2022–23 UIC Flames men's basketball team

2022–23 UIC Flames men's basketball
2022–23 UIC Flames men's basketball
Conference	Horizon League
Record	0–0 (0–0 Horizon)
Head coach	Luke Yaklich (3rd season);
Assistant coaches	Will Veasley (3nd season); Bill Wuczynski (2nd season); C.J. Rivers (1st season);
Home arena	Credit Union 1 Arena
	Seasons ← 2021–22 2023–24 →

2022–23 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Bradley	16	–	4	.800	25	–	10	.714
Drake †	15	–	5	.750	27	–	8	.771
Southern Illinois	14	–	6	.700	23	–	10	.697
Belmont	14	–	6	.700	21	–	11	.656
Indiana State	13	–	7	.650	23	–	13	.639
Missouri State	12	–	8	.600	17	–	15	.531
Murray State	11	–	9	.550	17	–	15	.531
Northern Iowa	9	–	11	.450	14	–	18	.438
Illinois State	6	–	14	.300	11	–	21	.344
Valparaiso	5	–	15	.250	11	–	21	.344
UIC	4	–	16	.200	12	–	20	.375
Evansville	1	–	19	.050	5	–	27	.156

† 2023 MVC tournament winner

The 2022–23 UIC Flames men's basketball team will represent the University of Illinois at Chicago in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Flames, led by third-year head coach Luke Yaklich, will play their home games at Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago, Illinois as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. The 2022–23 season will be the Flames' first season in the Missouri Valley Conference.^[1]

Previous season

The Flames finished the 2021–22 season 14–16, 9–10 in Horizon League play to finish in eighth place. In the Horizon League tournament, they beat Milwaukee^[2] in the first round before losing to Purdue Fort Wayne in the quarterfinals.^[3]

The season marked the Flames' final year in the Horizon League.

Offseason

Departures

Departures
Name	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Jamie Ahale	G	6'5	205	Senior	Montrose, Australia	Graduated
Damaria Franklin	G	6'3	205	Senior	Chicago, IL	Transferred to Memphis
Zion Griffin	F	6'6"	215	Senior	Darien, IL	Transferred to Tennessee State

Incoming transfers

Transfers
Name	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous school
Tre Anderson	G	6'1	185	Graduate Student	Tacoma, WA	Idaho
Toby Okani	G	6'8	210	Junior	Orange, NJ	Duquesne
Shaun Williams	G	6'4	190	Redshirt Senior	St. Louis, MO	Cal State Bakersfield

Recruiting class

College recruiting information
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Steven Clay SG	Menomonee Falls, WI	Menomonee Falls High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Apr 18, 2022
Steven Clay SG	Star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: NR
Cameron Fens C	Dubuque, IA	Hempstead High School	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	255 lb (116 kg)	Apr 18, 2022
Cameron Fens C	Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR
Jalen Jackson PG	Fort Wayne, IN	Northrop High School	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Sep 15, 2021
Jalen Jackson PG	Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A
Christian Jones PG	East St. Louis, IL	East St. Louis High School	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	May 20, 2022
Christian Jones PG	Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 79
Bessanty-Aime Saragba C	Marseilles, France	Trinity Collegiate School	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	N/A	Aug 19, 2022
Bessanty-Aime Saragba C	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2022 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

Preseason

The Flames were picked to finish in 11th place in the conference's preseason poll.^[4]

Roster

2021–22 UIC Flames men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	0	Jace Carter	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	So	Titusville, FL
G	1	Jalen Jackson	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	Fort Wayne, IN
G	2	Steven Clay	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Milwaukee, WI
G	4	Tre Anderson	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	GS	Tacoma, WA
G	5	Toby Okani	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Orange, NJ
G	10	Christian Jones	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	East St. Louis, IL
G	15	Griffin Yaklich (W)	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jr	Joliet, IL
G	22	Shaun Williams	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	RS Sr	St. Louis, MO
F	33	Jaden Bronwell	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	RS Fr	Sandy, UT
C	42	Bessanty-Aime Saragba	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Fr	Marseille, France
F	50	Filip Skobalj	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	So	Belgrade, Serbia
C	54	Cameron Fens	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	255 lb (116 kg)	Fr	Dubuque, IA

