Givance and Curtis recognized by the league
Two more awards have been received by the University of Evansville men’s basketball team with Shamar Givance earning a spot on the Most Improved Team and Samari Curtis receiving a nod on the All-Bench squad.
Shamar Givance has put together an excellent case for being the most improved player in the Missouri Valley Conference. After finishing his sophomore season with 4.0 points per game, the Toronto native improved to 13.5 points in 2020-21. He had just one double figure scoring game last season, but through UE’s first 24 games, he has reached the mark on 19 occasions. Entering the season, his career scoring high was 15 points, but he has surpassed that an impressive 10 times in 20-21. On the shooting side, his accuracy has excelled greatly – over his first two years, Givance did not shoot above 34.9%, but he has upped that to 44.3% this season. His minutes have jumped from 20.7/game as a sophomore to a junior tally of 31.7, which is in the top ten in the league.
Since becoming eligible prior to the December 15 game against Southeast Missouri State, Curtis has played in 16 games while averaging 10.1 points per game. Curtis scored 19 points in his second game against Belmont, going 4-6 from the field and 8-for-10 from the line. In his top performance, he helped UE earn a huge road win at Southern Illinois, scoring a career-high 29 points on a 9-for-13 shooting day and a 6-of-8 effort from long range. Over his last five games, he has gotten back on track, averaging 11.4 points per game while shooting 55.3% (21/38).
