University of Evansville junior forward Shy Ely (Indianapolis, Ind./Speedway) captured his second Missouri Valley Conference honor of the week on Wednesday, as he was named to the league’s Most-Improved Team by a vote of the MVC’s coaches, sports information directors, and media members.

Ely joined Bradley’s Andrew Warren and Drake’s Adam Emmenecker, Leonard Houston and Jonathan Cox on the MVC’s Most Improved Team after a break-out junior campaign.  Ely finished the regular-season ranked fifth in the MVC in scoring this year at 14.6 points per game, after averaging just 6.8 points per game over his first two years at Evansville.  In fact, Ely surpassed her entire scoring total from his first two years at Evansville combined this year, as he scored 424 points for the Purple Aces, after totaling 405 career points in his first two years at UE.  He also has posted single-season career-highs for rebounds (151), field goals (144), three-point field goals (22), and free throws made (114) and attempted (147) this season.

The Most-Improved Team honor is the second of the week for Ely, as he garnered honorable mention all-MVC honors on Tuesday.  He is the eighth Purple Ace to capture MVC Most-Improved Team honors since 1998.

Ely and the Purple Aces (9-20 overall, 3-15 MVC) will open State Farm MVC Tournament action on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m., as UE will square off with seventh-seeded Missouri State (16-15, 8-10 MVC) at Scottrade Center in St. Louis,?Missouri.  The winner will advance on to face second-seeded Illinois State on Friday at 6:00 p.m. in the MVC Tournament quarterfinals.  Every UE game of the State Farm MVC Tournament can be heard live in the Tri-State area on the UE Radio Network.