Aces welcome Ramblers on Wednesday night
 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville men’s basketball team looks to make it two in a row as they welcome Loyola to the Ford Center for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday night.
Fans are reminded that you can purchase tickets for the game for just $5 with the ad from the Courier and Press. At halftime, the Zooperstars! Will perform for the audience.
A 9-game skid came to an end on Saturday for the Purple Aces as they defeated Missouri State by a final of 74-66 at the Ford Center. Jaylon Brown recorded his second 25-point outing in a row while David Howard scored a career-high 17 points; Duane Gibson added 16 tallies. UE led for the majority of the contest and finished the game on an 8-3 run in the last 1:48 to earn the win after the Bears cut the gap to 66-63. Hitting 55.8% of its attempts, the Aces had their best shooting game against a conference foe since hitting 57.4% of their attempts on Jan. 19, 2016 against Loyola; coincidentally, the score of that game was also 74-66.
Redshirt senior David Howard has been rolling over the last few weeks and has notched double figures in three of the last four games, a first in his college career. He capped off the week with a career-best 17 point while hitting 7 out of 10 attempts. He also finished with 7 rebounds in the win over the Bears. Over the last 4 games, Howard has notched an average of 12.5 points per game while connecting on 21 out of 33 shots (63.6%). In two games this season against Missouri State, Howard averaged 12.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Evansville’s leading rebounder this season checks in with 4.8 per game; he has upped that to 5.5 per game in Valley games and is tied for 14th in that category.
Loyola sits in a tie for 4th place in the MVC with a record of 6-6, matching the marks of Missouri State and UNI; overall, the Ramblers stand at 16-9. The top shooting offense in the league sits at 50.2%, ranking in the top ten in the nation. Four Loyola players average double figures, led by Milton Doyle, who sits at 16 points per game; he is also lead LUC in assists (112), steals (40) and blocked shots (18). Aundre Jackson (14.4 PPG), Donte Ingram (14.2 PPG) and Clayton Custer (11.3 PPG) are the other tops scorers for the Ramblers. Jackson was the leader of the pack for LUC in the first meeting this season against UE, notching 17 points in a 67-61 Loyola victory at Gentile Arena.
Since the Ramblers joined the MVC in 2013, their series against Evansville has been a competitive one. In seven games as MVC opponents, the average margin of victory by the winner has been 4.71 points per game with t
