Final non-conference game set for Saturday

Aces face Ball State 

MUNCIE, Ind. – Looking to pick up its first road win of the season, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team faces Ball State in a 1 p.m. CT game on Saturday afternoon in Muncie.  ESPN+ and the Purple Aces Radio Network will have the broadcast.

Last Time Out

– UT Arlington held a 20-point halftime lead before finishing with an 80-54 win over the Purple Aces on Wednesday in Texas

– Tayshawn Comer notched his second 20-point game of the year, finishing with 20 along with 4 assists

– Tanner Cuff grabbed 10 rebounds while adding 7 points

20-20

– With 20 points in the road game at UT Arlington, Tayshawn Comer reached the 20-point plateau for the second time this season while adding 4 assists

– Against Chattanooga, he posted a season-high 8 assists and has posted at least 2 assists in 10 out of 11 games this season

– Over the last six games, Comer is averaging 4.5 assists per contest while his season average of 3.7 ranks 9th in the Valle

Another Career High

– Michael Day posted a new career high with 9 points in the road game at UT Arlington

– Day was 3-of-7 from the field while knocking down three free throws

– He added 3 assists in 20 minutes of work

– Prior to the game at UTA, Day set what were career highs at the time in points (7), FG (3), attempts (6), 3pt (1), 3pt att (2), rebounds (6), blocks (2), and minutes (23:19) at Ohio State

On the Floor

– Gui Tesch made his second appearance of the season at UT Arlington and put forth the top performance of his young career

– He finished with 2 points on a perfect 2-for-2 showing from the line

– Tesch added 4 steals, 2 boards and an assist in just over 22 minutes of work

On the Floor                                                                                                          

– Ball State earned an 86-82 win over Bellarmine on Dec. 14 to improve to 4-6 on the season

– The Cardinals also earned wins over Franklin, Eastern Kentucky and Florida Tech

– Jermahri Hill paces BSU with 16 points per game along with a team-best 26 assists

– Mickey Pearson Jr. holds a 12.0 PPG average while Juanse Gorosito has averaged 11.2 PPG

– Pearson is the leading rebounder for the Cardinals with his average of 6.5 per contest

-www.GoPurpleAces.com-

VINCENNES, Ind. – The four-time defending Region 24 Champion Vincennes University Volleyball team picked up the first signing of their 2025 recruiting class earlier this week with the signing of outside hitter Kenli Sullivan.

“Kenli reached out to us early in May,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “We were interested right away knowing that we are going to have to replace quite a bit of offense from this past season. We’re also, along with everyone else in the country, always looking for six-rotation players that can do just as well in the back row as they do in the front row. So, it was a pretty quick response from us after watching her video footage, that’s for sure”

“One thing that I think was important to Kenli is that she wanted to stay close to home,” Sien added. “She attends Bloomington North but she actually lives closer to Bloomfield so she’s more of a local athlete.”

“With Kenli we like her skill set, her ability to play in six rotations, her ability at the net to hit and block and definitely her first ball contact skills,” Sien said. “But we’re also looking at her as someone who has potential leadership ability. I really see her as someone who can come in right away and contribute to being a leader as a freshman.”

Sullivan comes to Vincennes University from Bloomington High School North and the Limestone Capital VBC club team.

Sullivan is coming off of a strong senior season where she helped guide the Cougars to a 21-12 record with 374 kills, 121 digs, 46 aces, 21 block and four set assists and a .287 hitting percentage and the school’s first Volleyball Sectional Championship in 19 years.

Sullivan was named three times to the Conference Indiana Volleyball All-Conference list, being an honorable mention as a sophomore and earning First Team honors as a junior and senior.

Sullivan was also named to First Team All-Area by the Herald-Times in Bloomington and was twice named Area Volleyball Player of the Year, including earning Co-Player of the Year honors alongside teammate Avery Freeman who has signed to play at Indiana University next season.

Sullivan was named Bloomington North Volleyball Offensive Player of the Year twice and won the team’s Gold Award for being team MVP this past season.

Sullivan is a multi-sport athlete as Bloomington North, earning All-Conference honors and a Sectional Championship as a High Jumper and was an All-Conference basketball player, finishing the season as the team leader in field goal percentage and rebounds in 2022.

Sullivan got her start as a freshman at Eastern Greene High School where she earned All-Conference honors in Volleyball, Basketball and Track and Field as a freshman and led the Thunderbirds in kills in volleyball, field goal percentage and rebounds in basketball and was a First Team All-Area basketball player.

Sullivan was a member of the Bloomington North Track and Field team that placed fourth at the State Championships as a sophomore and were Runner-ups last year as a junior.

“Obviously we’re in the state of Indiana,” Sien said. “I think everybody here has to play basketball at some point in their life. One thing that I can say about players who have played basketball is that they have faced some hard coaching. Not saying that you won’t get that in volleyball because I don’t deflect from coaching hard at times. But if you are getting athletes that have played basketball at a high level, I think you are going to get athletes that are more hard-nosed.”

“In volleyball, you have the net between you and the other players,” Sien added. “Obviously in basketball you don’t have that, so you are going to get hit left and right, go up against maybe five or six other people on rebounds. I’ve found that athletes who have played basketball and she played some serious basketball for a while tend to be a little more tougher”

Sullivan is the daughter of Dawn Hostetter and Curt Sullivan and plans to major in Business at Vincennes University.

“Kenli’s heart is in Southern Indiana,” Bloomington North Volleyball Coach Disney Bronnenberg said. “She comes from a great family and she loves this place. As a respected mentor to younger players and a trusted peer with her fellow teammates, she has developed into a true ambassador of volleyball in the highly talented arena that is Southern Indiana High School Volleyball. It’s so exciting to see her decide to continue that at a University that resides so close to the place and people she values so dearly.”