Head coach

Luke Yaklich (Illinois State)

Assistant coach(es)

Will Veasley (Butler)
Bill Wuczynski (UNLV)
C.J. Rivers (Drake)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: August 30, 2022

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
November 1, 2022* 7:00 pm	Illinois Tech	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
Regular season
November 7, 2022* 7:00 pm	Trinity Christian	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
November 11, 2022* 7:00 pm	Loyola–Chicago	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
November 14, 2022* 7:00 pm	Jacksonville State	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
November 19, 2022* TBA	vs. Fordham Tom Konchalski Classic	New York, NY
November 21, 2022* TBA	vs. Stonehill Tom Konchalski Classic	New York, NY
November 22, 2022* TBA	vs. Holy Cross Tom Konchalski Classic	New York, NY
November 26, 2022* 6:00 pm	at Green Bay	Green Bay, WI
November 30, 2022 TBA	Missouri State	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
December 3, 2022 TBA	at Drake	Knapp Center Des Moines, IA
December 10, 2022* TBA	at Western Michigan	University Arena Kalamazoo, MI
December 13, 2022* 7:00 pm	Prairie View A&M	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
December 18, 2021* 1:00 pm	Northeastern	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
December 20, 2022* TBA	at Northwestern	Welsh–Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
December 28, 2022 TBA	Illinois State	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
December 31, 2022 TBA	at Bradley	Carver Arena Peoria, IL
January 4, 2023 TBA	at Belmont	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
January 7, 2023 TBA	at Indiana State	Hulman Center Terre Haute, IN
January 10, 2023 TBA	Drake	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
January 14, 2023 7:00 pm	at Murray State	CFSB Center Murray, KY
January 17, 2023 TBA	at Valparaiso	Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN
January 21, 2023 TBA	Northern Iowa	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
January 24, 2023 TBA	at Missouri State	Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO
January 29, 2023 TBA	Bradley	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
February 1, 2023 7:00 pm	at Illinois State	Redbird Arena Normal, IL
February 4, 2023 TBA	Evansville	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
February 8, 2023 TBA	Southern Illinois	Banterra Center Carbondale, IL
February 11, 2023 TBA	at Belmont	Curb Event Center Nashville, TN
February 15, 2023 TBA	Indiana State	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
February 19, 2023 TBA	Valparaiso	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
February 22, 2023 TBA	at Evansville	Ford Center Evansville, IN
February 26, 2023 TBA	Southern Illinois	Credit Union 1 Arena Chicago, IL
Missouri Valley tournament
March 2, 2022		Enterprise Center St. Louis, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time Zone.

Source^[5]

References

^ "UIC Officially Welcomed to Missouri Valley Conference" (Press release). UIC Flames. August 16, 2022. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
^ "Flames Push Past Panthers in #HLMBB Championship Opener". uicflames.com. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
^ "Furious Fight Falls Short for @UIC_MBB". uicflames.com. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
^ MVC. "Murray State picked 8th, SIU 3rd in MVC preseason rankings". WPSD Local 6. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
^ "2022-23 Men's Basketball Schedule". UIC Athletics. Retrieved September 22, 2022.

[1] "UIC Officially Welcomed to Missouri Valley Conference" (Press release). UIC Flames. August 16, 2022. Retrieved August 30, 2022.

[2] "Flames Push Past Panthers in #HLMBB Championship Opener". uicflames.com. Retrieved 2022-08-30.

[3] "Furious Fight Falls Short for @UIC_MBB". uicflames.com. Retrieved 2022-08-30.

[4] MVC. "Murray State picked 8th, SIU 3rd in MVC preseason rankings". WPSD Local 6. Retrieved 2022-10-26.

[5] "2022-23 Men's Basketball Schedule". UIC Athletics. Retrieved September 22, 2022.

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v t e UIC Flames men's basketball
Venues	Men's Gymnasium (1947–1965) UIC Physical Education Building (1965–1982) Credit Union 1 Arena (1982–present)
Culture & lore	Sparky D. Dragon "Fire Up Flames"
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25