UE takes on Illinois State at the Ford Center
The lone undefeated team in Missouri Valley Conference play will be at the Ford Center on Sunday as Illinois State will take on the University of Evansville men’s basketball team at 3 p.m.
During the game, the latest UE Athletics Hall of Fame class will be recognized. The 1958-59 UE men’s National Championship team is included in the class along with Kate Chybowski (women’s tennis), Jamie Davison (softball), Willie Glen (baseball) and women’s soccer players Kayla Lambert and Terra May.
Trailing by as many as 18 points in the first half, the Aces rallied to get within five points in the second half before UNI was able to hang on for a 61-54 win on Wednesday. Despite being held to just two points in the first half, senior Jaylon Brown notched 11 points in the second half to finish with 13; he also had 7 assists and 6 rebounds. David Howard and Ryan Taylor tallied 11 points apiece while Howard was the teams top rebounder with 8.
Brown continues to be the Aces leader with 20.6 points per game. That tally also remains the top in the MVC and ranks in the top 30 in the nation. On the rebounding side, Howard’s eight caroms at UNI pushed his tally to a team-best 4.8 per game.
Illinois State sits atop the Missouri Valley Conference with a perfect 9-0 mark in league play and an overall record of 17-4. On Wednesday, the Redbirds held off a furious charge from Indiana State to earn a 71-66 home win over the Sycamores.
Deontae Hawkins leads a trio of double figure scorers, checking in with 15.2 points per game; he is also their top rebounder with 7.0 per contest. MiKyle McIntosh averages 13.5 PPG while Paris Lee stands at 12.9. Lee paces the MVC with 5.3 assists per game and ranks second with 2.2 steals per contest. Hawkins was the leader for ISU against the Sycamores, finishing with 19 points and 12 rebounds; Phil Fayne also finished the game with 19.
On December 29, Illinois State picked up a 62-50 win over the Aces to move the series tally to a 36-19 margin in their favor. The Redbirds have won five of the last six match-ups against UE including the last two games at the Ford Center.
