EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A berth in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament Championship game is on the line as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team travels to East Carolina for a 4 p.m. CT game on Saturday afternoon at Minges Coliseum.
Fans are reminded that a watch part will be held at Showplace Cinema East (1801 Morgan Center Drive) with the doors opening at Harbor Bay restaurant at 3 p.m. Admission is free while two theaters each holding 250 people will be open. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.
It is on to the semifinals of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament for the Purple Aces as they travel to East Carolina on Saturday. With a win, Evansville will advance to the championship game, which will be hosted by either Northern Iowa or Weber State. A hard-fought win over Canisius propelled the Aces into the semis as they took down the Golden Griffins by a final of 84-83 on Tuesday.
Colt Ryan is the all-time leading scorer in University of Evansville program history; his 3-pointer with 1:56 remaining in the first half at Canisius gave him the mark. He passed Larry Humes, who set the mark in 1966 with 2,236 points. Ryan tallied 39 in the record-breaking performance and stands at 2,267 in his illustrious career with the Aces.
Play keeps going for UE as they have won their first three games of the CIT; it is the first time UE has won more than one postseason game in a season since the 1971 championship. If UE can go 4-0 in the CIT, they will be in great company; every University of Evansville team that has won four postseason games has also won a championship. The championship season of 1971 was the last time UE has won more than one game in a postseason tournament as the Aces went a perfect 5-0 en route to their fifth NCAA College Division National Championship.
With the win at Canisius on March 26, the Purple Aces won their third in a row on the road. It marked the first time UE has done so since grabbing wins at Wichita State, Missouri State and Indiana State in the 1998-99 campaign where UE went 23-10. The last 4-game road win streak also came that season as UE topped Morehead State, Drake, Creighton and Northern Iowa. In its last three true road games, UE topped Wright State before earning its first win at Wichita since 2001; that continued with the win at Canisius.
Since notching just 50 points in the Arch Madness loss to Indiana State, Evansville has averaged 84.7 points in the three CIT games. It is just the second time UE has posted three games in a row over 80 points in the Coach Simmons era, the other time came in the 2010-11 season when the Aces notched 90 vs. Maryland Eastern Shores, 81 against Middle Tennessee State and wrapped it up with 87 versus Norfolk State. Should the Aces register 80 once again at East Carolina, it would mark the first four-game streak since the 1998-99 season (89 @ Drake, 84 @ Creighton, 96 vs. UNI, 81 vs. Wichita St.).
When the postseason begins, it gives everyone a chance to continue their season and Evansville has taken full advantage of that by winning its first three games. A lot of that success for the Aces can be attributed to the play of Colt Ryan, who has averaged 28.7 points in the three wins. Aside from his efforts, Ned Cox has posted 12.3 points and Troy Taylor has averaged 10 while posting a career-high of 16 against EKU. Taylor has upped the ante, leading UE in the CIT in assists, rebounds and steals along with shooting 57.1% after shooting 45.3% in the regular season. UE has outscored the opposition by 9 points while owning a +6.7 lead on the boards.
East Carolina enters competition on Saturday with a 21-12 overall mark and went 9-7 in Conference USA. The Pirates advanced to the semis of the CIT thanks to wins over Savannah State (66-65), Rider (75-54) and Loyola Maryland (70-58). ECU has been strong at home this season, winning 16 out of 20 games played at Williams Arena.
Three Pirates average double figures, led by Maurice Kemp’s 18.8 points per game, which led Conference USA this season; Kemp also was in the top ten in the league with 7.9 rebounds. Miguel Paul has notched 12.8 PPG to go along with 219 assists (top C-USA average of 7.06/ game); that average is tied for seventh in the nation. Akeem Richmond has notched 11.2 points while Robert Sampson is fourth in C-USA with 9.1 rebounds per outing.
Evansville and East Carolina have met on two occasions, playing a home-and-home series in the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons. The meeting in Greenville was played on December 12, 1998 as the Pirates came away with an 82-79 win; UE led 47-38 at the half, but ECU overcame the deficit to take the win; Craig Snow was UE’s leading scorer with 18 points as the Aces hit 32 out of 62 shots. At Roberts Stadium on December 11, 1999, UE got its revenge, hanging on for a 68-63 victory as Snow was the star once again, notching 22 points on a 9-of-21 shooting performance.
