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HOT JOBS
Easily applyMen’s basketball falls to South Alabama
UE back in action Saturday against Robert Morris
 SAVANNAH, Ga. – Blaise Beauchamp reset his season scoring mark with 18 points in Friday’s opening game of the Hostilo Hoops Community Classic against South Alabama inside Enmarket Arena. The Purple Aces fell to the Jaguars by a final of 78-67.
“This was another great team that we faced tonight. We had some good stretches in the first half, but South Alabama just did not miss during that stretch in the second half,†UE head coach David Ragland exclaimed. “There are several positives to take away from tonight and we will be ready for Robert Morris tomorrow.â€
Beauchamp was 6-of-15 from the field in the contest and was one of four double figure scorers for UE. Kenny Strawbridge Jr. tallied 14 while Antoine Smith Jr. and Yacine Toumi recorded 11 and 10, respectively. Marvin Coleman II led the Aces with seven rebounds as each team had 33. Isaiah Moore led the Jaguars with 21 points.
Yacine Toumi got the Aces on the board in the opening possession before South Alabama scored the next seven points. Evansville countered with a 7-0 run of its own to go up 9-2. Preston Phillips got it started with a triple and would add a second field goal during the stretch.
With the score tied at 9-9, Antoine Smith Jr. began what would finish as an 11-point half by hitting his first of four shots to begin a 7-0 run. Blaise Beauchamp hit his second field goal of the game before finding Smith for a 3-pointer to make it a 16-9 game at the 12:15 mark. Over the next six minutes, the Jaguars worked their way back into the contest and used a pair of free throws to get within one at 24-23.
Smith took matters into his own hands, knocking down two more 3-pointers to put the Aces back in front – 32-27 – with four minutes left in the half. Beauchamp drained his first outside shot less than a minute later to push the advantage to 35-29. Over the final moments of the half, USA made another run and hit a shot in the final seconds to make it a 37-37 contest at the half.
Kenny Strawbridge Jr. gave UE the lead to open the second half and would be credited with the assist on a Phillips dunk that gave Evansville a 44-43 edge at the 15:44 mark. Over the next four minutes, South Alabama outscored the Aces by a 12-1 margin to take their largest lead of the night at 55-45. Four in a row by Beauchamp got UE back into the fray but the Jaguars would push their lead to 67-52 with 9:24 on the clock.
Evansville never gave up and used an 8-2 stretch to get within nine entering the last seven minutes. UE continued to keep things within reach as Beauchamp added his sixth made field goal of the game to make it a 72-63 game at the 2:44 mark, but South Alabama had the answer each time and would take the win by a 78-67 final.
Game two of the weekend will see the Aces face Robert Morris on Saturday at 4 p.m. CT.
No. 8 Trailblazers notch 10th win in a row with home victory over Volunteer State
VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 8-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers shook off the post-Thanksgiving food coma Saturday night by picking up a big 97-61 win over Volunteer State Community College.
The Trailblazers jumped out to a quick advantage, scoring the first seven points of the game.
Vincennes would later use a 14-2 scoring run to build a 37-22 lead before closing out the opening half of play heading into the locker room leading 47-31.
Vincennes looked to again grab control of the momentum out of the locker room, outscoring the Pioneers 22-8 to open the final 20 minutes of play to grow their lead to 30 points.
VU would trade baskets later in the half but were still able to add on to their lead as the Trailblazers closed out their 10th win of the season and 10th win in a row 97-61 over Volunteer State.
“Honestly this is probably the most disappointed I’ve been after one of our 10 games this year,†VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “I was just not pleased with the attention to detail, the intensity and the energy. I’ve been around this a long time and I told the team after the game, you need to watch the film, you better come in here Monday humble and ready to work. But usually when guys get into that mode they usually don’t until they take a bad loss and I can see a bad loss coming for us very soon if there is not a great altering of the mindset of what I witnessed tonight.â€
“I’ve done this a long time and I’m not trying to be negative, that’s just what I saw,†Franklin added. “We are going to be off tomorrow, because I really don’t want to see them tomorrow. Sunday is a day that we can have off and they are not hearing me as clearly as they need to. So, I told them to go home, watch the film and we’ll come back on Monday and we better have two of the greatest practices of all time to get ourselves back to where we need to be. That’s what I believe. That will be the message and what I will try to do. But I was disappointed. I just didn’t think tonight was very good.â€
By The Numbers: Trends And Takeaways From The General Assembly Election Races
by Jack Sells
INDIANAPOLIS—The Indiana General Assembly came to work at the Statehouse Tuesday for Organization Day, and elected officials—both new and old—filled the chambers.
