For the first time as members of the Missouri Valley Conference, the University of Evansville and Valparaiso clash on the hardwood with a game on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Valparaiso, Ind.
Prior to the Crusaders joining the MVC, the two teams have met on 83 occasions with the Purple Aces winning 66 of those meetings.
On Saturday, UE lost its third game in a row, dropping a 66-53 game at Bradley; the Braves opened the game on a 14-2 run and held on as the Aces got within a point in the first half. The third 3-pointer of the first half pushed senior Blake Simmons over the 1,000-point mark in his UE career. Simmons became the 49th player in program history to reach the mark. He finished the contest with a team-best 12 points and has reached double figures in 11 of his last 13 games.
In his last five games, junior Dainius Chatkevicius has averaged 7.2 rebounds per game while hitting double figures on two occasions. Chatkevicius has finished with double digit rebounds in two of the last four games, including a career-best of 11 against Missouri State. His 5.5 boards per game ranks 15th in the MVC while he is one of the most accurate shooters in the league, sitting at 52.2%.
After being held scoreless in the first half at Bradley, Ryan Taylor erupted with 10 in the final 20 minutes to make it a perfect 14-for-14 this season in reaching double figures. Taylor holds the MVC scoring lead with 19.6 points per game while averaging a league-best 35.4 minutes per contest.
Valparaiso enters Wednesday’s game with a record of 11-10 and 2-6 in the MVC. The Crusaders opened the season winning their first eight games, but have gone 3-10 since that time. Pacing the squad is Tevonn Walker with 15.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per contest; he also has a team-high 35 steals. Bakari Evelyn checks in with 11.1 PPG and scored a team-high 19 points on Sunday against Loyola. Center Derrik Smits is the son of former Indiana Pacers start Rik Smits.
