Flames season sparks first tournament bid in more than two decades

Flames fans made the trip to California to support the men's basketball team. (Photo: UIC Athletics)

When you consider how far the UIC men's basketball team had come this season, it makes sense it would go all the way to California for its first National Invitation Tournament appearance in 23 years.

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After leading much of the first half, the Flames and their season faded last week with a 91-73 loss to University of California, Berkeley on March 18, in the first round of the tournament. The 2025-2026 squad finished the season 19-16 and third in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Even so, said Head Coach Rob Ehsan, this year's run was exceptional in many ways.

"This will check out, from a net ranking and analytics perspective, as one of the best teams at UIC in the last 20 years," Ehsan said.

UIC teams compete mostly in the Midwest, so long bus rides are the norm. The cross-country trip to Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, where Cal plays its home games, was the final leg of an even longer journey through a historic season.

Hard work

After a 5-10 start to the season, few outside the locker room expected UIC to be playing meaningful games in March. The low point was back in December: a one-point home loss to University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, who came into Credit Union 1 Arena on an eight-game losing streak.

The Flames were projected to finish near the bottom of the conference in preseason rankings, so to many, the poor start to the season was not a surprise.

"I'm incredibly proud of this team," said Ehsan about the team's commitment to stick together when things weren't going well.

But things changed, and the Flames won 14 of 19 games down the stretch, including eight consecutive wins - all against conference opponents. It was the team's longest winning streak in more than 13 years.

UIC's resurgence was led by sophomore point guard Elijah Crawford, who missed two months at the start of the season due to injury. The Flames were reignited by the Brigham Young University transfer student, whose return coincided almost exactly with the turnaround. Crawford averaged 14 points per game and earned Second Team All-MVC honors.

UIC's swarming defense pressured Cal throughout the game. (Photo: UIC Athletics)

It also helped to have Sam Silverstein, an inspiring student athlete. The only thing more impressive than the reserve guard's box scores is his resume. If the 2025-2026 MVC Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete Team had a captain, it's Silverstein. His selection makes four straight seasons the Flames have been recognized by the Missouri Valley Conference in basketball for academic success. The group's cumulative GPA for the fall 2025 semester was 3.26, the program's highest in the past 15 years.

Silverstein, a graduate non-degree student, has a 4.0 GPA, after earning a 4.0 as an applied mathematics undergraduate at Harvard. Recently, he accepted a job with Goldman Sachs as a financial analyst in their private wealth management division. On the court, he played every game this season, averaging three points, five rebounds and a steal per game.

Heartache

On March 8, after wins against Murray State and Drake University in the MVC Tournament, fifth-seeded UIC played University of Northern Iowa for a spot in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, the Holy Grail of college hoops. All that was left of Arch Madness - the annual St. Louis-based MVC men's basketball postseason tournament - was addressing the winner's invitation to March Madness.

As they did all year, the Flames battled. With an energized campus community and Chicagoans cheering them on from back home, UIC stayed with Northern Iowa for most of the game. Hundreds of students and supporters made the trip to Missouri, including UIC Chancellor and basketball fan Marie Lynn Miranda, who once served as a student manager for the Duke Blue Devils men's team under legendary coach Mike "Coach K" Krzyzewski.

But the Panthers made half their 3-pointers and shot 63%, statistics that almost guaranteed victory, and the Flames lost 84-69.

Crawford led the squad with 28 points, Ahmad Henderson II added 13, and Jayce Nathaniel and Rashund Washington Jr. each scored 10 points for UIC.

Emotionally drained and exhausted after preparing for and playing three games in three days, Ehsan and his staff boarded the bus for a long and somber trip back. The players left the arena wearing sweatpants, backpacks and tired expressions. For the 22nd straight season, the Flames would not enjoy The Big Dance.

But they would keep playing.

Flames Head Coach Rob Ehsan watches his team. (Photo: UIC Athletics)

After that first-ever trip to the MVC Tournament championship game, UIC earned its second-ever bid to the National Invitation Tournament. The next game would be 10 days after the finals in St. Louis, so rust was a concern.

"We took a few days off after the emotional rollercoaster that was the conference tournament," said Ehsan.

That strategy worked, as the Flames jumped to an early lead. Just like with the season, however, the second half told the story.

"As the game went on, they picked up the pace in transition," said Ehsan, who grew up in nearby Sacramento before playing at UC Davis as a college student himself. "We had some turnovers and missed shots that led to some runouts and wide-open looks."

Even so, Ehsan was gratified by UIC's exceptional success in making it this far. "This is a great group of guys who represented UIC in a very positive way," said a gratified Ehsan.