BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana swimming and diving earned both Big Ten Swimmer of the Week awards available during the January 29 cycle, the conference office announced Wednesday.

Graduate transfer Caspar Corbeau and junior Mya DeWitt won the men’s and women’s awards, respectively, each earning their first Big Ten weekly award. Both swimmers helped lead IU to convincing victories at Purdue on Saturday (Jan. 25).

DeWitt led the women with four event wins, two individual and two relay. She set a personal best to win the 50-yard freestyle in 22.40 before doubling up in the 100 free in 46.76, out-touching classmate Kristina Paegle by two tenths of a second in a one-two finish. The junior also played a part in IU’s relay sweep, winning the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays.

Corbeau, a mid-year enrollee, earned the award after just his second meet as a Hoosier. The Dutchman won three events, two of them relays. The Dutchman led IU’s top-four sweep in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 51.73, the only time under 52 seconds, and posted the quickest breaststroke split in the 200 medley relay in 23.07.

Indiana will compete in its final dual meet Friday (Jan. 31) when it visits No. 11/10 Louisville.

Aces are home Friday and Saturday

                                EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Senior weekend is up next for the University of Evansville swimming and diving teams as the Purple Aces programs will host a pair of meets at Deaconess Aquatic Center in Evansville on Friday and Saturday.

Friday’s meet will see the Aces take on Eastern Illinois at 1 p.m. before completing the home slate on Saturday with a 12 p.m. contest against Bellarmine.  Doors open 1 hour prior to each meet.

There is a $7 adult admission fee.  College students are free with University ID.  Saturday’s meet will mark Senior Day with 10 student-athletes set to be recognized.  Those festivities will begin at approximately 11:40 a.m., just prior to the start of the meet.

Seven male and three female student-athletes will be honored at Senior Day.  Logan Anderson, Jakob Grundbacher, Benjamin Hasanovic, Titus Jabedo, Daniel Santos Lopez, Carlos Souto, and Patrik Vilbergsson comprise the men’s class.

Sveva Brugnoli, Mari Muller, and Maddie Rollett are the female honorees.

CENTRALIA, Ill. – The No. 16 ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers hit the road again Wednesday night, heading to Centralia, Ill. for another tough Region 24 road showdown with Kaskaskia College.

The Trailblazers got off to an early lead but were unable to put the game away as VU had to come up clutch at the free throw line late to come away with an 85-81 victory over the Blue Devils.

The Trailblazers got off to another excellent start Wednesday night, jumping out to an early 12-2 lead over the Blue Devils.

Kaskaskia would fight back and cut the VU lead down to five at 30-25 before the Blazers got a couple of big shots late in the first half to get the lead back to 42-29 at the halftime break.

Coming out in the second half the Blazers looked to put the game away early and expanded the lead to 58-42.

Kaskaskia once again answered back, getting the ball to go down and ride the home crowd momentum and got the VU lead back down to single digits at 60-52.

Vincennes would keep the Blue Devils at a distance for most of the final stretch of the game before Kaskaskia used a late 7-1 scoring run to get within three with under two minutes to play.

VU was able to hold off the Blue Devils at the free throw line, coming away with the 85-81 victory over Kaskaskia College.

“Kaskaskia deserved to win,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “They played harder, tougher, more disciplined. Appeared to be better coached than our ball club. I’m very bothered right now. There’s a lot that’s put into this and these guys are also representing the guys that have played before. We’re supposed to be about something. Win, lose, I can handle whatever. But we were not about getting down in a defensive stance, fighting a screen or being strong and protecting the ball. This team has turned the ball over too much all year and we’ve tried to get it down and we’ve emphasized that the last couple of days and I could see no evidence of that tonight that anyone had taken that to heart.”

“Just really, really bothered by tonight’s effort,” Franklin added. “This would be bad if it happened in the middle of November. For the second half, they really got disciplined and really went after us. We’ll make them guard this and see if they ever stand up and we did not. We just hoped that somehow it would work out for us tonight. We did not try to stop anybody. So I’ve obviously done a poor job. We worked on how to fight through screens and I didn’t see anything tonight that looked like we’ve practiced it.”

