Aces face Fighting Irish on Saturday at 1 p.m.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Set for its final road non-conference game of the season, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team travels to Notre Dame for a 1 p.m. CST game on Saturday inside Purcell Pavilion. The ACC Network and Purple Aces Radio Network will have the broadcast.
December 13, 1977
– Saturday marks the 48th anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of 29 people including members of the Purple Aces men’s basketball team, coaching staff, support staff, boosters, and flight crew
Looking Back
– Saturday marks the first meeting between UE and Notre Dame since Nov. 10, 2012 when the Fighting Irish took a 58-49 victory
– Evansville’s second-leading career scorer Colt Ryan led UE with 15 points while the top scorer in program history – D.J. Balentine – made his collegiate debut and scored nine points in 17 minutes of work
Last Time Out
– Evansville battled to the final whistle before coming up just one point short in an 80-79 setback at Western Kentucky on Saturday
– Trailing by as many as 16 in the second half, UE had a chance to tie in its final possession
– Connor Turnbull set the single game UE mark with nine blocks on top of 19 points and eight rebounds
– Leif Moeller led the way with a career-high 21 points while Alex Hemenway scored 14
Record-Breaking Performance
– Connor Turnbull set the UE program record with nine blocked shots at WKU
– His total broke the previous Aces mark of eight, which happened on three occasions, and was the most by an MVC player since Ehimen Orukpe of Wichita State had nine against Southern Illinois on Jan. 9, 2013
– Turnbull added 19 points and 8 boards
– On Monday, he was named the MVC Player of the Week after posting 20 points, 9 boards, and 7 blocks against WKU and BSU
– In the win over Ball State, he posted season highs in points (21) and boards (5) on the way to his second collegiate double-double
– With 17 blocks in his last three games, Turnbull paces the MVC and is 7th in the nation with 2.89 per game; his total of 26 blocks is 9th in the NCAA
Triple Play
– Entering the second half of Saturday’s game at WKU, Leif Moeller had two points and was shooting just 21.2% (7-for-33) from long range for the season
– Out of the break, Moeller hit his first five outside attempts on his way to a career-high 21 points with 19 coming in the final half
– It passed his previous high of 14 points, which came in the win over Oregon State
– Moeller averaged 4.5 PPG over his first four games but has turned it on over the last six contests, averaging 9.33 PPG
– He is tied for 3rd in the conference with 4.0 assists per contest; he finished with eight helpers versus Calumet and OCU
Scouting the Opponent
– Notre Dame enters Saturday’s game with a record of 8-3 and is a perfect 6-0 inside Purcell Pavilion
– The Fighting Irish have won three in a row including home victories over Missouri (76-71) and Idaho (80-65) along with an 87-85 overtime road win at TCU
– Markus Burton, who leads UND with 18.5 PPG, is out due to an injury that was announced earlier in the week
– Jalen Haralson has averaged 14.5 points per game and is coming off a 20-point outing in Wednesday’s victory against Idaho
– Braeden Shrewsberry also averages double figures and enters the game at 10.8 PPG
