The University of Evansville men's basketball team takes on Oakland City University Saturday at Roberts Stadium at 7:05 CST in the 33rd season opener in UE's Division I history. It's the 24th time that the Purple Aces have opened the season at home.

This is the first time since 1992 that Evansville has opened against a non-Division I school. Oakland City is an NCAA Division II member, and a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association.

The Purple Aces and Mighty Oaks have played four times in the last five years. Evansville won 82-54 in 2004, 73-67 in 2005, 82-43 in 2007 and 75-51 last season. Last year’s game was the first regular season contest between the two since 1954-55. The 2004, 2005 and 2007 games were exhibitions.

The Oaks have proven they can score. OCU beat Division III Fontbonne 94-74 on October 31, and lost at Division I Austin Peay 95-75 on November 5. Nathan Schumacher and Brandon Hopf scored 18 points each against Fontbonne. Against Austin Peay, Jared Maners scored 20, and Schumacher and Josh Maggard added 15 each. Schumacher, an Evansville Central graduate, led all NCAA D-II and NCCAA D-I players in rebounding last season at 12.7 per game. He grabbed 12 rebounds against Fontbonne and 16 against Austin Peay.

Oakland City senior center Brandon Hopf is the cousin of UE junior forward Clint Hopf. Brandon was the game’s leading scorer (14) and rebounder (10) in last year’s game, won by the Aces 75-51. Clint added five points and four rebounds.

Players who accounted for 46 of Oakland City’s 51 points in last year’s game return this season. Evansville returns just 31 of its 75 points. Thirteen of the 31 came from James Haarsma, who led the Aces in scoring.

Only seven of Evansville’s 14 players have played at the collegiate level. Of those, four have played at least two years–Trevor Gregory (3), Kavon Lacey (2), Clint Hopf (2) and Pieter van Tongeren (2).

Three newcomers led the Aces in scoring and rebounding in pre-season games. Sophomore Bryan Bouchie came off the bench to score 16 points in both games, and averaged 6.5 rebounds. Freshmen Colt Ryan (10.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and Troy Taylor (8.0, 7.5 rpg) were next in scoring. Taylor and Ryan played more minutes than anyone else, averaging more than 30 minutes per game.

Opponents shot only 26 percent in the two exhibition games, and the Aces gave up only 50 and 55 points. Offensively, the Aces averaged 64.5 points but were held to 52 points against Kentucky Wesleyan, when they hit only 1 of 9 three-pointers and 17 of 28 free throws.

UE’s television and radio shows have new looks this season. ‘Evansville Basketball With Marty Simmons’ will air live on 14 WFIE TV Sunday nights following an abbreviated version of the 10 p.m. news. Mike Blake will host the show. ‘The Marty Simmons Show’ on 91.5 WUEV FM and Superhits 105.3 FM is hosted by Brandon Gaudin this season. The show airs each Monday from 6-7 p.m. at the east side Turoni’s, and fans are encouraged to attend and participate. WUEV is joined this season by Superhits 105.3 in carrying all Aces’ games on the Old National Bank Radio Network. The Aces’ radio broadcast team includes Brandon Gaudin and UE Hall of Famer Scott Shreffler.

AcesTV is the video streaming portion of the GoPurpleAces.com website. Fans can sign up to watch Aces’ men’s and women’s basketball games live at http://www.gopurpleaces.com/showcase/#liveevents.

Click here to view the complete game notes.