UE Men’s Basketball Heads To Ball State

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Aces face Cardinals on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – On Saturday, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team travels to Muncie, Ind. for a non-conference game at Ball State.  Tip is set for 1 p.m. CT with the Purple Aces Radio Network and ESPN+ having the coverage.

Last Time Out

– Down by six points with three minutes remaining, the Purple Aces outscored Campbell by a 16-4 margin to finish the game before earning a 72-66 win

– Wednesday’s game against the Camels featured a season-high 19 lead changes

– Marvin Coleman II and Yacine Toumi each set their career highs with 18 points and interestingly enough – both were 7-for-11 from the floor

– Antoine Smith Jr. scored a season-high 15 points while hitting the triple that gave UE the lead for good

– Freshmen Gabe Spinelli (9 points) and Chris Moncrief (4 points) also had the top scoring games of their young careers

Clutch Hits

– With one minute remaining in the Dec. 7 game against Campbell, Antoine Smith Jr. drained a 3-pointer that gave the Aces a 66-64 lead that they would hang onto in a 72-66 win

– Smith completed the game with a season-high 15 points while draining 3 of his 4 outside attempts

– It was his second start of the season with his first being a 10-point game at UNI

– He has been on a roll of the last three games, averaging 12.3 points per game after recording a mark of 5.9 PPG through the opening eight contests

Back in the Fold

– Yacine Toumi missed the UNI game due to health protocols but returned with a vengeance against Campbell as he posted a career-high 18 points

– Toumi was 7-for-11 from the field while hauling in six rebounds

– The effort was his seventh double digit scoring performance in his 10 games

Locked In

– Marvin Coleman II enjoyed one his top collegiate games against Campbell as he set career-highs in scoring (18 points), field goals (7), triples (4) and minutes (38:20)

– It was his first double digit scoring game since opening the season with 11 at Miami

– Coleman entered the game hitting just two of his first 22 3-point tries but rebounded to hit 4 out of 7 against the Camels

– Over the last three games, Coleman has converted 14 out of 30 attempts (46.7%)…he opened the season hitting just 13 out of his first 70 field goal tries (18.6%)

– He is tied for 12th in the MVC with 6.2 rebounds and is tied for 16th with 2.7 assists per contest

Making Some Noise

– Every time freshman Chris Moncrief has taken the floor, he has evolved his game

– He enjoyed his best performance against Campbell where he hit both field goal attempts (including a dunk) while being credited with a pair of assists

– Moncrief has played 9 or more minutes in four of the last five games

Evolving his Game

– Gabe Spinelli has turned his season around over the last five games

– The freshman registered a career-high 9 points on 4-for-6 shooting versus Campbell and has averaged 5.8 points over the last five contests while hitting 14 of his 25 attempts (56.0%)

– In his first six games, Spinelli scored a total of 7 points (1.2 PPG) and hit 2 of his first 11 attempts

– His previous high of six points came against Fairfield and Southern Illinois

Scouting the Opponent

– Ball State sits at 5-4 on the season following a 76-59 road victory over Eastern Illinois on Wednesday

– The Cardinals are 2-0 at home with wins over Earlham and Indiana South Bend

– Four players average in double figures with Payton Sparks leading the way with 14.4 points per game  while hitting 61.3% of his attempts

– Sparks also leads the squad with 7.9 rebounds per game

– Jarron Coleman is averaging 12.7 PPG and has a team-high 32 assists

– Jaylin Sellers and Demarius Jacobs have scoring marks of 12.3 and 12.2 PPG, respectively