“That great love for this sport is evidenced by Kenli’s training mindset and her performance in high-pressure moments,” Bronnenberg added. “Looking at her stats, the 800-plus kills in just three years at BHSN, it’s easy to see she was trusted with the ball as a hitter when the pressure was there but here’s another stat, from the service line, when both teams were over 20 points in a game, she had a less than six-percent error rate and she served the opposition out of system 73 percent of the time in those moments. This is Kenli. She is mindful but still wholly aggressive when the heat goes up in the game. I look forward to watching her bring that intensity to the VU gym.”

“Something that stands out to me is how the Trailblazer roster is highlighted by many players with multiple positions next to their names,” Bronnenberg said. “There is a lot of breadth and depth to what Kenli brings to this game. She has played opposite, six-rotation outside hitter as well as helping out in the middle for us during her time as a Cougar and it’s great to see her join a program that encourages and trains such versatility in their players. I can’t wait to see her continue her growth as a player and a student as a Trailblazer. She has a lot of greatness ahead of her and I know the team at VU will find their time with Kenli as meaningful and memorable as we have at Bloomington North.”

“We’re always looking for length,” Sien said. “I think every coach in every sport, here and everywhere is looking for athletes coming from winning programs and getting athletes who know how to win because that’s something that I can’t coach. No coach can teach someone how to win or how to be competitive, those are things that they have to bring with them. Being less than competitive is unacceptable. Losing happens, you are going to lose at times but if you know the difference between losing but being competitive, as a player, coach and a team, you’re going to be fine.”

“We’ve got a lot of offense that we are graduating this year,” Sien added. “At this level that’s just the way that it is. It happens almost on a yearly basis that we have to recruit to replace those types of numbers, so it’s not something we’re not used to. This year it’s our hitting and blocking, we’re looking to replace almost 90 percent from this past season.”

“We see Kenli as a player whose game will translate very well to this next level. She will certainly contribute to replacing those offensive numbers.”

Sullivan is joining a Trailblazer squad coming off a 30-13 season, securing VU’s fourth straight NJCAA Division I Region 24 Championship and an 18-3 record against Region 24 opponents.

The Vincennes University Athletic Department is excited to welcome Kenli Sullivan to the 2024 Trailblazer recruiting class.

Screaming Eagles open OVC with dramatic 77-75 win

USI gets over .500 mark

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball rallied in the final minute to post a 77-75 victory over Tennessee State University Thursday evening at Liberty Arena. The Screaming Eagles are 6-5 overall and start OVC action 1-0, while the Tigers are 4-8, 0-1 OVC.

The victory moves the Eagles over the .500 mark for the first time this season and first time since the end of the 2022-23 regular season.

Neither team could gain control through the first few minutes of the opening half until the Eagles built a 29-19 lead with 8:09 remaining before halftime. USI junior guard Damoni Harrison led the offensive surge with 11 points during a 19-10 run. Harrison would finish the first half with a team-best 14 points.

TSU bounced back and erased the 10-point USI lead on a 13-2 dash to regain the lead, 34-32. The Tigers also would hit a three-pointer with no time remaining on the clock to close out the half with a 40-39 advantage.

The first four minutes of the game were tarnished when a hard foul caused a disturbance on the court that resulted in four technicals and a pair of ejections (TSU’s Antoine Lorick and USI’s junior guard Jared Washington) at 15:56.

The Eagles and Tigers traded the lead seven times in the first eight minutes of the second half until USI started to take control with a 55-54 advantage at 12:07. USI would increase the lead to as many as four points twice and would hold onto the lead for the next five minutes when TSU knotted the score at 61-61 for the third tie of the half.

Following a four-point lead, 65-61, by the Tigers, the Eagles rallied to tie, 65-65, with 4:01 left on a fast break layup by Harrison. The lead would continue to exchange hands seven times in the next three minutes until TSU took the lead, 75-74, with 45 seconds left.

After the Tigers missed the front end of a one-and-one trip to the line with eight seconds remaining, USI junior guard Jack Campion used a 10-foot jumper to put the Eagles in the lead for good, 76-75, with 1.9 remaining on the clock. Campion’s shot was from inside the key and almost identical to the game-winner he hit versus Bellarmine University just over a month ago.

TSU tried a long pass for another chance at the lead, but sophomore forward Stephen Olowoniyi intercepted and was fouled on the play with 1.7 left. Olowoniyi would close out the scoring with a free throw as USI sealed the 77-75 win.

Individually, Harrison led three Eagles in double-digits with 19 points. The junior guard was seven-of-15 from the field and a blistering five-of-eight from long range.

Olowoniyi followed with 18 points on seven-of-10 from the field and four-of-eight from the line, while junior guard Jayland Randall rounded out the double-digit scorers with 15 points.

Next Up For USI:
USI continues the homestand Saturday when the Eagles host the University of Tennessee at Martin in Liberty Arena. Tipoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. following the USI Women’s Basketball game with UTM which is scheduled for 1 p.m.

UTM is 4-8 overall and 0-1 in the OVC after opening conference play with a 70-69 overtime loss at Morehead State University tonight. The Skyhawks, who are 2-3 in their last five games, lead the all-time series with USI, 6-4, and took the only meeting last season, 77-68, in Martin, Tennessee.

The USI homestand concludes New Year’s Eve against Morehead State at 7:30 p.m.  MSU Eagles, who are 5-6 overall and 1-0 OVC, are in the middle of a four-game home stand and will play TSU Saturday in OVC action before finishing non-conference play December 28 versus Alice Lloyd College.