ST. LOUIS – Arch Madness has arrived with the University of Evansville men's basketball team heading to St. Louis as the #8 seed. The Purple Aces open play on Thursday at 6 p.m. against the 9th seeded UNI Panthers. Fans who cannot make it to St. Louis can watch the game live on Fox Sports Midwest and Fox Sports Indiana in the Evansville area. Fox Sports Go will also carry it on mobile devices within the MVC footprint. Fans in other parts of the country can watch the game on ESPN3.
With a day left before the tournament, Purple Aces sophomore Dru Smith was named to the Missouri Valley Conference Most Improved Team.
Game Notes - Live Stats - Arch Madness Central
Smith established himself as one of the league's top players in 2017-18, leading the league in steals while finishing the regular season second in assists despite missing 10 games. Smith averaged 5.3 points per game as a freshman, but upped that to 13.4 PPG this season. He was named the MVC Player of the Week to open the month of December. His appearance on the list is the third in a row for a UE player. Jaylon Brown earned the nod in each of the last two seasons.
A big Senior Day effort saw the Aces finish the home slate with a 75-44 win over Southern Illinois on Saturday at the Ford Center. Leading wire-to-wire, the Aces picked up their first 30-point MVC win in two years. Ryan Taylor had a game-high 25 points while Dru Smith was back in the lineup, scoring 14.
Taylor garnered All-MVC First Team honors after leading the league with 22.1 points per game, which ranks 13
th in the nation. The reigning league Player of the Week averaged 27.5 points per game over the last week of the season including a 30-point effort at Indiana State.
Evansville's Senior Day was an eventful one as the squad recognized Dalen Traore, Duane Gibson and Blake Simmons. Simmons scored 12 points while notching his first slam dunk of the year. Gibson had one of his best efforts of the year, tallying 8 points and 8 assists while playing 28 minutes. Traore made the start and later proposed to girlfriend Marly Solano during his senior speech.
Dru Smith made his return to the floor after missing six out of seven games. He added 14 points, 4 rebounds and 4 helpers while playing for 25 minutes.
UNI is on a nice roll heading to St. Louis as they are 3-1 in their last four games including a 47-41 home win over Evansville two weeks ago. The Panthers are the #9 seed in the tournament with a 15-15 mark and 7-11 record in the Valley. One of the top overall players in the league is Bennett Koch; he averages a team-high 12.7 points while shooting 56.2% from the field; Koch also paces the Panthers with 24 blocked shots. Klint Carlson checks in with 10.1 points while Tywhon Pickford paces UNI with 8.0 rebounds.
The Panthers hold a slight 27-26 edge over UE in the series between the schools. This will mark the fourth Arch Madness meeting between the programs; UNI has won the first three contests. In the season series, the home team won both games as the Aces grabbed a 57-49 win at the Ford Center and the Panthers picked up a 47-41 win at the McLeod Center. Ryan Taylor averaged 25.5 PPG in the two contests.
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