On Tuesday, the University of Evansville and Arkansas will meet for the first time on the hardwood as the Purple Aces travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas to take on the Razorbacks at Bud Walton Arena.
Set to be televised live on the SEC Network, the game will begin at 8 p.m. CT.
For the first time since December of 1991, Evansville defeated Murray State as UE earned an 85-81 overtime win against the Racers on Saturday at CFSB Center. After trailing by 13 points in the early minutes of the game, UE battled back to trail by five at the break before taking the lead in the second half. Evansville shot 56.1% in the game and now stands at 53.2%, which ranks fourth in the nation and tops in the MVC.
Tuesday’s game against the Razorbacks marks a couple of firsts for the UE program, most notably it will be the first meeting against Arkansas. It will also mark the first appearance for the Aces on the SEC Network while it is the first visit to an SEC campus since Dec. 17, 2003 when the Aces traveled to Oxford, Miss. to face Ole Miss, falling by a final of 69-66. Evansville visited Missouri in 2006, but that Mizzou was in the Big 12 at the time.
Egidijus Mockevicius has hauled in at least 11 rebounds in 7 out of 8 games this year and sits second in the nation with an average of 13.5 per game; he leads the MVC list by 5.9 per game. His scoring has also been stellar as Mockevicius has notched 17.5 points per game, ranking fifth in the MVC; in his career, Mockevicius has scored 20 points or more on seven occasions in his career, four of those efforts have come in the last 7 games.
With 1,944 points in his career, D.J. Balentine ranks atop the active NCAA scoring list and his average of 22.3 points per game this year is tops in the MVC and 14th in the NCAA. In the road win against Murray State, Balentine drained 12 of his 20 attempts, tying a career-high for made shots while also scoring a season-high of 32 points.
Arkansas has posted a 3-4 mark through its first seven contests of the season following an 88-85 loss at Wake Forest on Friday. The Razorbacks are ranked in the top 25 in the country in points per game, notching 85.7 per contest. Offensively, Arkansas has shot 46.1% while its opponents have shot 45.5%; one staple of the Razorbacks is their stifling defense, which has forced 113 turnovers.
Dusty Hannahs leads the Razorbacks with 17.6 points per game while hitting an unbelievable 25 out of his 26 free throw attempts on the season. Next up for Arkansas is Moses Kingsley, who has notched 16.4 PPG while posting a team-high 9.7 rebounds. Anthlon Bell (15.7 points) and Jimmy Whitt (10.3 points) also average double figures in scoring.
Mississippi Valley State comes to town on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game against the Purple Aces.
