UE in Louisville to face Bellarmine Today
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Following an 11-day break due for finals, the University of Evansville men’s basketball squad will be in Louisville, Ky. to face Bellarmine. The Purple Aces and Knights will square off on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT inside Freedom Hall.
Last Time Out
– On Dec. 5, UE traveled to Provo, Utah to take on #14 BYU
– In the opening minutes, the teams swapped the lead on six occasions before the Cougars took a double-digit lead
– BYU scored the final 12 points of the first half to lead by 22 at the break and would extend the lead in the second half
– Yacine Toumi led UE with 13 points and 7 rebounds in the contest
Two-Time Award Winner
– Chuck Bailey III earned his second MVC Freshman of the Week nod on Dec. 4 after a career-high 27 points at Missouri State
– The performance was the top scoring game by a freshman in the MVC this season and just the second league freshman to record 20+ points this year
– Bailey was 10-of-17 from the field and 5-for-5 from the free throw line
– He currently ranks in a tie for second on the team with 9.6 points per game
Leading the Way
– Yacine Toumi was Evansville’s top performer in the road game against top 15 squad BYU
– He connected on 5 of his 9 attempts to lead the Aces with 13 points and 7 boards
– For the season, Toumi is shooting a team-high 60.0%, which is 5th in the MVC
– Toumi is UE’s leading rebounder with 5.6 per game and is 4th with 9.2 points
Near the Top
– Tanner Cuff has been exceptional with his ability to take care of the ball, posting 31 assists this year while turning the ball over just seven times
– With an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.43, he paces the MVC and is 8th in the NCAA
– Cuff has multiple assists in each of the last six games with his top total of eight coming at Missouri State
– With seven seconds remaining in overtime against UNI, Cuff knocked down a 3-pointer to give UE a 4-point lead and seal the win
– He finished the game with nine points and has posted 7.0 points in the last five games
Scouting the Opponent
– Bellarmine comes into Saturday’s game with a 4-7 record but has put together a 2-game win streak with victories over Boyce College and Berea
– The Knights wrapped up the month of November with close losses at West Virginia (58-62) and at Louisville (68-73)
– Leading scorer Ben Johnson (13.0 PPG) has missed the last four games due to injury
– Peter Suder and Bash Wieland lead BU with 12.1 and 11.5 points, respectively.
– Langdon Hatton holds the team lead with 6.5 rebounds per game while Wieland checks in with 5.2