This election cycle, Republicans lost a seat in the House, but it ended up evening out
, as they added another in the Senate. This gives them 70 of the 100 House seats and 30 out of 40 in the Senate.
Indiana senators take the oath of office, led by Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush. Tuesday was Organization Day, the first official day of the Indiana General Assembly’s legislative period.
This solidifies the GOP’s supermajority status in both chambers for another two years and, for those who follow Indiana politics, makes the party breakdowns nice, round numbers that are easy to remember.
A closer look at some of the numbers around the races reveal some other interesting tidbits and patterns.
Margin Of Victory
The average margin of victory, not counting uncontested races, was higher in the House races—30.2 percentage points—than in the Senate—27.
Not only did Republicans win more often, when they did, it was more convincing. In the House, the GOP averaged wins of 35 percentage points compared to 19.1 for the Democrats, and in the Senate, the breakdown was 28.9 and 17.9, respectively.
(Excluded from these averages are the House District 81 and 90 races, as write-in candidates took less than 2% of the vote in each case, giving the winners, Rep. Mike Speedy, R-Indianapolis, and Rep. Martin Carbaugh, R-Fort Wayne, massive margins of victory.)
Four of the five biggest wins came from Republicans, but with a 65.2-percentage-point margin of victory, Rep. Vanessa Summers, D-Indianapolis, had the largest triumph.
A repeat appearance since 2020 on this hypothetical top-five list comes from Rep. Craig Snow, R-Warsaw. Snow won by 56.2 percentage points in 2020 (good for second-biggest margin), was redistricted and then won this year by 63 percentage points (good for third-best).
Two years ago, Rep. Rita Fleming, D-Jeffersonville, had only a third-party candidate to face off against and won handedly—by 55.2 percentage points. This year, her reelection attempt was no sure bet.
Not Everyone Can Be A Big Winner
The closest races were also all for House seats. And they were closer than in 2020, with five races determined by 2 percentage points or less.
View from the public gallery of the Indiana House Chamber prior to the start of the session Tuesday. The room was packed for Organization Day, the first official day of the 123rd General Assembly.
The people of House District 62 really had incoming Republican Rep. Dave Hall and Democrat Penny Githens biting their nails, as Hall received 12,990 votes—just 40 more than Githens.
Other close wins included Rep. Mitch Gore, D-Indianapolis, by 2%; incoming GOP Rep. Kyle Pierce by 1.8% (over former Rep. Terri Austin); Fleming by 1.2%; and Democrat Victoria Garcia Wilburn by 1%.
Election Days are likely especially nerve wracking for Gore, as he also had a close victory in 2020, winning only 51.3% to 48.7%.
Uncontested Races
After two straight election cycles of 31 uncontested House races, there were 42 in 2022—44 if you count the House District 81 and 90 races.
Maybe less surprising was the fact that these races favored Republicans by a count of 31 to 13—which means that as many House races as Democrats won in total, Republicans won unchallenged.
This has been an emerging trend over the last four years. In 2020, the GOP took more uncontested races than Democrats, but in 2018, 21 Democratic wins were uncontested versus only 10 for Republicans.
For each party, around 44% of their wins were unchallenged in the House.
Looking at a smaller sample size in the Senate, eight of the GOP’s 22 wins were uncontested, while none of the Democrats’ three wins went without an opponent.
Also notably, while there were more one-candidate contests, third-party candidates stepped up in five cases, becoming the second option. This was after the 2020 election in which only one Libertarian took home the consolation prize of second place.
FOOTNOTE: Jack Sells is a reporter at TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
State Troopers Recently Conduct Holiday Saturation Patrol Along US 41
Southwest Indiana – On Friday night, November 25, Indiana State Police conducted a saturation patrol targeting dangerous and impaired drivers on US 41 in Vanderburgh, Gibson, and Knox Counties. Between 8:00 p.m. and midnight.
