UE men return home to face Indiana State
Aces and Sycamores tangle on Saturday
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Following a road win at Southern Illinois, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team looks for its third Missouri Valley Conference win in a row when they welcome Indiana State to the Ford Center on Saturday at 1 p.m. ESPN+ and the Purple Aces Radio Network will have the broadcast.
Last Time Out
– Another strong team performance saw the Aces lead by as many as 21 points before defeating SIU by a 68-53 final on Jan. 1
– Tayshawn Comer finished with a career-high 26 points, hitting eight field goals and eight free throws
– Cam Haffner added 20 points and 9 boards
– UE held the Salukis to 31.1% shooting and a 19.4% showing from outside
Another Strong Performance
– Cam Haffner scored 20 points in the win at SIU and has 16.5 PPG in the last two games
– In three games prior to Dec. 29, he averaged just 4.3 points
– Haffner has hit six triples in the last two contests and his average of 2.21 3’s per game is 9th in the league
– Averaging 13.3 PPG, he is second on the team and 15th in the MVC
Career Game
– Converting 8 field goals and 8 free throws, Tayshawn Comer scored a career-high 26 points in the win at SIU eclipsing his previous mark of 23, which he set as a player at Eastern Kentucky
– In the last two games, Comer has hit 17 of his 21 free throw tries
– Comer has three 20-point games this year
– Against Chattanooga, he posted a season-high 8 assists and has posted at least 2 assists in 12 out of 14 games this season
– Over the last nine games, Comer is averaging 3.7 assists per contest while his season average of 3.43 is 10th in the Valley
Top Rebounder
– Tanner Cuff has hauled in 30 boards in the last four games, an average of 7.5
– His season tally of 6.4 per game is 9th in the league and paces the team
– On the offensive side, Cuff has scored 7 or more in each of the last five games and is averaging 8.6 PPG on the season
– He had the top game of his career against Chattanooga, scoring 18 while adding 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 blocks and a steal
Defensive Turnaround
– Evansville’s last two games have seen a full defensive turnaround
– In the first 12 games that saw UE go 3-9, opponents were averaging 74.3 PPG while shooting 44.8% from the field and 34.1% from outside
– The defense has improved greatly in the last two contests, holding the opposition to 46.5 PPG, 28.7% shooting and 19.6% from 3-point range, which has resulted in two victories
Scouting the Opponent
– Indiana State heads to the Ford Center with an 8-6 record while sitting at 2-1 in the MVC
– On New Year’s Day, the Sycamores dropped a close overtime contest to Bradley by a final of 90-89
– ISU won its first two league games at Missouri State and home versus Murray State
– Samage Teel paces the Sycamores with his average of 17.7 points
– Teel is a 56.7% shooter and paces ISU with 61 assists and 21 steals
– Jaden Daughtry holds an average of 12.1 PPG
– Head coach Matthew Graves is in his first season at the helm of the program; he was an assistant at UE during the 2018-19 season
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