Arena is sold out for huge game
  In one of the most highly anticipated games in the Missouri Valley Conference this season, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team will play host to #22 Wichita State on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. inside the Ford Center in front of what will be a sold out crowd.
ESPNU will have the live broadcast and the contest will also be available to ESPNU subscribers on the WatchESPN app and ESPN3.com.
In a game for the ages, the Purple Aces staged a late comeback to defeat Southern Illinois by a final of 85-78 in overtime on Thursday night. Trailing by seven with under four minutes remaining, the Aces roared back as Mislav Brzoja hit a three to tie it up with under a minute remaining. After the Salukis countered with a triple of their own, D.J. Balentine hit one at the buzzer to send the game into OT where UE was able to pull away for the win. Balentine and Brzoja each finished the game with 25 points; for Brzoja, it was a career-high as he hit 9 of his 12 attempts, including 4 out of 5 shots from 3-point range.
D.J. Balentine now stands at 2,235 career points and enters today’s game just one behind the great Larry Humes for second place on the UE all-time list. Balentine is also just 44 away from tying Colt Ryan’s program mark of 2,279. Egidijus Mockevicius is also within shouting distance of the top spot on the Aces’ all-time rebounding list. The senior has 1,097 boards in his career and is 100 behind Dale Wise’s mark of 1,197, which was set in 1961.
Evansville’s total of 18 wins this season is tied for the most in the nation; UE is one of 11 programs to have won 18 games. Evansville is an unbelievable 23-4 in its last 27 games, dating back to the beginning of the CIT Championship run in March. The run is UE’s top streak since 1988-89 when the Purple Aces went 23-4 to begin the 1988-89 season.
Mislav Brzoja was feeling it in the win at Southern Illinois, posting a career-best 25 points as he hit 9 of his 12 shots. His efforts from outside were even better as 4 of his 5 treys found the bottom of the net. Brzoja is now the top 3-point shooter in the Valley, hitting 48.9% of his attempts; over his last ten games, Brzoja is 17-of-30 from outside.
Wichita State enters Sunday’s game with a perfect 9-0 mark in MVC play and stand at 15-5 overall. WSU has won their last 10 games in a row and 13 out of 14 games. A pair of Preseason All-Conference First-Teamers lead the way for the Shockers as Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet are the leading scorers; Baker has averaged 14.7 points per game while VanVleet stands at 12.2 PPG. In their last game, an 80-54 win over Loyola, Shaquille Morris registered a game-high 12 points while Rashard Kelly was next up for the Shockers with 11 tallies.
