Full Game Notes
Back from its longest road trip this season (three games), Evansville plays five of its next six at home, beginning Wednesday when the 1-4 Aces host Ivy League member Princeton for the first time. UE also gets to play at its own Roberts Stadium for five straight weekends beginning Saturday when defending Ohio Valley Conference champ Austin Peay comes to Evansville.
NOT SHY OF 20
Junior forward Shy Ely now has the top two scoring totals for Evansville this season. He’s the only player to surpass 20 points, and he’s done it twice. Ely scored a career-high 23 at Southeast Missouri two weeks ago and 22 Saturday night in UE’s 81-60 loss at Buffalo.
OUT OF THE BOOT
Evansville senior forward Victor Gomez is out of his cast after suffering a fractured foot two days after leading the Aces in scoring (14) and rebounding (10) in a Nov. 3 exhibition game victory over Oakland City. He’s still expected to be kept out of the lineup for at least two more weeks before doctors allow him back into uniform. Gomez is the only senior on the team.
HISTORY LESSON
Wednesday’s game brings together two teams that may be struggling right now, but possess plenty of college basketball history. Princeton has been in the NCAA Tournament eight times since 1990, most recently in 2004. Evansville has been there five times since moving up to the Division I level in 1977, most recently in 1999. March of 1965 was one of the best times for both teams. Bill Bradley, who later became a United States senator, took Princeton all the way to the Division I Final Four. His 58 points against Wichita State in the 1965 third place game are still the most points ever scored in the Final Four. That same year, Jerry Sloan helped lead Evansville to a 29-0 record and its fourth Division II national championship. The Aces went on to win their fifth and final D-II national title in 1971.
A RARE FIND--IVY
The University of Evansville is similar in many ways to some Ivy League schools, but Wednesday’s game will be the first between the Aces and an Ivy League team since 1997-98. That’s when Evansville beat Pennsylvania 90-66 at the San Juan Shootout.
ABOUT THE TIGERS
Under first-year coach Sydney Johnson, a former Princeton player and Georgetown assistant coach, the Tigers won their first two games, over Central Connecticut and Iona. Since then, however, Princeton has lost five in a row. Other than a loss to homecourt team Chaminade in the Maui Invitational, the losses have come against strong competition--Duke, Arizona State, Seton Hall and Rutgers. Sophomore guard Lincoln Gunn led the Tigers in Saturday’s 54-50 loss at Rutgers with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
NUMBERS IN COMMON
They may not be the stats that first-year head coaches Marty Simmons and Sydney Johnson are happy about, but they’re very similar. Evansville is averaging 56.8 points and giving up 65.6, while Princeton is averaging 57.6 and giving up 64.6. The Aces are shooting 41.0 percent and their opponents are shooting 47.8. The Tigers are shooting 41.6 percent and their opponents are shooting 46.5.
COACH SIMMONS AT 99
New Evansville coach Marty Simmons is one victory away from his 100th. Now in his seventh year as a head coach, he’s 99-76. His first six years as a head coach include Warburg (Iowa) University in 1996-97, and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville from 2002-03 through 2006-07. As a player, Simmons led the Aces to two rounds of the NIT as a senior in 1987-88, when he was the nation’s sixth leading scorer with a 25.9 average. He was a UE assistant coach under Jim Crews for 11 seasons, including three NCAA Tournament years (1992, 1993, 1999) and one NIT year (1994). In his five seasons as head coach at Southern?Illinois-Edwardsville, and led the Cougars to the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2005 and 2006. He was the Great Lakes Valley Conference Coach of the Year in 2005. Simmons is a 1987 Evansville graduate.
