Marty Simmons' first season as head basketball coach at the University of Evansville now has a completed schedule, and it includes plenty of challenges from November through March. 

The Purple Aces will play a total of 16 home games at Roberts Stadium, beginning with a November 3 exhibition game against Oakland City University on UE's Homecoming Weekend.  Simmons' official debut as head coach comes on Sunday, November 11 against Samford University in a return from last year's ESPN Bracketbusters game that Evansville won on Samford's home court in Birmingham, Ala. 

"We're really excited about finalizing the schedule," Simmons says.  "Scheduling is one of the most difficult parts of the job for all coaches.  We have quality opponents throughout the season, and we tried hard to get as many home games as possible for our fans and our players.  Then we get into the league portion of the schedule, and that speaks for itself.  The MVC is one of the best leagues in the country."

Following the regular season opener, the Aces host nationally ranked and longtime rival Butler on Saturday, November 17.  The Bulldogs are coming off a school-record 29 victories and a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16, where they battled eventual NCAA champion Florida to the wire.  Leading scorer and projected NBA draft choice A.J. Graves is one of three returning starters for Butler, which beat Old Dominion and Maryland in the 2007 NCAA Tournament and finished with a 29-7 record.  The Aces began a four-year series against Butler last season at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Other non-conference home games include a match-up for the first time against traditional Ivy League power Princeton, defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Austin Peay, Hanover College and Norfolk State University.  The famous 'Princeton Offense' that has led the Tigers' men's basketball team to nine NCAA Tournaments in the past 19 years is coming to Roberts Stadium on December 5. It will be the first meeting ever between Evansville and Princeton, and the first game against an Ivy League opponent since the Aces played Pennsylvania in 1997. The Aces won on Austin Peay's home court last season, 80-75, but the Governors went on to post a 21-12 record and win the Ohio Valley Conference at 16-4.  They qualified for the NIT and lost in the first round to Air Force.  This year's Austin Peay-Evansville game takes place on Saturday, December 8.  One week later, the Aces host Hanover College, the only non-Division I school on Evansville's schedule.  The NCAA Division III Panthers return all four of their all-conference players from a 14-11 team. Hanover goes into 2007-08 with 15 consecutive winning seasons.  The December 15 meeting will be the 27th between the two southern Indiana schools, but the first since the 1938-39 season.  The final non-conference opponent at Roberts Stadium is Norfolk State University on Saturday, December 22.  The Spartans are members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and are coming off an 11-19 season.

On the road, Evansville will play Southeast Missouri November 20, Ball State November 24, Buffalo December 1 and Valparaiso December 11. The Aces played Southeast Missouri, Buffalo and Valparaiso last season, and won all three games.  The game against Ball State will be the first in a two-game series that includes a game at Roberts Stadium during the 2008-09 season. The Aces also play a road game this season in the ESPN Bracketbusters series on February 23.

The 18-game Missouri Valley Conference schedule once again features two games against each of the other nine MVC schools.  The MVC has been ranked in the nation's top eight for three years in a row, and was number six nationally in both 2005-06 and 2006-07.  Southern Illinois (Sweet 16) and Creighton made the NCAA Tournament, and Bradley and Missouri State played in the NIT.  Southern Illinois returns three starters this season, and Bradley returns two, each of whom averaged nearly 14 points per game.  The team returning the fewest players is Creighton, which lost four starters.  Coach Dana Altman's team has won 20 games or more for an MVC record nine straight seasons.

Evansville will play at home during the first two weekends of conference play, hosting Indiana State on Saturday, December 29 and Drake on Sunday, January 6.  The other league games at home include Southern Illinois on Tuesday, January 15, Missouri State on Saturday, January 26, Bradley on Saturday, February 2, Wichita State on Wednesday, February 6, Creighton on Wednesday, February 13, Illinois State on Wednesday, February 20 and Northern Iowa for Senior Night on Saturday, March 1.  The State Farm MVC Tournament at Scottrade Center in St. Louis takes place March 6-9, with the championship game televised live by CBS for the third year in a row.

Simmons takes over an Evansville program that is looking for its first winning season since 2000.  Graduates include three players who totaled 1,000 career points last season as seniors Matt Webster, Bradley Strickland and Kyle Anslinger.  The most experienced returning players are junior guard Jason Holsinger, who averaged 11.5 points and was among the league leaders in assists and three-point shooting; junior forward Shy Ely, who averaged 6.9 points, sophomore guard Darin Granger (3.3 ppg) and sophomore forward Jay Couisnard (1.8).