UE has won four of the last six road games against SIU

  Following the weekend trip to Des Moines, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team remains on the road for a Thursday evening contest at Southern Illinois with tip set for 7 p.m.  ESPN+ and the Purple Aces Radio Network have the broadcast.

 Setting the Scene

– With the regular season winding down, the Aces trek to Carbondale for their second-to-last road game

– The newly renamed Banterra Center has been kind to the Purple Aces with UE winning four of the last six games

– Entering the 2014 meeting, Evansville dropped 12 road games in a row at SIU before reeling off four in a row between 2014 and 2017

– Despite falling in its last two visits to the facility, the Aces have played well, losing by just 3.5 points per game

– UE hopes to end a 14-game losing streak, which is tied for the longest in its time at the Division I level (2009-10); the largest winless stretch in program history was a 15-game span in 1928-29

Last Time Out

– Two UE player set the career scoring marks on Sunday in an 85-80 loss at Drake inside the Knapp Center

– Sam Cunliffe and Evan Kuhlman each registered their top offensive games with the program

– Cunliffe scored 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting while Kuhlman hit five triples on his way to 17 points

– The Aces led by as many as nine tallies in the first half, but a 15-0 run in the final minute of the first half through the opening four minutes of the second half changed the complexion of the contest

– Evansville knocked down 13 3-pointers in the game, but Drake countered with 32 free throw makes in 42 trips to the line

Just Six Away

– Senior K.J. Riley enters Thursday’s game with 994 points in his UE career

– He is 6 points away from becoming the 50th player in program history to score 1,000 in his career

Stepping Up

– In his biggest performance of the season, Sam Cunliffe scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed six rebounds in the contest at Drake

– Cunliffe passed both his UE scoring mark (21 pts) and career high (23) with the effort

– He converted nine field goals, also a high

– Over the last seven games, Cunliffe leads the squad with 6.0 rebounds per game; he recorded 3.3/game in the first 20 games

– Aside from that number, he has played 33 minutes per game and has recorded 15.0 points; he has seen the floor for at least 26 minutes in each of those contests and set his career mark with 38 versus Loyola

– He has shot 40% or higher in nine of the last 14 games with his most efficient effort coming at Indiana State where he was 5-of-7 from the field

Putting up the Numbers

– Junior Evan Kuhlman joined Sam Cunliffe in posting his career scoring mark against the Bulldogs with 17 points

– He drained six of his 12 attempts overall and was 5-of-9 from outside

– His last six games have seen him post 10.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.2 blocks

– Kuhlman’s low scoring game in the stretch was a 5-point showing against SIU, but he picked his game up in every other way, totaling seven blocks, six rebounds, four steals and three assists

Scouting the Opponent

– Southern Illinois enters Thursday’s game with a 15-12 mark and stand at 9-5 in MVC play

– The Salukis have dropped their last two games following a 7-game win streak; last time out, they fell by a 69-67 final against Bradley

– Marcus Domask continues to pace the Salukis with 14.6 points per game while playing 35.2 minutes

– Domask scored 22 points and had 9 rebounds in the first meeting against UE

– Eric McGill stands with 11.1 points while Barret Benson has 10.8 points and a team-best 5.7 caroms per game

– Benson led everyone with 10 boards in the contest at the Ford Center