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Seven teams in the Missouri Valley Conference still have a good chance to finish as high as second, and two of them square off at Roberts Stadium Saturday night, when the fifth place University of Evansville Purple Aces (14-8, 6-6) host the sixth place Wichita State Shockers (11-12, 5-7).

THE TOP 10 THINGS TO KNOW...UE VS. WICHITA STATE FEB. 7

1. Saturday’s game is the 30th between the two schools in a series that began when Evansville joined the Missouri Valley Conference in 1994. The Shockers have a 17-12 edge. They’ve won 11 of the last 12 against the Aces, although one of Evansville’s three MVC wins last season came against Wichita State.

2. Evansville scored the first points of the game and led until eight seconds remained at Wichita Jan. 25. That’s when Toure’ Murry hit the winning three-pointer that gave the Shockers a 51-50 victory. Shy Ely was the only UE player in double figures, with 17. Murry led the Shockers with 15. Wichita was one of only six teams so far to attempt more free throws than the Aces, hitting 17 of 28 compared to Evansville’s 11 of 15.

3. Saturday’s game will be the 900th in the University of Evansville’s 32 years at the Division I level. The Purple Aces are 69 games above .500 with a record of 484-415 and a winning percentage of 53.8 percent.

4. UE’s 1959 NCAA College Division national championship team will be honored prior to Saturday’s game. This is the 50th anniversary of the school’s first NCAA championship. UE also won in 1960, 1964, 1965 and 1971.

5. Evansville’s 9-for-17 free throw shooting and 1-for-10 3-point shooting obviously hurt its chances at Missouri State Wednesday. For the season, however, the Aces still have a better free throw percentage than the opponents (68% to 66%). From three-point range, UE is shooting 30% compared to 33% for the opposition.

6. At 17.5 points per game, MVC scoring leader Shy Ely averages 1.2 points per game more than number two scorer Booker Woodfox of Creighton (16.3). Evansville has never had an MVC scoring champion. Marcus Wilson was number two in 1999, behind Wichita State’s Maurice Evans.

7. For the second year in a row, Jason Holsinger is a finalist for the Academic All-America Men’s Basketball Team. The senior economics major has a 3.89 grade point average. If selected, he would become the third Evansville player to make the Academic All-America team, joining two-time recipients Scott Haffner (1988, ‘89) and Clint Cuffle (2003, ‘04).

8. For the first time since November, Nate Garner’s scoring average is above 10 points per game. He’s been the leading scorer in Evansville’s last two road games (20 at Drake, career-high 24 at Missouri State), and is now averaging 10.1 for the season.

9. No one’s playing time has increased as much recently as Pieter van Tongeren’s. In the last six games, he’s averaging 21 minutes per game. In the previous six games, he averaged 8. The 6-11 sophomore scored 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting Wednesday at Missouri State.

10. Two remains the magic number for 14-8 UE to achieve its first winning season since 2000. Four more wins will double the total from last season.

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