League to utilize new format for this season
 ST.LOUIS – With non-conference season underway for the 2020-21 college basketball season, the Missouri Valley Conference portion of the schedule is set to begin in less than a month. In an effort to provide the ten league institutions with the safest environment to conduct their seasons, the MVC has announced a new format for this season.
In order to limit travel as much as possible, the traditional home-and-home schedule will be changed this season to a back-to-back format. Each conference school will play four teams at home and four on the road with the travel partner having one game played at each location. The majority of these series will take place on Saturday and Sunday with a few exceptions.
With the attendance limitations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Purple Aces fans can follow the team through the UE Athletics App and the ESPN3 and ESPN+ platforms. The app will be your exclusive home for the digital game program, which will be released for all home games. It also features game updates, exclusive offers and breaking news. The ESPN app is your home for most UE conference contests. It gives you the best seat in the house to follow Evansville all season long.
One of the aforementioned exceptions takes place in the opening week of the conference season when the Aces open up with a pair of games at Southern Illinois. In order to avoid the possibility of teams having to travel on Christmas Day, these contests will be held on Sunday, December 27 and Monday the 28th.
UE’s first home series is set for January 2 and 3 when UNI comes to town. That series will be held on a Saturday and Sunday, as will be the case with each one until the final weekend of the year. Evansville remains home on Jan. 9/10 with contests against Illinois State.
The weekend of Jan. 16/17 pits the Aces at Bradley before the first travel partner game will see UE head to Terre Haute for a game on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at Indiana State. The weekend of January 23 will be held open in the case of any postponements.
Valparaiso will be at the Ford Center for games on Jan. 30 and 31 before the UE squad takes to the road for consecutive weekends. The Aces will be at Loyola on February 6/7 before continuing on to Drake for contests on the 13th and 14th.
Evansville’s final three games are set to be played at home, beginning with a Wednesday, Feb. 17 game versus Indiana State. Following another open weekend, the Aces welcome Missouri State in the regular season finale. Those games are slated for Friday, Feb. 26 and Saturday the 27th. The 2021 State Farm MVC Tournament will take place from March 4-7 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
