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There's still a buzz around Evansville following Thursday's memorable win at Drake, but the Purple Aces' men's basketball team doesn't get much time to savor the victory. The Aces (13-7, 5-5) are back in action Saturday night at 7:05 at Roberts Stadium to face Southern Illinois (10-11, 5-5).
THE TOP 10 THINGS TO KNOW...UE VS. SIU JAN. 31
1.
Kaylon Williams earned ESPN’s number one Play Of The Day with his 40-footer at the buzzer Thursday that beat Drake 65-62. Evansville never led until Williams shot his game-winner. Four days earlier, the Aces never trailed until Toure’ Murry hit the game-winning 3 for Wichita State with eight seconds remaining in the Shockers’ 51-50 victory at Wichita.
2. Williams was the hero, but others had a big hand in UE’s 10-0 run to end the game Thursday.
Nate Garner, whose 20 points led the team, hit the first basket in the 10-0 run.
Jason Holsinger followed with a three-pointer. Freshman
James Haarsma hit both free throws to tie the game with 17 seconds remaining, and Holsinger made the steal with four seconds left that led to the winning basket. And don’t forget
Shy Ely, with 18 points, eight rebounds and a key blocked shot in the final minutes.
3. Only Indiana State (148 games) and Butler (114) have played the Aces more often than Southern Illinois. Saturday’s game will be the 108th in a series that Southern Illinois leads 61-46. The Salukis have won four in a row over Evansville, and 20 of the last 23 dating back 10 years.
4. Even though the Salukis have dominated the series in the last decade, Evansville has won two of the last three games at Roberts Stadium. The only three UE wins in the last 23 games came Feb. 24, 2001 at Carbondale, Feb. 21, 2006 at Evansville and Jan. 17, 2007 at Evansville.
5. Evansville led by nine points in the first half, but SIU came back to win the first game between these two, 70-63, on Jan. 10 at Carbondale. Shy Ely (22), Jason Holsinger (16) and Nate Garner (10) led UE in scoring. Tony Boyle had a double-double for the Salukis (14/10) and Kevin Dillard scored 13.
6. UE senior Shy Ely and SIU freshman Kevin Dillard are one-two in scoring in MVC games, at 17.4 and 15.2, respectively. Ely is also the MVC scoring leader in all games, at that same 17.4 scoring average. No Evansville player has ever finished number one in the MVC in scoring.
7. Saturday’s game could be the ninth and final match-up involving four-year starters Jason Holsinger of Evansville and Bryan Mullins of SIU. Both are school record holders (Holsinger for 3-point field goals, Mullins for steals), and both are nominees for the Academic All-America Team. Holsinger has a 3.89 GPA, Mullins a 4.0.
8. Three is the magic number for 13-7 Evansville to achieve its first winning season since 1999-00. The remainder of the season includes four MVC home games, four MVC road games, an ESPNU Bracketbusters game at home, and the State Farm MVC Tournament at St. Louis.
9. Saturday is Coaches Vs. Cancer Night at Roberts Stadium, with both coaching staffs expected to don tennis shoes to promote the fight against cancer. American Cancer Society representatives will be at Roberts Stadium, distributing information on the concourse.
10. UE’s opponent in the Feb. 20/21 ESPNU Bracketbusters will be announced Monday. The Aces will be a home team this year. A total of 102 teams representing 17 conferences will compete in the seventh annual event. Thirteen of the 51 games will be televised nationally on Friday the 20th and Saturday the 21st.
For a look at the complete game notes, click on the SIU Game Notes link on the men's basketball page here at GoPurpleAces.com.