UE Men’s Basketball Opens The MVC Slate Today At The FORD CENTER
Aces take on Salukis at the Ford Center
 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Playing its earliest Missouri Valley Conference opener on record, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team welcomes Southern Illinois to the Ford Center for a 6 p.m. game on Wednesday evening. ESPN3 and the Purple Aces Radio Network will have the call.
Last Time Out
– Evansville led from start to finish on the way to its first road victory of the season on Sunday, earning a 70-54 at Eastern Illinois
– The Purple Aces scored the first eight points of the game on the way to a 23-5 advantage…UE led by as many as 25 points in the second half
– Shamar Givance set a new career mark with 26 points, knocking down 10 of his 13 shot attempts…he added 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals (a career-high)
– Jawaun Newton finished with 13 points and 12 boards (top career tally) and earned his second double-double in as many games
– Blaise Beauchamp (12) and Antoine Smith Jr. (10) also reached double figures
Newcomer of the Week
– Antoine Smith Jr. was recognized on Monday as the MVC Newcomer of the Week
– In four games last week, Smith averaged 13.5 points per game and reached double figures on three occasions
– Highlighting the week was a career-high of 24 points against Rice where he was a perfect 9-for-9 from the floor and 6-of-6 from a 3-point distance
– He added 16 points against Akron before completing the week with 10 points at EIU
– Through his first five games at UE, Smith scored 13 points, but in the four games since, he has posted 13.5 PPG while raising his season average to 7.4 PPG
– Hitting 45.2% of his outside attempts, Smith is 7th in the MVC
Upping his Game
– In Sunday’s win at Eastern Illinois, Shamar Givance set a new scoring mark with 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting
– The all-around performance saw him add 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals
– He currently ranks third in the MVC with 1.6 steals per contest while sitting 5th in the league with 3.9 assists
– He has 4 or more helpers in five of the last six games including a season-high of 7 against DePauw
– Following a 7-point, 5-assist, 4-rebound effort at Cincinnati, Givance led the Aces in points (16), rebounds (7) and steals (3) in the victory against IUPUI
Checking all the Boxes
– It has been an unbelievable stretch for Jawaun Newton who has averaged 19.5 points and 8.0 rebounds over the last four contests
– He opened the Gulf Coast Showcase with a career-high of 30 points, marking the Aces first such effort since 2019
– It took until his 89th game to record the first double-double of his career, but #2 came just four days later…Newton registered 19 points and 10 boards on Nov. 24 versus Akron and followed that up with 13 points and 12 caroms at EIU
– The 12 caroms was Newton’s top career tally and he now leads the Aces with 14.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game
– Since opening the season with 5 points at Cincinnati, Newton has averaged 15.6 points per game in the last eight outings on his way to 10th in scoring in the MVC
Scouting the Opponent
– Six games into the season, Southern Illinois sits at an even 3-3 entering Wednesday’s conference opener
– Highlighting the early part of the season for the Salukis was a 67-63 win over Colorado in the opening game of the Paradise Jam, which was held at the U.S. Virgin Islands just over a week ago
– Lance Jones paces SIU with 18.8 points per game while shooting 51.9% in six contests…he is also tied with J.D. Muila for the team lead with an average of 4.5 rebounds
– Marcus Domask is just behind him with a scoring mark of 14.8 PPG while leading the squad with a total of 22 assists
- INFO: For all of the latest information on University of Evansville athletics, log on to the sports page on GoPurpleAces.com or follow the program on Twitter via @UEAthletics.
