Tournament begins on Tuesday
 CANCUN, Mexico – For the first time in 17 years, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team is outside of the United States in the regular season as the Purple Aces take part in the Cancun Challenge. Evansville opens the tournament on Tuesday against Fresno State at 7:30 p.m. CT before facing either George Mason or Louisiana Tech on Wednesday. Both contests will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.
UE is outside of the United States for the first time since December of 2000 when the team played in the San Juan Shootout. That year, the Aces beat Puerto Rico Mayaguez before falling to Northwestern. Evansville also played in the San Juan Shootout in 1997.
The Purple Aces are 4-0 on the young season, their best start since winning the first five games in 2013-14. It is just the second 4-0 start to a season for Evansville since 1987.
Evansville’s tenure in the 2017 Cancun Challenge started on Thursday with the SEMO contest and continues today against Binghamton. On Sunday, UE heads to Cancun where it will play Fresno State on Tuesday before facing either George Mason or Louisiana Tech on Wednesday night.
Over his last three games, Dru Smith has dished out a total of 29 assists and his average of 7.8 per game puts him 14th in the nation. Smith has tallied double figures in three games this season after doing so just four times in his whole freshman campaign.
Junior Ryan Taylor has scorched the nets thus far in 2017, averaging 24.0 points per game, ranking second in the league. He connected on seven 3-pointers against Binghamton, the most for a UE player since Colt Ryan had 8 triples against Bradley in 2012.
Fresno State enters Tuesday’s contest with a 2-1 record with wins over UC Santa Cruz and CSUN before falling at Arkansas on Friday. Four Bulldogs average 13 points or more led by Deshon Taylor, who checks in with 17.7 PPG. Just behind him is Bryson Williams, who has scored an average of 17.3 PPG. Jaron Hopkins leads the way with 8.3 rebounds per contest and chips in 13 points.