The Trailblazers were led offensively by sophomore and 2024 NJCAA All-American Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) who finished with 20 points and a team-high 10 assists to notch his third double-double of the season.

Freshman Dayton Williams (Louisville, Ky.) battled early foul trouble to come away with 15 points, including hitting three big threes for the Blazers.

Sophomore Michael Cooper (Minneapolis, Minn.) also came away Wednesday night with another double-double, finishing his night with 14 points and 10 rebounds and hitting a perfect 12 of 12 from the free throw line.

Sophomore Bryan Akanmu (Paris, France) was the fourth Trailblazer scorer in double figures Wednesday night, finishing the game with 12 points, three rebounds and three assists.

“We’ve won a bunch of games so far this season, I guess we just aren’t going to play with any toughness,” Franklin said. “Because it was pretty evident what was going on for really the last 30 minutes of the game. We had a little spurt late in the first half where we hit some shots and hit some early in the second half. But if we had not done that, we would have lost this game. I knew it, I could see it and I just couldn’t find anybody.”

“We had guys that get their opportunity, get in the game and they are not about that life,” Franklin added. “We said, ‘this is why you are going in’ and they might hit a shot or something but they weren’t about that. If you want to be a champion or just know that I gave everything that I had, that’s what this is about. And that just didn’t happen. If you want to play, there were a lot of guys out here to played tonight, but did they really guard. Did they fight a screen? Did they fire back and get a box out? I didn’t see one all night. I saw us getting bullied and getting pushed underneath the goal. I saw us sticking on every screen of any type. I’ve got guys that are talking about being Division I players who can’t handle the ball without turning it over, can’t handle any kind of screen and won’t get in a stance.”

“I’ve been very positive about this team,” Franklin said. “I told everybody that I thought that we were on the move and going forward and I really meant that. But I’m also going to be honest right now. That was a very, very alarming effort and I don’t like leaving the gym feeling like we didn’t deserve to win. That hasn’t happened a whole lot over the years with our teams. But I did not feel like we deserved to win tonight.”

The Trailblazers will look to keep their 12 game winning streak going this weekend when VU hits the road again Saturday, Feb. 1 to take on John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill. at 4 p.m. eastern.

Vincennes will then return home to the P.E. Complex Wednesday, Feb. 5 when VU hosts Lincoln Trail College at 7 p.m. eastern.

“I’m looking for the same things I looked for going into tonight,” Franklin said. “The same things that we’ve looked for out of our teams for the last 28 years. And if you came to Vincennes and you came to play for this team, then you should have come here to guard somebody. You should have come in here to fight over some screens. You should have come here to box out and learn to be strong and tough with the ball and not just give the ball up. You should be a guy that beats everybody up and down the floor. That’s what our team has been and anybody that has competed against us will say that.”

“I have great, great love and admiration for the players that have played for us,” Franklin added. “I’ve never hidden that. But they all earned it. There are good days and bad days and times where they had to learn. But you go into February right now, we should not be being outplayed by anybody. So what do I want to see between now and Saturday? The same thing I wanted to see coming into tonight. The same thing I wanted to see when I signed these guys. Our standard is our standard. We’ve had more success than anybody and we’ve had better guys and they have gone on to do better things. I’m very disappointed that we had a group of young men out here tonight that I don’t think tried to live up to that standard. That’s on me, it’s my team. But if anyone is confused about what my message is, or what my message has been, it’s the same message that I’ve given for the last 28 years.”

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball returns to the friendly surroundings of Liberty Arena for a three-game homestand, starting Saturday when Tennessee Tech University comes to Evansville. Tipoff Saturday is slated for 3:30 p.m.
 
The USI Screaming Eagles (9-12, 4-7 OVC) were 1-2 on their latest road swing, including a heartbreaking 66-65 loss to Morehead State University to start this week’s action. USI junior guard Jayland Randall led three players in double-digits at Morehead State with 16 points, while sophomore forward Stephen Olowoniyi and graduate forward Jack Mielke followed with 13 points and 12 points, respectively.
 
For the season, Randall leads the team with 14.6 points per contest, while junior guard Damoni Harrison follows with 14.1 per game. Olowoniyi rounds out the double-figure scorers with 13.6 points per game and a team-best 6.5 rebounds per contest.
 
