•  AcesTV Live Video Coverage
•  Free Live Game Audio (Courtesy of WUEV)

There's no looking back for the fourth place University of Evansville (15-9, 7-7) men's basketball team as the Purple Aces get ready for Saturday's 1:05 CST game at Bradley University (13-12, 7-7). With five teams at 7-7 or 6-8 in league play, and only four league games remaining in the regular season, victories become even more important. You can watch Saturday's game live on AcesTV, or listen on the Aces Basketball / Old National Bank Radio Network.

THE TOP 10 THINGS TO KNOW...UE VS. BRADLEY FEB. 14

1. The Purple Aces have already played six MVC teams twice, but Saturday’s game will be the first against Bradley. The Braves and Aces meet again Feb. 25 in Evansville’s final home game.

2. Bradley has won six in a row against Evansville to take a 19-13 lead in the series. Evansville has lost five straight at Carver Arena in Peoria since winning there 54-51 on March 1, 2003.

3. Shy Ely had a pair of 20-point games against Bradley last season. He scored 20 in the Aces’ one-point loss at Peoria, and 22 in a 13-point loss to the Braves at home.

4. Evansville and Bradley remain tied for fourth place in the MVC at 7-7. This is the highest Evansville has stood in the MVC standings in February since 2003.

5. The bad news is that the three teams directly below Evansville in the standings are just one game behind. Of the five teams that are 7-7 or 6-8 in league play, only Evansville has more than two road games remaining:

Evansville 7-7 (at Bradley, at Creighton, Bradley, at Northern Iowa)

Bradley 7-7 (Evansville, Missouri State, at Evansville, Drake)

Drake 6-8 (Illinois State, at Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, at Bradley)

Wichita State 6-8 (No. Iowa, at Illinois State, Indiana State, at So. Illinois)

Southern Illinois 6-8 (Creighton, Indiana State, at Drake, Wichita State)

6. The last time Evansville won eight league games was 2003, when the Aces were 8-10 and earned the number five seed in the State Farm MVC Tournament quarterfinals. In the five years since then, UE has had to play in one of the tournament’s two first-round games (7 vs. 10 or 8 vs. 9).

7. Evansville’s last three losses have been by a total of six points–one at Wichita State (51-50), three at Missouri State (65-62) and two at home Wednesday against Illinois State (70-68). The Aces came back from a 26-point deficit (39-13) Wednesday to tie the game in the final minute.

8. Shy Ely needs only nine points to surpass his 2007-08 scoring total. The MVC scoring leader has 423 points this season, and 1,259 in his career.

9. The only player in the MVC with more career points than Ely is his own teammate, Jason Holsinger. The Academic All-America finalist goes into Saturday’s game with 1,329 career points.

10. Senior Nate Garner made another case for selection to the MVC Most Improved Team after totaling 13 points and 10 rebounds against Illinois State. Four of his five double-doubles have come this season, and his scoring average has improved from 5.8 to 10.0 this year. Garner ranks fourth in the MVC in field goal percentage, seventh in rebounding and eighth in steals.

For a complete look at the game notes, click on the Bradley Game Notes link on the men's basketball page here at GoPurpleAces.com.