Cowboys are led by former UE star Craig Snow
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Exhibition play for the University of Evansville men’s basketball team will take place on Saturday as the Purple Aces welcome former player Craig Snow and his New Mexico Highlands squad to the Ford Center for a 1 p.m. game.
Prior to the contest, fans are invited to FanFest, which will be held at Freedom Plaza. Freedom Plaza is directly across from the front entrance of the Ford Center. It will take place from 10:30 a.m. through 12:30 p.m. and is free to attend. Activities include food vendors, beer garden, live music, corn hole and much more. At 11:45 a.m., UE head coach Walter McCarty along with Craig Snow, will address the crowd.
Evansville returns six players from last year’s team while six newcomers and two walk-ons comprise the squad. K.J. Riley debuted with the Aces last season and finished with 6.8 points per game while getting to the line more than anyone else on the team. Riley made a team-high 107 free throws while playing in all 32 games, making 18 starts.
Noah Frederking is the top returning outside shooter. Frederking made 24 triples as a freshman while connecting on 81.4% of his free throws. Evan Kuhlman looks to make a leap as he goes into his sophomore season. Kuhlman played in 25 games last year and had great success from outside, knocking down 45.5% of his 3-pointers.
John Hall saw time in every game as a redshirt freshman in 2017-18 and got the start in seven games. He posted a career-best 9 points against Oakland City last December, but is looking to improve with increased time on the floor. Defensively, Dainius Chatkevicius held strong at center. He was the top rebounder in 2017-18 with 5.4 caroms per game while connecting on 56.9% of his attempts.
Limited to eight games due to injury, Marty Hill showed flashes of what he is capable of in his time on the floor. Hill grabbed seven rebounds in his debut at New Mexico before scoring 12 in his next game against Oakland City, draining four triples.
The newcomers who are immediately eligible for UE include Jawaun Newton, Shamar Givance and Shea Feehan. Newton and Givance are freshman guards while Feehan is the first graduate transfer in program history. He comes to UE following a career at Eureka. The Aces have three players who will be sitting out this season before taking the floor next year. They include: Sam Cunliffe, Artur Labinowicz and DeAndre Williams. UE will also have a pair of walk-ons – Jared Chestnut and Devan Straub.
New Mexico Highlands marks UE’s opponent in its exhibition contest. The Cowboys are coming off of a 15-13 campaign that saw them finish on a high note, defeating Colorado Mesa University, 98-84. Their top returning scorer is Chris Lewis, who notched 11.0 points per game last season; he was 4th on the team in scoring as their top three in points do not return.
Former UE star Craig Snow is in his 5th year as head coach of the program; Snow remains 10th in program history with 1,530 career points while averaging 12.6 PPG over the span of his career, which spanned from 1997 through 2001. He was a starter on the 1998-99 team that won the regular season MVC championship before earning a spot in the NCAA Tournament
