and freshman guard Andy Johnson (18). The 10 different double-digit scorers is second-most in the MVC behind Illinois State (11).
  • UIC has gone very young with its lineup during the past 23 games, starting three freshmen in guards Andy Johnson and Rashund Washington Jr., along with redshirt forward Jayce Nathaniel in 13 of those games (and all three averaging more than 20 minutes per night). The Flames are one of four schools in the nation (Arizona, Fairfield, UT Martin) to have three freshmen start at least 13 times this year, with only one other school (New Mexico) having fielded a three-freshman lineup even once this year.
  • The Flames welcomed one of their largest home crowds in the past decade for the Feb. 6 Belmont game, with 3,599 fans (including 1,400 UIC students) coming through the turnstiles at Credit Union 1 Arena.
  • UIC men's basketball has been hitting the books at a record-setting level this year. The Flames posted a 3.26 team GPA during the Fall 2025 semester, the program's highest semester GPA since at least 2010-11.
  • On Nov. 13, UIC announced the signing of Dikembe Shaw, a 6-7 forward from Crown Point, Ind. for 2026-27. Shaw was an all-state and Indiana Junior All-Star pick last year at Crown Point High School, posting 16.2 ppg., 6.7 rpg. and 3.4 apg., while helping the Bulldogs go 24-2 and make the Indiana Class 4A semistate final. He also had 12.9 ppg. and 5.9 rpg. in the summer 2025 club season with Indiana Elite 3SSB (3Stripes Select Basketball).
     
UP NEXT: COLORADO STATE/SAINT JOSEPH'S-PA. (NIT SECOND ROUND)
With a victory Wednesday, UIC would advance to the second round of the NIT against either third-seeded Colorado State or Saint Joseph's (Pa.). The date/time/site/TV coverage for that second-round game will be announced following the conclusion of Wednesday's action.