Aces face Braves on Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m
Looking to continue the best Missouri Valley Conference start in five years, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team travels to Peoria, Illinois for a weekend series at Bradley. Games are set for Saturday, Jan. 16 and Sunday, Jan. 17 inside Carver Arena. Both contests tip at 3 p.m. CT and will be carried live by ESPN3 and the Purple Aces Radio Network.
Setting the Scene
– For the second time in conference play, the Purple Aces take to the road; the team played its first league series at Southern Illinois, earning a split
– A unique scheduling nugget – this is just the second time since 2008 that the Aces have played a road game at Bradley before January 20
– The Braves have seen numerous schedule changes due to the pandemic with their opening two league series being postponed
– Bradley opened up their Valley slate last weekend, splitting two games at UNI
Last Time Out
– Hot shooting in the second half saw Illinois State finish with a 73-68 win over the Aces on Sunday at the Ford Center
– ISU hit 17 of its 23 attempts (73.9%) int he second half as they held on for the win
– Despite the offensive efficiency by the Redbirds, Evansville was able to stay within striking distance and got within four points in the final minute
– Noah Frederking hit five 3-pointers on his way to 15 points while Evan Kuhlman and Shamar Givance registered 13 and 12, respectively
– Givance and Jawaun Newton each had career highs in assists with Givance dishing out eight helpers while Newton finished the game with seven
– As a team, the Aces were credited with 20 assists; it was the highest tally since posting 22 on Dec. 7, 2019 against Miami Ohio
He Makes a Difference
– With his team sitting at 0-3, Jawaun Newton made his season debut and has led the Purple Aces to six wins in nine games since that point
– Newton came out of the gate strong, setting his career high with 19 points in his first contest of the year versus Eastern Illinois; he matched that total on January 9 against Illinois State where he hit 8 of his 12 field goal attempts while going 3-for-5 from long range
– His accuracy has been evident in the last four games with 21 of his last 36 shots finding the bottom of the net; inside the arc – 17 of his last 23 tries have been good
– The junior has scored at least six points in all nine of his games while totaling nine or more tallies on eight occasions
Presence Down Low
– Iyen Enaruna gave his team exactly what it needed in the series against Illinois State
– The junior posted eight points and two offensive rebounds in each game while playing a total of 35 minutes in the two contests
– Enaruna has taken his efficiency to a new level over the last five games, hitting 60% of his tries (12 out of 20) while averaging 5.6 PPG
– Against SEMO, Enaruna set his scoring high with nine points while adding six boards
