Aces And Braves Square Off on Saturday At 7 P.M.
A 2-game road trip awaits the University of Evansville men’s basketball team as the Purple Aces begin the stretch with a road game at Bradley on Saturday at 7 p.m.
A furious rally on Wednesday saw the Purple Aces cut a 13-point Indiana State lead to just two in the final minute before the Sycamores escaped with the 71-66 win. Dru Smith fell just two points shy of his career mark, recording 23 points in the game on 7-of-12 shooting.
UE and Bradley tangled just two weeks ago inside the Ford Center as the Aces picked up their first MVC win of the season by a final of 68-44. Ryan Taylor was the leading scorer in the contest with 21 points while Smith and Blake Simmons finished with 14 and 12, respectively. Simmons enters Saturday’s game with 992 career points, just 8 shy of 1,000.
Another offensive outburst saw sophomore Dru Smith finish with 23 points on Wednesday versus the Sycamores, two off of his career mark. Smith is on an absolute roll, posting 15.2 points per game in his six league games. Smith notched five assists and a steal last time out and continues to lead the Valley in assists and steals. Smith is 19th in the nation with 2.31 steals per game and is 67th in the NCAA with 5.0 assists.
Make it 13-for-13 for UE junior Ryan Taylor, who has scored at least 11 points in each of his 13 games played for the Aces this season. Taylor chipped in 12 points against the Sycamores and retook the MVC scoring lead with his average of 20.4 points per game. With 35.9 minutes per game, Taylor paces the league while his free throw efforts of 87.5% on the season are second.
Bradley is looking to right the ship as they have dropped three of their last four games, including a 68-44 game in Evansville, to drop to 13-7 and 3-4 in the MVC. Darrell Brown continues to pace Bradley with 13.1 points per game. Next up is Donte Thomas, who sits with 10.2 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds; Thomas finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds on Wednesday in a 70-57 loss at Illinois State. The Braves have been great at home this season, winning all nine games at Carver Arena.
