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It's tournament time for the University of Evansville men's basketball team, and hopefully the first step toward plenty of post-season play in the month of March. The #6 Purple Aces (17-12, 8-10) take on #3 Illinois State (22-8, 11-7) Friday at 8:35 CST in the quarterfinals of the State Farm MVC Tournament at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Tickets in the Evansville section are available at the Scottrade box office.

THE TOP 10 THINGS TO KNOW...UE VS. ILLINOIS STATE MARCH 6–MVC QUARTERFINALS

1. Evansville made the biggest jump of any MVC team in the final 2009 league standings compared to 2008, going from 10th to fifth in Marty Simmons' second year as head coach. The fifth place finish is UE's best since 2003.

2. Shy Ely is the first Evansville player to earn first team all-MVC honors since Craig Snow in 2000. Jason Holsinger was chosen honorable mention all-MVC, Kaylon Williams made the All-Freshman Team, and Nate Garner was chosen for the Most Improved Team. Holsinger and Bryan Mullins of Southern Illinois are expected to be named Thursday as the co-Scholar Athletes of the Year since both were chosen Feb. 25 as first team Academic All-Americans.

3. This will be the fifth time in Evansville's 15 years in the Valley that the Aces have gone into the tournament as the #6 seed. They're 0-4 so far; in fact, #6 seeds are only 4-32 in league tournament history. But there is hope. The #6 seed won in both 2006 and 2008 (UNI both times).

4. Evansville is 4-14 in the State Farm MVC Tournament since joining the league in 1994-95. UE's most recent quarterfinal win came in 1999, when the #1 Aces went all the way to the finals. Two of their four victories came in 1999 (over #8 Wichita State 79-71 and #4 Bradley 64-63), one in 2004 (over #8 Indiana State 63-59) and one in 2006 (over #10 Illinois State 54-47).

5. Friday’s game is the 39th in the Evansville-Illinois State series. The Redbirds lead 25-13, and have won five in a row against the Purple Aces. Evansville’s most recent win over Illinois State came in 2006-07 at Roberts Stadium, 69-41.

6. The Redbirds handed Evansville its worst loss of the season on Dec. 31, 80-50 at Redbird Arena. In the rematch Feb. 11 at Evansville, Illinois State jumped in front by 26 points, 41-15, with 2:41 to go in the first half before UE began a long comeback that eventually resulted in a 68-68 tie with 11 seconds remaining. Osiris Eldridge then went the length of the court and scored with four seconds left, giving Illinois State the 70-68 win and a season sweep of UE.

7. Evansville is 16-4 this season when attempting more free throws than the opposition, but two of the four losses came to Illinois State. The Aces hit 13 of 21 free throws compared to the Redbirds’ 8 of 12 at Normal, and 16 of 23 compared to Illinois State’s 7 of 10 at Evansville. Still, Illinois State outscored UE 150-118 in the two games.

8. Shy Ely and Osiris Eldridge led their teams in scoring in both UE-Illinois State games. Ely scored 19 at Normal and 26 at Evansville, Eldridge 22 and 18.

9. Evansville is 82nd nationally and fourth in the MVC in March 4 Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) of the 343 Division I teams. Here are the Valley RPI rankings: 39. Creighton; 61. Illinois State; 71. Northern Iowa; 83. Evansville; 95. Bradley; 133. Southern Illinois; 150. Drake; 162. Wichita State; 210. Missouri State; 212. Indiana State.

10. Whatever the outcome this weekend, the Aces still have post-season hopes, especially since 128 teams will compete in post-season play this season (NCAA 64, NIT 32, College Basketball Invitational 16, CollegeInsider.com Tournament 16). Pairings for all four tournaments will take place March 15. First-round games in the NIT, CBI and CollegeInsider tournaments begin March 17. The full slate of NCAA Tournament games gets underway March 19.

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