Game Notes
After playing five of the last seven games away from home, the University of Evansville men's basketball team comes home Saturday to play the Bradley University Braves at 7:05 CST. Three of the Aces' next four games will be at Roberts Stadium.
THE BRADLEY SERIES Bradley leads the series over Evansville 18-13 after winning five in a row and seven of the last eight against the Aces. Bradley has won two in a row at Roberts Stadium--79-76 in overtime in 2006 when the Braves advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, and 72-71 last season.
SO CLOSE IN THE PREVIOUS BRADLEY GAME Evansville led for 90 percent of the second half at Bradley two weeks ago, but the Braves escaped with a 77-76 win. Theron Wilson scored a career-high 28 for Bradley, the most individual points scored against the Aces this season. Bradley played without standout Daniel Ruffin, who was sidelined with illness but is now back in the lineup. Jason Holsinger scored 23 for the Aces and Shy Ely scored 20. That victory began the current four-game winning streak for Bradley. It was the seventh loss in a row for Evansville, whose streak reached eight before UE beat Missouri State last week, 84-65.
IF YOU LIKE TO SEE THREES... ...you’ll love these teams. Bradley and Evansville hit 23 of 48 three-point attempts in the Jan. 19 game at Peoria. UE was 11-for-17 and Bradley was 12-for-31. Jason Holsinger led everyone with 6-for-7 shooting from behind the arc.
WELCOME BACK, COACH MERFELD The University of Evansville would like to welcome back Bradley assistant coach Steve Merfeld. He was the Aces’ head coach for the previous five seasons until resigning last March.
UP AND DOWN Evansville’s highest and lowest scoring games of the entire season include the last two. The Aces scored a season-high 84 points in the 84-65 win over Missouri State last Saturday. Then at Southern Illinois on Tuesday, the Salukis held the Aces below 40 in a 59-39 game. The Aces scored more points against Missouri State than they did in their last two combined road games (42 at Indiana State, 39 at Southern Illinois for a total of 81).
HOLSINGER AT 989 Most players who reach 1,000 career points need four seasons. Jason Holsinger is about to surpass that total just two-thirds of the way through his junior season. He goes into the Bradley game with 989 career points. He is about to become the 42nd 1,000-point scorer in Aces’ history.
ELY SHAKES OFF THE SPRAIN Leading scorer Shy Ely shook off the mildly sprained right ankle that he suffered against Missouri State last Saturday, and led the Aces with 16 points at Southern Illinois. Against MVC opponents, Ely leads the Aces in both scoring (14.1) and rebounding (5.8).
UE’S MVC STAT LEADERS They may be last in the league, but the Aces find six names among the top three in various MVC categories. Here they are: #1 in Minutes Played Per Game--Jason Holsinger (36.5). #1 in 3-Pt. FG%--Jason Holsinger (.495). #2 in Offensive Rebounds--Nate Garner (2.45). #3 in FG%--Pieter van Tongeren (.536). #3 in Assists--Jason Holsinger (4.65). #3 in 3-Pointers Per Game--Jason Holsinger (2.65).
COACH MARTY SIMMONS Evansville’s Dec. 5 victory over Princeton was the 100th in first-year coach Marty Simmons’ career. Simmons goes into the Bradley game with a career record of 104-86. He was head coach one year at Wartburg (Iowa) University and five years at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, compiling a record of 98-73 in those six years. Simmons played two years at UE after transferring from Indiana University, and led the Aces to a conference championship in 1987 and the second round of the NIT in 1988, when he was the nation’s sixth leading scorer at 25.9. He was an assistant coach at UE for 11 years under head coach Jim Crews, and helped lead UE to three NCAA Tournaments (1992, 1993, 1999) and one NIT (1994).
