Aces face Sycamores at 2 p.m. CT
With the regular season complete, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team enters Arch Madness as the #5 seed and will face the #4 seed Indiana State on Friday afternoon at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Set for a 2:08 p.m. CT tip, the game will be carried on the MVC TV Network and the Purple Aces Radio Network. Fans in the Evansville area will be able to watch UE’s contest as well as all four of Friday’s league tournament games.
Setting the Scene
– Only a year removed from an 0-18 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team won seven games…UE is just the second team in MVC history to follow a winless conference season with seven victories
– Southern Illinois was 0-16 in 1980-81 but rebounded to go 7-9 a year later
– The 7-game improvement for UE is the best that the conference has seen since Loyola went from eight league wins in 2016-17 to 15 a season later
– Evansville is the first team to jump from 10th in the MVC standings to a top five seed since Drake went from 10th in 2017 to 4th place in 2018
– The Aces face the 4th-seeded Sycamores, who finished the season with a 14-9 record and won 11 Valley games
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Last Time Out
– With a top five seed on the line, the Purple Aces ended a 7-game skid with an impressive 72-63 win over Missouri State on Saturday night
– Evansville’s defense played a crucial role in the win – over the losing streak, every opponent shot at least 53.2% from the field, including the Bears shooting 69.4% in game one…on Saturday, UE held MSU to 46.3% shooting and a 1-for-7 finish from long range
– Shamar Givance tied his career mark with 22 points in the win while Jawaun Newton added 20
A Brief History Lesson
– This year marks the fifth time the Aces have entered the MVC Tournament as the fifth seed…UE is 0-4 in its first four seasons in that position including 2015 where the Aces fell by a 71-67 final to Illinois State
– UE has won three of its five Arch Madness match-ups against Indiana State including the last two by an average of 18.5 points per game…the Aces picked up an 83-72 win in 2017 and a 68-42 win in 2016 on the way to a berth in the championship game
Nice Start to the Week                                                                                                       Â
– Junior Shamar Givance has had a nice start to the week, earning MVC Player of the Week accolades on Monday before being named to the All-MVC Second Team on Tuesday
– Recognition continued to flow in on Wednesday when he earned a spot on the MVC Most Improved Team
– Givance recorded 21.5 PPG in the Missouri State series including a career-tying 22-point game on Saturday
– Over the course of the season, he has averaged 13.5 points per game while averaging 4.0 assists (2nd in MVC) and 1.5 steals (#1 in MVC)
First Time for Everything                                                                                                    Â
– Through its 18-game MVC slate, the Purple Aces averaged 10.0 3-point makes per game…no other team in league history has done so in conference games only…Bradley came close with a 9.8 per contest in 2007-08
– Overall, the Aces have recorded 9.8 3-point makes per game…just one team in MVC history has averaged 10 or more triples per game over the entirety of the season – Bradley in 2006-07 (10.0/game)
– The 3-point line was enacted prior to the 1986-87 season
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Reaching New Heights
– In the series opener against Missouri State, Jawaun Newton reset his career scoring mark once again with 26 points…he was 8-of-16 from the field and hit 7 free throws…he added 20 in Saturday’s win marking the first time he has posted back-to-back 20-point games in his time at UE
– He continues to shoot at an impressive clip and has converted 62.0% of his 2-point attempts since January 2… during that span, he is shooting 53.8% (92-171) overall
– Newton hit 5 of his 10 3-point tries in the MSU series…in the nine games prior, he was just four for his last 21 from outside
– His rebounding has excelled as of late – he has posted an average of 5.5 rebounds in the last four games
Scouting the Opponent
– – Indiana State clinched the #4 seed in the 2021 MVC Tournament with an overall mark of 14-9 and a league record of 11-7
– The Sycamores split the final weekend of the regular season at Valparaiso…ISU took a 58-43 win in the opener before Valpo struck back in the series finale, winning by a final of 70-58
– Tyreke Key, who averaged 31.5 points per game against UE this season, paces Indiana State with a season average of 17.4 PPG
– Jake LaRavia is next with 12.5 points and 6.1 rebounds, which is tied with Tre Williams for the team lead
– Cooper Neese stands at 10.0 points
