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The University of Evansville’s longest road trip since the 2003-04 season continues Saturday with the 116th meeting between the Purple Aces (2-2) and 23rd ranked Butler Bulldogs (3-1) in a series that Evansville leads 60-55.  Tip-off is at 1:05 CST at Hinkle Fieldhouse, and the game will be televised on WNDY in Indianapolis and on 14WFIE in Evansville.

This is Evansville’s third straight road game, with one more to follow on Sunday, Dec. 5 at Air Force before the Aces return home on Dec. 8 to play the North Carolina Tar Heels.

•There’s been a big ebb and flow in the Evansville-Butler series over the last 25 years.  Evansville beat Butler 18 out of 20 games between 1985 and 1994.  However, the Bulldogs have won 11 of the last 12, dating back to 1996.  UE’s only victory during that stretch came on Dec. 2, 2000 at Roberts Stadium, 74-73.  Butler has won six in a row at Hinkle Fieldhouse over the Aces.

•Butler is ranked #23 in this week’s ESPN/USA Today poll.  The Bulldogs dropped out of the AP Top 25 this week following a Nov. 16 loss at Louisville, but they’ve bounced back behind senior Matt Howard with a win at home over Ball State and at Siena.  Howard totaled 16 points and 10 rebounds against Ball State, and 17/12 at Siena.

•Last year, Butler came to Evansville on Nov. 21 ranked #10 in the ESPN/USA Today poll and #11 by AP, and won 64-60 despite a heroic effort by Evansville’s Colt Ryan to steal the win.  In a four-second span with less than 30 seconds remaining, Ryan hit a three-pointer, stole the inbounds pass, and hit another three to pull the Aces within two points at 62-60.

•Colt Ryan tied his career scoring high with 31 points in Wednesday’s 72-60 loss at Middle Tennessee.  Ryan scored 23 in the first half and helped the Aces go up by nine points, but the Blue Raiders used their superior size and frontcourt depth to outscore the Aces by 18 points in the second half.  Ryan was 11-for-19 from the floor, including 6-for-10 from three-point range.  He was also UE’s assist leader with four, and had four rebounds and two steals.

•Ryan is now 12-for-20 in three-point shooting.  No one else on the team has more than two three-pointers.

•The Aces have led at halftime in both of their losses. Evansville led by eight points late in the first half at Indiana and by nine late in the first half at Middle Tennessee, but were outscored 42-23 by Indiana in the second half, and 52-34 by MTSU.  Middle Tennessee took advantage of its frontcourt depth and size advantage to outrebound UE 40-26 and pull away in the second half for an 82-70 win.

•Evansville’s top newcomer is Kenneth Harris, a 6-6 junior forward who played the past two years at John A. Logan College in Illinois. He is second in scoring (13.3) behind Ryan, and is by far the top rebounder for the Aces at 6.8.  Harris almost picked up his first double-double last Sunday at Indiana, with nine points and 10 rebounds.  He also blocked four shots against the Hoosiers. 

•Senior center Pieter van Tongeren maintained his 70 percent-plus shooting by hitting three of four shots at Middle Tennessee.  The fifth-year senior is now 14-for-19 from the floor for 73.7 percent accuracy.  For his career, van Tongeren is a 54 percent shooter, with 177 field goals in 335 attempts.

Full Game Notes