Game Notes
The weather forecast is much better for Wednesday, and basketball fans will be ready to get out of their house by then. So we hope to see you at Roberts Stadium for Wednesday's 7:05 p.m. tip-off between the University of Evansville Purple Aces and the Creighton University Bluejays. The Aces have won two of their last three home games. The Bluejays have won three in a row, and are now 17-6 overall.
CLOSING IN ON 20 WINS AGAIN
Creighton’s MVC record of nine consecutive 20-victory seasons looked like it might come to an end this season. The only returning starter from last season’s 22-11 team is Dane Watts. But Dana Altman and his Bluejays are just three wins away from reaching 20 for the 10th consecutive season, thanks to a current three-game win streak. Creighton destroyed Southern Illinois on Sunday, outscoring the Salukis 45-26 in the first half on the way to a 72-53 victory. Creighton climbed to third in the MVC at 8-5, and is 17-6 overall.
GAME ONE WENT CREIGHTON’S WAY
Creighton whipped the Aces 77-59 on Jan. 9 at Omaha, dominating the first six minutes of the second half after leading the Aces 35-29 at halftime. Darin Granger was UE’s only double-figure scorer, with 13. Freshman P’Allen Stinnett (13) and Dane Watts (11) led the Bluejays. UE was forced into 19 turnovers, and Creighton outscored the Aces 21-7 from the free throw line. CU now leads the series 19-8, and has won six in a row over the Aces since UE pulled out the 63-61 victory at Roberts Stadium on Snowstorm Day--Dec. 22, 2004. That day produced a record 22 inches of snow in Evansville.
CU’S BRIAN FISH HAS UE CONNECTION
Creighton assistant coach Brian Fish of Columbus, Ind. is the brother of Dr. Eric Fish, who set most of the University of Evansville football passing records in the mid-1990s. Eric was later inducted into the UE Athletics Hall of Fame.
UE’S NOMINEES
Feb. 21 is the deadline for nominating players for three teams--the MVC?Scholar-Athlete, All-Bench, and Most Improved. Evansville’s top candidates include Jason Holsinger for his second consecutive year on the MVC Scholar-Athlete Team, third leading scorer Darin Granger for the All-Bench Team, and Shy Ely for the Most Improved Team (14.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg this season compared to 6.9 and 2.9 last season).
AT LEAST IT WAS HIS RIGHT HAND
The only good news was that Jason Holsinger’s fracture came to his right hand, not the left hand that has produced about 95 percent of his 1,023 career points. Holsinger will hopefully be back in time for the first round of the State Farm MVC Tournament on March 6. The injury took place late in Saturday’s game at Drake. Holsinger is second on the team in scoring at 13.0 and first in assists at 4.5. He ranks among the MVC top five in minutes played, 3-point field goals per game, 3-point field goal percentage, assists and free throw percentage. Last week, Holsinger became a finalist for the ESPN The Magazine / CoSIDA Academic All-America Team.
BRING ON THE CAVALRY
The Aces will need help offensively with Jason Holsinger on the bench, similar to what came through before Saturday’s injury. Sophomore Jay Couisnard came within one point of his career high against Drake with 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting. Freshman Kavon Lacey matched his career high Saturday with 8 points, and senior Victor Gomez added 7 points, his most in the last five games.
BRACKETBUSTERS GAME SET
Evansville will play at Eastern Illinois on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7:00 CST in an ESPN Bracketbusters game. The event pairs up all 100 teams with comparable non-conference opponents. Like the Aces, the Panthers have struggled. Evansville might have the scouting report advantage because UE assistant coach Marcus Belcher was an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois last season.
COACH MARTY SIMMONS
Evansville’s Dec. 5 victory over Princeton was the 100th in first-year coach Marty Simmons’ career. Simmons goes into the Creighton game with a career record of 105-88. He was head coach one year at Wartburg (Iowa) College 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).