The Golden Eagles of TTU (10-11, 5-5 OVC), who visit Morehead State Thursday before coming to USI, snapped a four-game losing streak last Saturday with an 89-85 overtime win at the University of Tennessee at Martin. TTU is 6-4 in the previous 10 games, including a five-game winning streak.
 
USI lost on the road, 68-64, in the first meeting of this season with TTU. Olowoniyi led USI with a double-double, 26 points and 13 rebounds, while Harrison added 20 points.  
 
The homestand will continue next week for Homecoming Week when the Screaming Eagles host the University of Arkansas at Little Rock January 6 and Southeast Missouri State University January 8 (Homecoming game). Game time for both contests is 7:30 p.m.
 
All of the USI Basketball action can be seen live on ESPN+. The game can also be heard on ESPN 97.7FM (http://listentotheref.com) and 95.7FM The Spin (http://957thespin.com).
 
Tickets for all USI home dates are on sale now at USIScreamingEagles.com.
 

 UE takes 78-74 win over Murray State

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Gabriel Pozzato and Tayshawn Comer set their career scoring marks as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team defeated Murray State by a final score of 78-74 on Wednesday night at the Ford Center.  The victory halted a 5-game skid against the Racers with the last Purple Aces win coming at the Ford Center on Dec. 21, 2019.

Pozzato was 10-of-14 from the field and connected on four triples on the way to his career game.  His 29 points eclipsed his previous high of 28, which came in the season opener at North Texas.  Just behind him was Comer.  He scored 27 points, one better than his 26-point game at Southern Illinois on New Year’s Day.  He was 13-of-14 from the line and finished with six assists.  Tanner Cuff picked up a double-double with 12 points and 12 caroms.

“It was an entertaining game. Definitely a little too close for comfort but to get a win like that in front of the home crowd is very exciting,” UE head coach David Ragland said.  “Our league has done a great job of bringing in schools that are close to each other and that creates rivalries and exciting atmospheres.”

Tayshawn Comer recorded Evansville’s first five points of the game as the Purple Aces hit their first four shots of the game to take a 10-5 lead.  The defense for UE held Murray State to a 2-for-11 start from the field as the offense pushed the lead to ten at the 13:25 mark.  Gabriel Pozzato’s second triple of the night capped the run forcing a MSU time out.

It did not take long for the Racers to regroup.  They quickly scored five in a row before extending the rally to a 17-0 stretch.  Murray State held the Aces scoreless for over 11 minutes as they took over control of the game.  Their defense held UE to ten consecutive missed shots and five turnovers during the rally.  Pozzato’s third triple of the night ended the run as UE closed in the final minutes to make it a 25-20 MSU lead entering the break.

Scoring the first six points of the second half, Evansville retook the lead in the opening two minutes.  Connor Turnbull had a putback during the stretch to help UE regain a 26-25 advantage.  Murray State fought back to tie the game at 34-34 before another 3-pointer by Pozzato with 13:46 remaining put UE back on top at 42-36.  It took just over six minutes for UE to surpass its entire scoring output from the opening period.

The Racers continued to fight back, cutting the gap to a single point as the game entered the final 12 minutes.  UE slowly pushed lead back to five points with seven minutes left, but each time the Aces added to the lead, the Racers came right back to make it a 1-point game.

As the game entered the final two minutes, a Turnbull alley-oop gave Evansville its largest lead of the second half at 67-58.  Just when it looked like UE would pull away for the win, Murray State made one final push.  The Racers chipped away in the final seconds as a triple cut the gap to 72-69 with 34 ticks on the clock.  Two more Comer free throws and a Josh Hughes dunk put the Aces up five inside of the final 10 seconds before another MSU triple got them within two at 76-74.

Comer was fouled with 0.7 remaining and connected on both free throws to put the game on ice and seal the 78-74 triumph.  The Racers were led by JaCobi Wood’s 29 points.

UE shot over 50% for the second game in a row as they finished at 57.4%.  The Aces finished the second half shooting 70.4% with 19 out of 27 field goal tries finding the bottom of the net.  Murray State shot 37.5% on the night.  The Aces are back on the road on Sunday for a 2 p.m. game at Belmont.