Aces set for 11 a.m. contest

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Two home games in the next three days are on tap for the University of Evansville men’s basketball team who opens its 2025-26 home slate. UE welcomes Calumet College of St. Joseph on Friday at 11 a.m. before taking on Oakland City at 3 p.m. on Sunday inside the Ford Center. ESPN+ and the Purple Aces Radio Network will have the broadcast of both contests.

Last Time Out

– Evansville held a lead in the opening moments against the top-ranked Boilermakers before a 16-2 run in the first half helped Purdue lead by 19 at the break before winning by a final of 82-51

– Josh Hughes recorded the second double-double of his career with 15 points and 11 boards while AJ Casey finished the night with 14 points and 9 boards

Double-Double

– For the second time in his UE career, Josh Hughes registered a double-double

– Hughes opened his season with 15 points and a career-high 11 boards

– The first double-double of his career came in last season’s road win at Indiana State where he registered 15 points and 10 boards

– He was 6-of-12 from the field while knocking down three 3-pointers

– His double-double was Evansville’s first against a ranked opponent since Egidijus Mockevicius had 16 points and 12 caroms against Wichita State on Jan. 31, 2016

Great Start

 -In his first game in an Aces uniform, AJ Casey had the top performance of his collegiate career

– Facing top-ranked Purdue, Casey set career highs in points (14), FG (6), attempts (13), rebounds (9), and minutes (28:45)

– Entering this season, Casey’s top scoring output was eight points, which came on two occasions

Doing His Job

 -Trent Hundley chipped in nine points off the bench at Purdue

– Hundley knocked down three triples on the way to his top performance with the Evansville program

– His top game last season was a 6-point game against Brescia

Scouting the Opponent

– Calumet College of St. Joseph enters Friday’s game with a record of 0-3 following a 90-86 loss to Grace Christian (MI) on Tuesday

– The Crimson Wave are led by J. Caleb Slawinski’s 19.0 points and 10.7 rebounds per game

– Slawinski recorded 22 points in two out of Calumet’s three games thus far

– Kyrin Dock checks in with an average of 10.7 PPG following a 17-point effort versus Grace Christian

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball couldn’t get the offense running early in the season opener and lost at Butler University, 88-58, Wednesday evening at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Screaming Eagles start the year 0-1, while Butler begins 2025-26, 1-0.
 
USI started slowly on both ends of the court as Butler exploded on a 17-0 run to start the game. The Eagles got the offense out of neutral and tried to claw their way back into the game with a 20-10 surge to pull to within seven, 27-20, with 6:48 left in the first half. USI senior guards Trey Thomas and Cardell Bailey led the surge for USI with seven points and six points, respectively.
 
The Bulldogs, however, regained their footing and outscored the Eagles, 15-6, in the final minutes of the opening half to take a 52-26 lead into the locker room.
 
 The Eagles took the initiative to start the second half, using an 11-4 run, to cut the first half deficit to 56-37. Junior guard Kaden Brown led the run with six of the 11 points opening the final 20 minutes.
 
Butler stopped the USI surge for the final time by going on a 15-7 run to re-extend the margin to 27 points, 71-44. The Bulldogs would go on to lead by as many as 32 points before the horn sounded on the 88-58 final.
 
For USI individually, Brown led four Eagles in double-digits with 13 points. He was four-of-nine from the field, including three buckets from downtown, and two-of-four from the charity stripe.
 
Thomas and Bailey followed with 11 points each, while senior guard Ismail Habib rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points.  
 
Next Up For USI:
USI opens up the 2025-26 home schedule Friday when it hosts Virginia Military Institute for a 7:30 p.m. contest at Liberty Arena. The game will mark the first-ever meeting between USI and VMI in any sport.
 
The VMI Keydets started their season with a 122-58 win over Johnson & Wales University at home in Lexington, Virginia, Monday night.
 
The USI-VMI matchup is a part of a Screaming Eagles Men’s and Women’s Basketball doubleheader. USI Women’s Basketball tips off the doubleheader at 5 p.m.

EVANSVILLE, Ind.- University of Southern Indiana Volleyball lost to Tennessee Tech Wednesday night in a four-set Ohio Valley Conference battle.
 
