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The 18-game Missouri Valley Conference regular season ends Saturday for the University of Evansville men's basketball team with a 4:05 CST game at Des Moines, Iowa against the Drake Bulldogs. That also means the State Farm MVC Tournament is less than a week away. Tickets are available through the UE ticket office at (812) 488-ACES, or at Ticketmaster.com.

•The Aces play Thursday, March 4 at 8:35 in the MVC Tournament at St. Louis against the #7 seed, which could be...

...Indiana State if ISU loses at home Saturday to Missouri State

...Missouri State if MSU loses on the road Saturday at Indiana State

The only exception: Drake is #7 instead of MSU if all home teams win Saturday (Creighton, Drake, UNI, Wichita State, Indiana State).

•Evansville has a 17-15 edge in the all-time series against Drake. All 32 games have taken place since UE joined the Missouri Valley Conference in 1994. Evansville swept the series last season, thanks to a halfcourt shot by Kaylon Williams in Des Moines that gave Evansville a 65-62 victory. This season, however, the Bulldogs have the opportunity for a sweep. They handed UE a 72-65 setback at Roberts Stadium on January 20 behind 18 points from Josh Young, and 14 points and eight rebounds from Adam Templeton. Denver Holmes had 23 and James Haarsma 18 for the Aces.

•Evansville is coming off a 55-54 win Tuesday over Northern Iowa, #22 in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25, and #25 in the AP poll. It was UE’s first win over a ranked opponent since a Jan. 23, 2003 victory at Roberts Stadium over #9 Creighton.

•Evansville and Bradley are the only two MVC teams to beat league champion Northern Iowa and second place Wichita State this season. The Aces lost their first 13 league games, but are 2-2 since then.

•The one stat that seems to matter prevailed again Tuesday. The Aces are 8-4 this season when they shoot a higher percentage than the opposition, 0-16 when they do not. Evansville shot 46 percent against UNI. The Panthers hit only 33 percent.

•Junior guard Kavon Lacey was held without a field goal in two consecutive games before scoring 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting against UNI Tuesday. His 3-pointer in the final six minutes was a key basket, putting UE up by five. It was Lacey’s first ‘three’ since January 23.

•Junior center Clint Hopf tore a ligament in his left knee in Tuesday’s win over UNI, and will not play again this season. He will undergo surgery next month. Hopf was Evansville’s top scorer in the three-game stretch leading up to Tuesday’s UNI game, with 46 points. He scored a career-high 18 last Saturday against Illinois-Chicago.

•The MVC does not keep freshman scoring records, but we do know that Colt Ryan needs only four points to surpass Creighton’s P’Allen Stinnett and become the Valley’s top freshman scorer in the last 10 years. Ryan has 413 points. Others within reach include Illinois State’s Tarise Bryson (465 in 1998-99) and Southern Illinois’ Kent Williams (440 in 1999-00). Bradley’s Mitchell Anderson is the all-time MVC freshman scoring leader with 545 points in 1978-79.

•The Aces are 8-6 when sophomore forward James Haarsma scores in double figures, 0-12 when he does not, and 0-2 in the games he missed because of injuries. Haarsma has scored 17 and 12 points in the last two games, but he has not put together three straight double-figure games since early December.

•Here’s a look at UE’s MVC stat leaders going into the final game of the regular season. Colt Ryan: #1 Minutes Played (35.1), #2 scoring (14.8), #6 FT Pct. (.832), #7 3-Pointers Per Game (2.0), #10 Steals (1.1), #10 Assists (3.0). James Haarsma: #4 Rebounding (7.3), #7 FG Pct. (.495). Troy Taylor: #7 Assist To Turnover Ratio (1.6), #9 Assists (3.2). Ned Cox: #7 3-Point Percentage (.400). Kavon Lacey: #7 Assists (3.3). Denver Holmes: #8 FT Pct. (.824).