2020–21 UIC Flames men's basketball team

The 2020–21 UIC Flames men's basketball team represents the University of Illinois at Chicago in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Flames, led by first-year head coach Luke Yaklich,[1] play their home games at Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago, Illinois as members of the Horizon League.

2020–21 UIC Flames men's basketball
Conference	Horizon League
2020–21 record	8–7 (5–5 Horizon)
Head coach	Luke Yaklich (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Dee Brown (4th season) Brock Erickson (1st season) Will Veasley (1st season)
Home arena	Credit Union 1 Arena

2020–21 Horizon League men's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Cleveland State	14	–	2		.875			14	–	5		.737
Wright State	13	–	3		.813			15	–	4		.789
Northern Kentucky	9	–	5		.643			11	–	8		.579
Detroit Mercy	7	–	5		.583			8	–	8		.500
Oakland	8	–	8		.500			8	–	15		.348
Milwaukee	6	–	7		.462			7	–	8		.467
UIC	5	–	7		.417			8	–	9		.471
Youngstown State	6	–	10		.375			10	–	10		.500
Green Bay	6	–	10		.375			6	–	14		.300
IUPUI	4	–	8		.333			5	–	8		.385
Purdue Fort Wayne	5	–	11		.313			6	–	11		.353
Robert Morris	2	–	9		.182			3	–	11		.214
† 2021 Horizon League Tournament winner As of February 6, 2021; Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The finished the season 18–17, 10–8 in Horizon League to play to finish in a tie for fourth place. As the No. 4 seed in the Horizon League Tournament, they defeated IUPUI, Youngstown State, and top-seeded Wright State to advance the to the championship game. There they lost to Northern Kentucky.[2]

Offseason

Departures

UIC Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Jordan Blount	13	F	6'8"	220	Senior	Cork, Ireland	Graduated, went professional overseas signing with Basket Navarra Club[3]
Godwin Boahen	22	F	5'11"	180	Senior	Toronto, ON	Graduated
Tarkus Ferguson	4	G	6'4"	190	Senior	Belleville, IL	Graduated, went professional overseas signing with Vevey Riviera Basket[4]
Marcus Ottley	1	G	6'2"	185	Senior	Ajax, ON	Graduated
Travell Washington	32	F	6'9"	230	Junior	San Bernardino, CA

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Maurice Commander	1	G	6'0	175	Junior	Chicago, IL	Chattanooga
Zion Griffin	35	F	6'6	215	Junior	Darien, IL	Iowa State
Jalen Johnson	5	G	6'1	180	Junior	Hopkinsville, KY	John A. Logan College
Teyvion Kirk	4	G	6'4	185	Junior	Joliet, IL	Colorado State
RayQuawndis Mitchell	21	G	6'5	205	Junior	Atlanta, GA	Otero Junior College

Recruiting class of 2020

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Demetrius Calip II SG	Woodland Hills, CA	Taft High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	Aug 3, 2020
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports:    ESPN grade: NR
Brad Bowditch G	Milton, WI	IMG Academy	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Aug 3, 2020
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Griffin Yaklich SF	Joliet, IL	Saline High School	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jun 17, 2020
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   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: "2020 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 26, 2020.

Roster

2020–21 UIC Flames men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G 0 Brian Taylor 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So Detroit, Michigan G 1 Maurice Commander 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Chicago, IL F 2 Michael Diggins 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Las Vegas, Nevada F 3 Jacob Wiley 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Sr Houston, Texas G 4 Teyvion Kirk 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) RS Sr Joliet, IL G 5 Jalen Johnson 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Hopkinsville, KY F 10 Deon Ejim 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 250 lb (113 kg) RS So Toronto, Ontario, Canada G 13 Demetrius Calip II 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Fr Woodland Hills CA G 14 Brad Bowditch (W) 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr Milton, WI G 15 Griffin Yaklich (W) 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Fr Joliet, IL G 20 Jamie Ahale 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Sr Montrose, Australia G 21 RayQuawndis Mitchell 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Atlanta, GA F 22 Rob Howard 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) RS Sr Gary, Indiana F 23 Braelen Bridges 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) RS Jr McDonough, Georgia F 25 Treavon Martin (W) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr Chicago, IL F 35 Zion Griffin 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr Darien, IL	Head coach Luke Yaklich (Illinois State) Assistant coach(es) Dee Brown (Illinois) Brock Erickson (Rhode Island) Rod Clark (Butler) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: November 26, 2020

Schedule and results

On November 25, 2020, UIC announced that fans would not be permitted to attend home games for their first two home games.[5] However, they did leave open the possibility to allow fans for future events.

