Two of the top defensive teams in the Missouri Valley Conference meet on the hardwood for the first time this season when the University of Evansville men’s basketball team welcomes UNI to the Ford Center for a 7 p.m. tilt on Wednesday at the Ford Center.
Evansville looks for its first 3-game conference win streak of the season as the Purple Aces are coming off of a 77-73 win over Drake on Saturday. Ryan Taylor led the way with 25 points and a career-best 8 rebounds while Noah Frederking had his best league effort, tallying 16. On a day where his father’s jersey was retired, Blake Simmons notched 14 points.
For the 11th time this season, Ryan Taylor reached the 20-point mark as he totaled 25 on a 10-of-18 shooting day against Drake. He drained 10 shots for the third time this season and continued his streak of reaching double figures in each of his 16 games this season; he has scored 10+ in 18 consecutive games overall. By hauling in eight rebounds versus the Bulldogs, Taylor set his career mark in that statistic.
Getting valuable playing time is priceless in the MVC and Noah Frederking is getting just that in his first collegiate season. Frederking has averaged 5.6 points per game this season and is shooting a smooth 89.3% from the free throw line (25/28). He had his best league game in the win over Drake, tallying 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting and a 6-6 day from the line.
Over the last three games, the Purple Aces have gone 61-of-68 from the free throw line – a scorching 89.7%. A 10/12 game at Bradley started the streak before UE went 29-of-31 at Valparaiso and 22 out of 25 in the home win over Drake. The team now ranks 8th in the country, hitting 78.3% of its attempts; it is on pace to be the best mark in program history; the previous team high was 77.2% in 1998-99.
UNI fell in its first five MVC games, but has gone 3-2 since then to stand at 11-11 overall and 3-7 in Valley play. Two Panthers averaged double figures with Bennett Koch recording 12.2 points per game and Tywhon Pickford checking in with 10.7 PPG. Pickford has upped his output to 13.5 PPG in conference games and scored 14 points last time out against Loyola as the Ramblers earned a 70-47 win. Klint Carlson also had 14 points in Sunday’s game in Chicago.
