Aces improve to 10-2 on the season
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – For the first time in five seasons, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team has won double digit games, earning its 10th win over 2023 with an 82-51 victory over Tennessee Tech at the Ford Center.
With the win, UE clinched its first 10-win season since earning 11 victories in 2018-19. The 10th win also doubled the win total from the entirety of last season. The 31-point win margin was the most for the Purple Aces against a Division I program since Feb. 24, 2018 when UE defeated Southern Illinois by a final of 75-44 at the Ford Center.
“Credit our group for having the right approach as we played three games in five days. We talked about mindset this morning and I feel like we had great urgency and executed well,†Aces head men’s basketball coach David Ragland exclaimed. “We took a lead and kept building on it. Sometimes you can get complacent, but every time out, our group stayed connected and kept building.â€
Chuck Bailey III led a trio of double figure scorers with 18 points. The 3-time Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week was 2-for-2 from outside and converted all four free throw tries. Ben Humrichous had a perfect 5-of-5 effort from long range on his way to 15 points while Yacine Toumi earned his first double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 boards. David Early and Jayvis Harvey led the Golden Eagles with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Tennessee Tech opened the evening with a triple while Humrichous tied it up at 5-5 with a triple at the 18:02 mark. After the Golden Eagles knocked down another triple to go up 8-5, the Purple Aces turned it on, scoring 10 in a row to go up 15-8 just over eight minutes in. Tennessee Tech missed eight in a row as the Aces made their run.
Cam Haffner connected on back-to-back field goals to give Evansville its first advantage of the evening at 9-8 while Chuck Bailey III added the final four points of the run. TTU ended the stretch with a bucket, but the UE run continued with another 7-0 run. Five of those tallies came from Tanner Cuff as the lead extended to 22-10 at the halfway mark of the period.
Over the next three minutes, the Golden Eagles cut the deficit to eight before Humrichous took matters into his own hands. Consecutive 3-pointers saw the Aces take their largest lead of the half (41-22) before holding an 18-point advantage at the break.
Evansville’s defense was the story in the second half, holding TTU scoreless for the first six minutes while holding them to 0-for-8 shooting and forcing three turnovers. Humrichous made it a perfect 5-for-5 start from 3-point range as the offense hit 5 of its first 8 second-half attempts to go up 56-26. Bailey added a triple to push the lead to 37 points (66-29) with 12:13 left in the game.
With 4:55 remaining in the contest, UE took a game-high 82-42 lead with the Golden Eagles closing in the final minutes to the final score of 82-51. The Aces shot 48.5% for the night with Tennessee Tech finishing at 32.1%. In the rebounding battle, UE finished with a 45-30 advantage. Evansville dished out a season-high 22 assists in the win; the team has recorded 16 or more helpers in 10 of the last 11 games.
One more non-conference game awaits the Aces when they travel to Cincinnati on Dec. 29. The new year opens with a road game at Indiana State on Jan. 3 before UE is back at the Ford Center on the 6th to face Murray State.