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 25, 2020* 6:00 pm		at Northern Illinois	W 65–61	1–0	12 – Tied	6 – Kirk	9 – Kirk	Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
November 28, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN3		Central Michigan UIC Baksetball Invitional	W 74–72	2–0	23 – Mitchell	13 – Bridges	6 – Kirk	Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
December 1, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN3		Valparaiso UIC Baksetball Invitional	W 66–50	3–0	14 – Kirk	8 – Kirk	14 – Kirk	Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
December 5, 2020* 1:00 pm, ESPN3		at Ball State	L 66–68	3–1	13 – Tied	8 – Kirk	6 – Kirk	Worthen Arena  Muncie, IN
December 13, 2020* 1:00 pm, ESPN+		Loyola–Chicago	L 66–77	3–2	17 – Kirk	9 – Diggins	5 – Kirk	Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
Horizon League regular season
December 19, 2020 6:00 pm, ESPN+		Oakland	W 74–72	4–2 (1–0)	25 – Ahale	9 – Howard	11 – Kirk	Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
December 20, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN+		Oakland	W 90–73	5–2 (2–0)	23 – Howard	11 – Kirk	11 – Kirk	Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
December 26, 2020 2:00 pm, ESPN+		at Milwaukee	Cancelled due to COVID-19 issues [6]					Klotsche Center  Milwaukee, WI
December 27, 2020 2:00 pm, ESPN+		at Milwaukee	Cancelled due to COVID-19 issues [7]					Klotsche Center  Milwaukee, WI
January 1, 2020 3:00 pm, ESPN3		Detroit Mercy	Cancelled due to mental health reasons [8]					Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
January 2, 2020 3:00 pm, ESPN3		Detroit Mercy	Cancelled due to mental health reasons [9]					Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
January 8, 2020 6:00 pm, ESPN3		at Purdue Fort Wayne	L 89–96 ^OT	5–3 (2–1)	31 – Kirk	11 – Diggins	6 – Kirk	Hilliard Gates Sports Center  Fort Wayne, IN
January 9, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN3		at Purdue Fort Wayne	L 55–88	5–4 (2–2)	23 – Diggins	4 – Tied	5 – Kirk	Hilliard Gates Sports Center  Fort Wayne, IN
January 15, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN3		Robert Morris	W 67–53	6–4 (3–2)	16 – Diggins	10 – Kirk	4 – Kirk	Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
January 16, 2020 5:00 pm, ESPN3		Robert Morris	W 66–62 ^OT	7–4 (4–2)	18 – Howard	8 – Tied	3 – 3 Tied	Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
January 22, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN3		at Youngstown State	W 67–66	8–4 (5–2)	15 – Kirk	10 – Tied	5 – Kirk	Beeghly Center  Youngstown, OH
January 23, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN3		at Youngstown State	L 77–85	8–5 (5–3)	18 – Commander	7 – Kirk	5 – Kirk	Beeghly Center  Youngstown, OH
January 29, 2020 5:00 pm, ESPN+		at Northern Kentucky	L 68–72	8–6 (5–4)	15 – Griffin	8 – Howard	5 – Griffin	BB&T Arena  Highland Heights, KY
January 30, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN+		at Northern Kentucky	L 67–69	8–7 (5–5)	17 – Bridges	8 – Bridges	4 – Commander	BB&T Arena  Highland Heights, KY
February 5, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Wright State	L 47–72	8–8 (5–6)	10 – Commander	7 – Bridges	2 – 3 Tied	Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
February 6, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Wright State						Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
February 12, 2020 12:00 pm, ESPN+		at IUPUI						Indiana Farmers Coliseum  Indianapolis, IN
February 13, 2020 11:00 am, ESPN+		at IUPUI						Indiana Farmers Coliseum  Indianapolis, IN
February 19, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN3		Green Bay						Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
February 20, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN3		Green Bay						Credit Union 1 Arena  Chicago, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time Zone.

Source[10]

References

1. "Luke Yaklich Named UIC Men's Basketball Head Coach". UIC Athletics. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
2. "UIC vs. Northern Kentucky - Game Recap - March 10, 2020 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
3. "Navarra signs Blount just out of college". Eurobasket. August 14, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
4. "Vevey Riviera tabs rookie Tarkus Ferguson". Eurobasket. September 1, 2020. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
5. "Flames Announce Schedule Change for Saturday". UIC Athletics. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
6. "Flames Pause Basketball Activities, Series at Milwaukee Canceled". UIC Flames. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
7. "Flames Pause Basketball Activities, Series at Milwaukee Canceled". UIC Flames. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
8. "Flames' Series Against Detroit Mercy Canceled". UIC Flames. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
9. "Flames' Series Against Detroit Mercy Canceled". UIC Flames. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
10. "2020-21 Men's Basketball Schedule". UIC Athletics. Retrieved November 26, 2020.