CHICAGO, Ill. – The Sycamores went on the road Wednesday searching for their sixth straight win and fourth season series sweep, and they found that in a 79-60 win against UIC inside Credit Union 1 Arena for their first-ever win against the Flames in Chicago. Indiana State's last five wins have all come by double digits.
 
Courvoisier McCauley led all scorers in the game with 26 points and five triples, with 21 of those points and four of those 3-pointers coming in the first half to help the Sycamores (19-9, 12-5 MVC) hold a 22-point lead over the Flames (10-18, 2-15 MVC) at the break.
 
Cameron Henry dished out six assists in the game, and with his second assist of the night, became the first Sycamore since 2019-20 to record 100 assists in a single season.
 
The two teams opened up in back-and-forth fashion, and with ISU trailing 8-7 with 14 minutes left in the first frame, Henry dished his 100th assist to McCauley who played through contact and completed the and-one to put the Sycamores up 10-8 and give the lead to ISU for the rest of the game.
 
McCauley pushed that lead to 17-10 with back-to-back buckets at 12:16, and the lead hit double figures with a Trenton Gibson and-one that made it 28-17 with 4:27 to go in the first.
 
The Sycamores went on a 13-0 run with the first 11 points coming from McCauley including three straight triples followed by a Robbie Avila layup to cap the run and give ISU a 41-19 lead with 1:32 remaining in the opening frame. Avila sent ISU into halftime with a 43-21 lead.
 
UIC went on an early 8-0 run in the second half to chip away at its deficit, but Henry swiped a pass and laid it in before later swiping another ball and connecting on a triple to make it 65-49 at 6:25. The Flames continued to claw their way back into the game, cutting their deficit to 10 points at 65-55 and force an ISU timeout with 4:43 to go.
 
Gibson came out of that timeout with a layup to get into double figures, and then Jayson Kent slammed home a pass from Henry to make it 69-55 with 3:53 to go. McCauley sparked a 10-0 run for the Sycamores with his fifth 3-pointer of the night, and the run was capped by a Masen Miller three to push the ISU lead back past 20 points at 79-58 with less than a minute to play. The Flames got a bucket back with 18 seconds left.
 
Inside the Numbers

• The Sycamores committed 15 turnovers in the game after committing 19 combined in their previous three games. UIC scored 18 point off those turnovers.
• ISU was led on the glass by Cooper Neese with eight rebounds out of the team's 36 on the night.
• The Sycamores put up 40 points in the paint and got 25 points out of the bench.

News & Notes

• ISU now has 19 overall wins, 12 Valley wins, and seven road wins all for the first time since 2013-14.
• Cameron Henry hit the 100 assists mark with his second assist of the night at 13:57 in the first half. He becomes the first Sycamore since Jordan Barnes in 2019-20 to record 100 assists in a single season. He finished with a team-high six assists, bringing his season total to 104. He also finished the night with a career-high five steals.
• In front of his hometown fan club, Robbie Avila posted 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field to move into ninth place on ISU's all-time list of points as a freshman, surpassing Tyreke Key and Jay Tunnell.
• With a game-high 26 points, Courvoisier McCauley posted his second-straight 20+-point performance and third in his last four games. He is one of five total Valley players with nine or more 20+-point outings this season. He nailed five triples in the game for the seventh time this season and is now just five triples away from ranking second on ISU's all-time list of 3-pointers in a single season.
• Trenton Gibson led the charge off the bench with 14 points including shooting 4-of-4 from the free throw line alongside six rebounds and three assists.
• With eight triples tonight, the Sycamores are just three 3-pointers away from tying the program record of 270 3-pointers in a single season for the second year in a row. 

Up Next
The Sycamores return home to the Hulman Center Saturday, Feb. 18 to host Illinois State at 2 p.m. ET. Saturday will be ISU's second Blackout Cancer game of the season. The first 2,500 fans will receive a pair of goggles resembling Robbie Avila courtesy of Labor Link. The first 3,500 fans will also receive a rally towel courtesy of Wright's Pool Service.
 
Follow the Sycamores
For the latest information on the Sycamore Men's Basketball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from both the App Store and the Google Play Store.
 
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