Aces and Braves to face off on Wednesday evening

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Next up for the University of Evansville men’s basketball team will be a home contest against Bradley on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. inside the Ford Center.

West Side Night proved to be a lucky one once again for the Purple Aces as they earned a 70-58 win over UNI on Sunday.  Jaylon Brown and Christian Benzon scored 17 points apiece while Ryan Taylor finished with 13 and Jaiveon Eaves had 13.  Limited to just seven players, the Aces played one of their top games of the season, holding UNI to just 20 points in the first half.  As a team, the Aces shot 48.1% from the field and were 6-of-11 from outside; the defense held UNI to 38.6% shooting, including 5/23 (21.7%) from long range.

Giving up just 62.3 points per game, the Aces have the top defense in the Missouri Valley Conference.  The last time UE allowed such a low point total came in 1981-82 when the opposition scored just 60.1 points per game; that mark is the lowest on record since 1959-60.  For the season, the Aces are allowing the opposition to shoot just 39.1% overall (3rd in the Valley) and 29.8% from outside, tops in the MVC.  Evansville has not held an opponent to under 40% shooting in a season since 1994-95 when the defense allowed 39.5% of opposing shots to fall.

It was another stellar effort for Christian Benzon, who notched 17 points in the win over UNI, knocking down 6 out of 10 shots.  He continues to be the top rebounder for the Aces, checking in with 4.9 per game; over the last five games, Benzon has notched 6.4 caroms per contest.  Prior to his senior year, Benzon took just three 3-pointers, missing each one; this year, he has 3 out of 5 from outside.  He reset his career mark with 18 points at Austin Peay as he continued an impressive season hitting an efficient 8-of-10 shots on his way to double figures.

Jaylon Brown made it 2-for-2 as he has notched 17 points in the first two conference games of the season.  Brown began league play by hitting 11 out of 13/ free throws at Illinois State before hitting 7 shots and three more from the charity stripe to hit 17.

Sunday’s game against UNI saw the Aces limited to just seven players on the floor.  Freshman Jaiveon Eaves took full advantage of the opportunity, setting career marks with 13 points and 23 minutes.  In the victory over Boise State, Eaves played just four minutes, but made it count as his triple in the first half got the Aces within two in the victory.  He added five points while hitting a triple in the MVC opener at Illinois State and has notched 13 boards in the last two games.

In non-conference play, Solomon Hainna battled through injury while seeing his game evolve.  That hard work has paid off in two conference games; Hainna averaged 10.3 minutes and 2.2 rebounds per game in his 10 non-conference appearances, but with his health on the upswing, has upped that to 28 minutes and 8.5 rebounds in the opening two league game.  After finishing with 9 rebounds in 28 minutes at Illinois State, he made the first start of his career against UNI and finished the day with 8 boards in another 28 minutes of work.

Bradley enters Wednesday’s game with a 6-9 record and are 1-1 through the first week of league action.  The Braves opened up their MVC schedule with a 60-51 home win over Southern Illinois before falling at Wichita State on Sunday.  Darrell Brown is the top scorer for BU and stands with 11.8 points per game and is accurate from outside, hitting 45.6% of his 3-point attempts.  Koch Bar paces the Braves defense with 6.1 rebounds per game and a total of 24 blocks on the season.