Aces set for matchup against Valparaiso
Arch Madness is up next for the University of Evansville men’s basketball team with the Purple Aces opening up the tournament on Thursday evening with an 8:35 p.m. game against Valparaiso at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The game will be career on the MVC TV Network and the Purple Aces Radio Network; fans in Evansville will be able to watch on Fox Sports Midwest.
 Setting the Scene
– UE enters the 2020 State Farm MVC Tournament as the #10 seed and is pitted against 7th-seeded Valparaiso
– The Crusaders took both games in the regular season by a total of four points; the Aces dropped an 81-79 overtime game on January 4 before losing the road match at the ARC by a 67-65 final on Jan. 26
– In the road game, UE overcame an 18-point deficit to get within two in the final minutes
– Sam Cunliffe averaged 15.5 points in the two meetings against the Crusaders while K.J. Riley scored 12 points in each game
– Evansville and Valpo have met one other time on a neutral floor and, interestingly enough, came in the St. Louis area
– In the 1999 Hoop and Quill Tournament in St. Charles, Mo., the Aces picked up a 71-66 win
Arch Madness
– For the sixth time since joining the conference for the 1994-95 campaign, the Aces are the #10 seed
– The Aces are 0-5 as that seed in the MVC
– UE has lost three in a row at Arch Madness and stand at 9-25 all-time at the event
– This year marks the 11th time since 2002 that UE has been seeded 8th or lower
Last Time Out
– Senior K.J. Riley shined in his final home game scoring 18 points with the Aces dropping a 71-60 game to Illinois State on Saturday
– Sam Cunliffe and Evan Kuhlman each finished with 10 points
– The Aces once again rallied from a double figure deficit; UE trailed by 14 in the first half but came bak to take a 48-46 lead with 8:14 remaining
– With the loss, UE finished 0-18 in conference play; Evansville is the fourth team since 1970 to go winless in the MVC
– The last team to do so was Drake in 1997-98; the Bulldogs were also 0-18 in 1996-97
K.J. 1K
– In his final performance at the Ford Center, K.J. Riley put forth another workmanlike effort, leading the Aces with 18 points while hitting 10 out of 12 free throws
– Riley increased his free throw totals to 153 makes on 189 attempts; those rank 13th and 22nd in the NCAA, respectively
– He has 10 double digit scoring efforts in his last 11 games
– In the first half of the Feb. 20 game at SIU, senior Riley reached the 1,000-point mark for his career becoming the 50th player in program history to do so
Putting up the Numbers
– For the sixth time in the last nine games, junior Evan Kuhlman reached double figures in scoring, chipping in 10 points in the regular season finale on Saturday
– Kuhlman hit four of his eight attempts in the game while adding three assists, three rebounds and two blocks
– Since going 2-for-8 from the field in the home game against SIU, Kuhlman has hit 28 of his last 58 attempts (48.3%)
– He has scored eight or more in seven of the Aces last nine games
– Kuhlman set his career mark with 17 points at Drake on Feb. 16 draining six of his 12 attempts overall and was 5-of-9 from outside
Scouting the Opponent
– Valparaiso finished the regular season with a 16-15 record and were an even 9-9 in the MVC on their way to taking the #7 seed for Arch Madness
– The Crusaders dropped a 71-58 decision at Indiana State on Saturday but are still on a nice streak winning four of their last six games
– Javon Freeman-Liberty leads the Crusaders with 19.3 points per game; he was second in the conference
– He also leads the team in steals and rebounds (6.0/game); his 65 steals ranks 13th in the nation
– Ryan Fazekas has posted 11.3 PPG and is a 51.4% shooter from outside
