After two games on the road, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team opens up the 2018-19 home slate on Thursday evening against Kentucky Wesleyan. The tip is at 6 p.m. inside the Ford Center.
UE gave it everything it had on Saturday, falling by a 91-85 final at Xavier. Six players finished in double figures, led by 20-point efforts from Shea Feehan and K.J. Riley. The Aces trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half but rallied to take the lead in the second half, but the Musketeers were able to hang on. Evansville converted 17 3-point attempts, tying the school record, which was set against Southern Illinois in 1997.
“Our guys feel good about what we were able to do and will look to strike first on Thursday,†Aces Head Coach Walter McCarty said. “With our offense, we have five guys out there who can be a playmaker. If guys are open, take the shot. Play with confidence and shoot the ball. To be able to make that many 3’s was great, I wish we would have made 3 or 4 more!â€
Takeaways from Xavier Â
– Evansville’s 17 3-pointers tied the single-game school mark
– The Aces had six players finish in double figures for the first time since November of 2014 against Earlham
– All eight players that saw the floor for UE grabbed a rebound and took at least one 3-pointer
– John Hall played 39 minutes while Shea Feehan and K.J. Riley played 38 apiece
– Hall set career marks in points, minutes, triples and assists while tying his mark with nine rebounds
– After turning the ball over 26 times in the opener, the Aces did much better, finishing with nine turnovers at XU
– Evan Kuhlman, playing 20 minutes from home, scored a career-high 12 points
– UE was credited with an assist on 20 out of 27 makes
One of the top scorers at the Division III level during his career, Shea Feehan showed that he can do it at any level as he completed the opening weekend with 16 points per game. He had a solid opener against the Fighting Illini, recording 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals while going 4-8 from the floor. He upped his game at Xavier, setting his career mark with 20 points while shooting 6-of-15, 4-for-9 from outside and 4-5 from the line; he posted three assists and three rebounds. Feehan is the first UE player to average 16 PPG in his first two games with the program since Parrish Casebier averaged 18 PPG in his first two games in 1990; Casebier had 21 points at Miami Ohio before registering 15 at Ohio U.
An injury limited Marty Hill to just nine games last year, but he is healthy and playing at a high level in his senior campaign. Hill began the year with a career-high 13 points at Illinois and followed that up with 11 at Xavier. His top game last year was a 12-point outing against Oakland City.
Evansville attempted a total of 57 3-pointers in the first two games of the season, an average of 28.5 per game. In the game at Xavier, the Aces tied a school record with 17 made triples. Since 3-pointer was adopted by the NCAA in 1986, the most UE has averaged in a season was 21.5 in the 2004-05 campaign. Between 2003 and 2007, the Aces averaged at least 18.5 triples per game in each of that four season. In the other 28 seasons of playing with the 3-point line, the Aces never took more than 17.1 per game.
“They (KWC) shoot the long ball very well and have a lot of talent over there. It is most important that it is about us,†McCarty added. “We have to make them adapt to the way we want to play and make sure that we take care of our end – getting back in transition and controlling the tempo of the game.â€
