For just the third time since 1979, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team will take on Ball State in a road game on Saturday at Worthen Arena. Tip is at 1 p.m. CT and will be carried live on ESPN3.
“Ball State is a tough team who has good guard play and legitimate bigs who can hurt you on the glass,†Aces head coach Walter McCarty said. “We are looking forward to it; they are in improved basketball team and we have to go up there and play really well.â€
A late first-half run saw the Aces take a 35-26 halftime lead before defeating Texas Southern by a final of 85-63. UE led by as many as 24 points in the final minutes. Shea Feehan led the squad with 20 points; he was 7-of-12 from the floor. Noah Frederking added 16 points while John Hall finished with 9 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. The Aces finished with a 47-43 edge on the boards. After shooting 37.5% in the first half, UE rebounded to go 18-of-32 in the final 20 minutes (56.3%).
Evansville scored 85+ points for the third game in a row. Feehan led the Aces with 20 points; he is the top scorer through four games with 15 PPG. Frederking scored 16 points; he has averaged 21 points in the last two contests. The win marked the 31st home non-conference win in a row for the Aces. Evansville hit 10 triples for the third-straight game.
Through four games, UE is averaging 80.5 points per game. That is the highest tally since the 1988-89 season when UE finished with 82.6 PPG. Five players are averaging double figures; the last time the program saw five players do so came in 1990-91. The 2006-07 season marked the last time the program had four in double digits.
UE has scored 85 or more points in each of the last three games. It is the first time in five years that UE has scored 85 or more in three-consecutive outings. In 2013, the Aces had 98, 100 and 91 in wins over Mercer, Valparaiso and Anderson. Should the Aces score 85 on Saturday at Ball State, it would mark the first 4-game streak of 85+ points since 1993-94 when the team hit the mark in six consecutive games.
The Aces and Cardinals rivalry has a long history, dating back to 1930. The teams have met on 52 occasions, but this marks just the third meeting since 1979; the teams met 40 times between 1952 and 1971. UE assistant coach Todd Lickliter was 0-3 vs. BSU as a player but was 5-1 against them as the head coach at Butler; included in that was a 75-66 win over BSU in 2002; the Cardinals were ranked 21st at the time. As an assistant at Eastern Michigan, Lickliter led the Eagles to three wins over the Cardinals in 1997-98 on their way to the NCAA Tournament. Matthew Graves was 1-3 versus the Cardinals in his playing career, but was 8-2 as an assistant at Butler.
Ball State enters Saturday’s game with a 2-3 record with victories coming over Indiana State and Appalachian State. Their losses have come against Purdue, Virginia Tech and Alabama.  Tayler Persons leads the Cardinals with 19 points per game; he is the #3 scorer in the Mid-American Conference. K.J. Walton is next with 13.8 PPG while Tahjai Teague is averaging 11 points. Persons led BSU with 29 points while going 12/12 from the line against ASU.
