 Aces and Bulldogs to square off on Sunday
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A 2-game road swing begins on Sunday as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team heads to Des Moines, Iowa to face Drake on Sunday at 3 p.m.
A 23.5% shooting night saw the Aces drop a 74-63 decision to Bradley on Wednesday night. The Aces did a nice job of getting to the foul line, attempting 46 free throws while connecting on 37. Jaylon Brown went 17-of-20 from the line to finish with 21 points. Ryan Taylor (18 points) and Christian Benzon (13) also registered double figures. Evansville finished with 12 field goals and a final shooting tally of 23.5%, both team lows in the Marty Simmons era, which dates back to 2007. Bradley finished the night shooting an even 50%, the first team to reach that mark against UE this season.
The top scorer in the MVC hit his mark against Bradley despite going just 2-of-13 from the field. Jaylon Brown made his way to the free throw line 20 times, knocking down 17 of his attempts, the most since D.J. Balentine against Illinois State in 2014. Brown finished with 21 points and continues to lead the league with 20.9 points per game. His sixth point of the game saw him hit 1,000 in his career, becoming the 48th player in program history to do so.
For the first time in his career, Christian Benzon has notched back-to-back games hitting double figures as he tallied 13 points against Bradley. That came on the heels of a 6-of-10 outing from the field in the win over UNI as he totaled 17 points. He continues to be the top rebounder for the Aces, checking in with 4.9 per game; over the last six games, Benzon has notched 6.2 caroms per contest.
Drake stands at 3-12 and 1-2 in Valley play coming into Sunday’s game against the Aces. The Bulldogs opened conference play with a 102-98 win over Loyola but dropped road tilts at Southern Illinois and Wichita State in its latest contests.
Reed Timmer leads the way for the Bulldogs with 15.9 points per game and is a solid shooter, checking in at 44.1%. Billy Wampler enters play with 12.5 PPG while hitting 44.0% of his 3-point attempts. Drake continues to rely on its outside game; as a team, the Bulldogs have attempted 344 3-pointers on the season while the Aces have tried 170.
Evansville holds a 25-21 lead in the series versus Drake and has won five out of the last six meetings. The Aces have struggled at the Knapp Center in recent years, dropping six of the last seven match-ups on the road. Overall, UE is 10-12 in road games against the Bulldogs.
