Duo had exceptional years for the Purple Aces
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- LOUIS – University of Evansville men’s basketball players Chuck Bailey III and Tanner Cuff were named to the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference All-Bench Team in an announcement by the league on Tuesday afternoon. The teams, which were selected by a panel of the league’s newspaper beat writers and a panel of media voters, are comprised of a minimum of five student-athletes (top five vote-getters, plus ties) on each squad.
Freshman Chuck Bailey III played in 30 games this season while making one start. He completed the regular season with an average of 8.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. The 4-time MVC Freshman of the Week had the top game of his Purple Aces career in November’s league opener at Missouri State.
In that contest, Bailey recorded 27 points on a 10-of-17 shooting performance. Hitting 10 of his 13 attempts, he scored 18 at Bradley. He was one of the most efficient free throw shooters in the league, finishing 11th in the conference connecting on 81.6% of his attempts.
Junior Tanner Cuff enjoyed solid campaign for Evansville, wrapping up the year with 7.5 points and 4.0 caroms per contest. Seeing the floor in all 31 games, Cuff averaged 22.0 minutes per game. He was a 49.2% shooter from the field and converted 74.1% of his free throw tries. Cuff’s 70 assists was second on the team behind Kenny Strawbridge Jr.
Cuff’s top performance saw him tally 16 points in the home victory over UIC before registering 15 points at Murray State. He ranked among the best in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio for the duration of the season, wrapping up the regular season with 70 helpers and just 32 turnovers.