The loss marks the end of USI’s undefeated home conference game streak, moving them to 8-4 in OVC games and 12-12 overall.
 
Set 1: USI 25, TTU 15
The Screaming Eagles took a dominant first set. Junior McKenzie Murphy led the offense with four kills, and freshman Carley Wright followed with three. As a team, USI made only two errors, hitting a .323 percent. Freshman Aysa Thomas dished out eight assists and led the back court with seven digs.
 
Set 2: TTU 25, USI 21
TTU maintained the lead for the entire set, as the Screaming Eagles struggled to put together an offensive response. Thomas marked her 17^th consecutive double-double in the set, adding 12 assists and five more digs. Junior Ashby Willis led the team in kills, adding five in the set with just two errors.
 
Set 3: TTU 25, USI 22
USI held control of the lead for the first 10 points as TTU rallied to take it back with a six-point serving run. The Screaming Eagles struggled in service receive, TTU added three aces to double their count from the first two sets. As a team, USI tallied three blocks, led by Murphy, who added the only solo block.
 
Set 4: TTU 25, USI 23
As the set with the most lead changes with six, the two teams battled to take control of the game for the entire set. Three Eagles tallied three kills each, with juniors Willis and Leah Coleman, and senior Bianca Anderson trying to swing some momentum for the USI side.
 
For the game, Thomas finished with 34 assists and a team-high of 19 digs. Willis led the team with 10 kills, followed by three Eagles that tallied eight each, Wirght, Anderson, and Coleman. Murphy led the defensive effort at the net, adding five of the team’s nine blocks.
 

NASHVILLE – In the final match of the regular season, the University of Evansville men’s soccer team suffered their first MVC loss of the campaign, falling to Belmont by a score of 2-1. Despite the loss, Evansville enters the MVC Tournament with the number one seed for the first time in program history and will host the winner of UIC and Belmont next Wednesday at Arad McCutchan Stadium.

Neither team was able to put a shot on goal in the opening stages of action, with the Aces tallying one shot and the Bruins putting up two.

In the 28th minute of action, star freshman Andres Escudero (San Sebastián de los Reyes, Spain/IES Joan Miro) created a scoring chance on his own, taking a thrown in near the midfield line and battling Belmont defenders to make a long run. Just outside the penalty area, Escudero took a left-footed shot that went past the Belmont keeper, off the crossbar and into the back of the net. The goal was Escudero’s ninth of the season, the most by a UE freshman since MVC Freshman of the Year Nacho Diaz Barragan scored nine in 2022, and gave the Aces a 1-0 lead.

Escudero nearly extended the lead in the 34th minute with another good scoring chance, but his shot was saved.

Belmont was able to find the equalizer before halftime, scoring in the 39th minute to make it a 1-1 game heading into halftime.

Escudero threatened to score once again in the 69th minute, hitting the post with a shot, but was left empty-handed. Less than a minute later, Belmont flipped the script, finding the back of the net to take their first lead of the night.

For the final 20 minutes, Evansville fought to find the equalizer, including Escudero nearly scoring once again with another shot off the post. However, the Aces were unable to find the tying goal as the Bruins earned a 2-1 win.

“I think we have put together a lot of games where we have managed moments well, and I think tonight when we went up 1-0, we didn’t do that quite as well,” said Head Coach Robbe Tarver. “I think we created a decent amount to try and equalize the game, we hit the post twice, but Belmont is a good team and they are really tough to beat at home.”

“At the end of the day, we are pretty healthy going into the tournament, we have the number one seed, we have a bye to prepare, and we get to host. There are a lot of positives that we have from the work we have put in throughout the season.”

“I think it is a good lesson for us to learn that every moment of a game matters, and if you switch off, you are going to get punished. We’ll flush it, we will be ready for next Wednesday and ready to go.”

With the loss, Evansville moves to 6-4-8 overall with a 3-1-3 mark in MVC play. The Purple Aces earned a share of the MVC regular season title and will serve as the number one seed in the conference tournament, earning a bye to the semifinal round. Kick-off for Wednesday’s tournament match at Arad McCutchan Stadium is set for 6 PM.