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If Tuesday's University of Evansville-Western Kentucky University basketball game looks anything at all like last year's clash at Roberts Stadium, the Purple Aces will be coming home happy from Bowling Green, Ky.

Evansville dealt WKU its most lopsided loss of 2008-09 with a 72-40 shellacking on Dec. 13. Despite the drubbing, Western went on to reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament and finish with a 25-9 record. The series shifts Tuesday to Western Kentucky's Diddle Arena for a 7:00 CST tip-off between the 4-2 Purple Aces and 3-3 Hilltoppers.

•Western Kentucky holds a 39-20 edge in the series against Evansville, which dates back to 1926-27. The two have played nine times in the past 11 years, and Evansville holds a 5-4 edge. The Aces won at Bowling Green in 1999-00, 52-47, but since then have lost three in a row at Diddle Arena–90-64 in 2001-02, 92-82 in 2003-04, and 84-77 in 2005-06.

•This will be Evansville’s third road contest in the last four games. The Aces lost at Miami (Ohio) 82-58 Nov. 28, then won at Tennessee Tech in double overtime last Tuesday, 91-90. Under third-year coach Marty Simmons, the Aces are 3-6 in non-conference road games.

•Western Kentucky is off to a 3-3 start, including a 64-63 homecourt loss Missouri Valley Conference member Indiana State Nov. 24. The Hilltoppers dropped to 2-3 at South Carolina, 74-56, but bounced back Sunday to even their record at 3-3 by defeating Tulane 62-48 at Bowling Green behind Steffphon Pettigrew (19 points, 7 rebounds), Jeremy Evans (14/9), Sergio Kerusch (10/8) and A.J. Slaughter (13 points, 5 assists, 4 steals).

•Tuesday’s game will be a homecoming for UE junior Monie Hudson, a native of Bowling Green and 2007 graduate of Warren Central High School. Hudson celebrated his 21st birthday on Sunday, Dec. 6.

•Freshman Colt Ryan is the Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week after averaging 18 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in wins over Tennessee Tech and Alabama State. He regained the UE scoring lead with 17 points Friday, moving him up to 14.7 ppg. The last freshman to lead the Aces in scoring was Marcus Wilson in 1995-96, at 13.4 per game.

•Thanks in large part to a pair of freshmen guards, Evansville is the early season MVC leader in rebounding. Sophomore forward James Haarsma is tops on the team and second in the league at 8.0 per game. Right behind are freshmen guards Troy Taylor (6.0) and Colt Ryan (5.2). The three have helped UE establish an 11-rebound per game margin over its opponents (42.0-31.0 per game).

•One area that UE is trying to clean up is turnovers. The Aces gave it away a season-high 25 times in Friday’s 61-57 win over Alabama State. As a result, the Aces took a season-low 39 shots. Only two players go into the Western Kentucky game with more assists than turnovers–Colt Ryan (20/15) and Ned Cox (14/9).

Coming Up

Final exams begin Thursday at UE, and that means a nine-day break between games. Next up is a Thursday, Dec. 17 home game against Georgia Southern.

Around The Valley

Creighton’s win over Nebraska on Sunday gave Valley teams a 19-3 record over the past nine days. Highlighting last week were...A 3-0 record against BCS schools (Bradley beat #20 Illinois, UNI won at Iowa State, Creighton beat Nebraska), giving the MVC a 6-6 record against the BCS this year after going 5-21 against them last season... A 7-2 road record, giving the league an 11-6 road record this year compared to 10-24 last year...And an overall 49-19 (.721) non-conference record. That winning percentage would rank as the sixth best in the 102-year history of the league and is the best since the 1962-63 MVC teams produced a .743 winning percentage 47 years ago.