Men’s basketball hosts Ball State in rematch on Sunday

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Aces and Cardinals meet up at 2 p.m.

 On Sunday, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team looks to keep its perfect home record intact as they welcome Ball State to the Ford Center for a 2 p.m. CT game.

Last Time Out

– The Aces dropped their last game by a final of 87-77 on Tuesday at Arkansas State

– The Red Wolves used a 10-0 run in the first half to take the lead for good

– Shea Feehan and Marty Hill finished with 21 and 16 points, respectively; the tallies were career highs for both

– K.J. Riley finished with 15 points

– Evansville hit four of its first 20 3-point attempts in the loss while shooting 39.3% for the game

– A bright spot for UE came in its performance from the line as the Aces hit a season-high 79.4% of their free throws

 

Setting the Scene

– Evansville enters Sunday’s game with a perfect 4-0 mark at the Ford Center; it is the fourth year in a row UE has won its first four home games

– The Aces are 22-2 in their 24 home meetings versus Ball State

– UE’s bench has outscored its counterparts in five of the last six games

– The Aces and Cardinals are playing an in-season non-conference home-and-home series; it is the first time the Aces have done so since 2010 against Middle Tennessee State

– The home teams were victorious in both games that season

 

Takeaways from Arkansas State

– Evansville has faced double digit deficits in all four road games in 2018 while dropping the four games

– The Aces have been outrebounded by a 43.5-28.3 tally in road contests

– Shea Feehan improved his scoring away from the Ford Center to 18.0 points per game

– In the season opener at Illinois, UE turned the ball over 24 times; in the three road games since, the team has turned it over just 10.7 times

– K.J. Riley’s 9 free throw makes and 12 free throw tries were the most for a UE player in 2018

 

No Adjustment Needed

– For the fourth time this season, Shea Feehan scored 19 or more points as he set his Evansville mark with 21 at Arkansas State

– Feehan has drained 44.9% of his 3-point attempts and is averaging 2.75 per game; those tallies rank 52nd and 96th in the nation, respectively

– He is UE’s top force from the free throw line, hitting 78.6% of his tries

– For the season, he is averaging a team-high 13.8 points per game

Scouting the Opponent

– Ball State comes to the Ford Center sporting a 6-3 mark after earning a big 75-69 road win at preseason MVC favorite Loyola on Wednesday

– The Cardinals are led by Tayler Persons, who checks in with 16.9 points per game

– K.J. Walton is averaging 15.1 points while Tahjai Teague sits at 13.3; Walton was their leading scorer in the win over UE on Nov. 24 as he posted 20 points going 8-of-9 from the floor

– BSU earned an 82-72 win over UE in that game