The troopers issued 62 traffic tickets and 76 warnings. The majority of tickets issued were for speeding. The Knox County Sheriff’s Office also participated and issued 7 additional tickets and 12 warnings.
Indiana State Police encourage all motorists to drive responsibly and to ensure everyone is buckled up.
UE SHAPES POWERFUL AND ENDURING CHANGE
 UE, shape powerful and enduring change.
The University’s history began as the dream of one man – John C. Moore – a resident of Moores Hill, Indiana (a small town west of Cincinnati). Moore was the original #UEChangemaker. He wanted a college for his community, and he made it a reality on February 10, 1854, when the original charter for Moores Hill Male and Female Collegiate Institute was drafted. The college was the fifth co-educational college in the United States. Classes began September 9, 1856.
The college’s name was officially changed to Moores Hill College on September 20, 1887. In 1917 George Clifford, a prominent Evansville businessman who later became a University trustee, convinced the Indiana Conference of the Methodist Church that Moores Hill College should be moved to Evansville since it was the only city in Indiana without an accredited college within a 50-mile radius.
Residents of the city raised $500,000 in one week in 1917 to move the college to Evansville. It reopened in 1919 as Evansville College, and in 1967 the college was renamed and incorporated by the Indiana legislature as the University of Evansville.
Today, the University is a private, United Methodist Church-related, comprehensive university with a mission to empower each student to think critically, act bravely, serve responsibly, and live meaningfully in a changing world.
UE is ranked as a top Midwest university by U.S. News & World Report with approximately 2,300 students from 43 states and 52 countries. Areas of study are offered in the William L. Ridgway College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business and Engineering, and the College of Education and Health Sciences. The University also offers six master’s degree programs (athletic training, engineering, health services administration, leadership, physician assistant science, and public health) and two doctorate programs (nurse anesthesia and physical therapy).
UE also ranks as one of the top master’s degree granting institutions for the percentage of undergraduate students who study abroad. UE operates our own study abroad programs at Harlaxton College in Grantham, England.
At UE, there’s a difference between an idea and an idea made real. It begins with the choice to step in. A decision to stand out. A determination to reimagine everything. And every day, we strive to be a little more fearless than the day before. Because at UE, we shape powerful and enduring change.
Office Phone
1-833-BeAnAce (1-833-232-6223)
Office Email
uerelations@evansville.edu
Office Location
1800 Lincoln Ave. Evansville Indiana 47722
Simmons, Solomon Lead Eagles To Division I Road Win
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball senior guard Jelani Simmons (Columbus, Ohio) and junior guard Gary Solomon (Detroit, Michigan) combined for 44 points to lead the Screaming Eagles to a 69-57 victory at Bowling Green State University Saturday afternoon at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio. The Screaming Eagles, who posted their first Division I road win, are 3-3 after tonight’s action, while the Falcons fall to 2-4.
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Simmons posted a team-high 23 points on nine-of-16 from the field, four-of-nine from beyond the arc, and one-of-two from the stripe. Solomon, who scored USI’s first eight points of the second half, posted his 21 points on eight-of-14 from the field, including a three-point bomb, and four-of-four from the stripe.
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Bowling Green had control early, building a six-point lead, 14-8, after six minutes were gone in the game. USI proceeded to go on a 14-7 run to get its first lead of the game, 22-21, at the 8:36 mark of the first half.
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The Eagles and the Falcons would trade buckets and leads until a 9-3 run gave USI a 37-31 advantage. Bowling Green got the final three points on free throws as USI took a 37-34 margin into the break. There were eight lead changes and four ties during the first 20 minutes.
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The final 20 minutes saw Solomon and the Eagles take command of the contest in first three minutes. Solomon scored all eight points of an 8-2 run to give USI a 45-36 lead. The lead quick expanded to double-digits, 48-38, when Simmons hit for a three-pointer with 16:53 to play.
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USI continued to build on the lead, expanding it to as many as 14 points, 69-55, with 1:53 to play before the Falcons got the final bucket for the 69-57 Eagles’ victory.
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As a team, the Eagles forced 16 Falcon turnovers, m