Game Notes

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville men’s basketball team will look for its third win of the season, taking on defending SWAC champion Alabama State at 7:35 p.m. Tuesday at the Ford Center.
 
The Aces return home from their first road trip of the season at UIC.  The Flames hit 9-of-13 three pointers en route to a 79-75 victory.  Four UE players finished in double figures led by a career-high 24 points from Ned Cox.  Colt Ryan finished with 18 points while Kenneth Harris and Jordan Jahr scored 17 and 12 points, respectively.
 
With a bucket in the first half at UIC, junior Colt Ryan became the 44th player in program history to score 1,000 points for his career.  Ryan finished the game with 18 points, marking the 12th game in a row the Batesville, Ind. native has put up a double digit outing.
 
After averaging 3.5 PPG in the first two games of the season, Ned Cox has come on in a big way in the previous two contests.  After tying his career high with 16 points against Oakland City, the junior followed that up with his top effort at UE as he recorded 24 points against UIC.  Cox was an efficient 9-13 from the floor while connecting on five out of six free throws.
 
Senior Kenneth Harris once again reached double figures, scoring 17 points at UIC, tying his season high.  Harris, along with Colt Ryan, are the only players to reach double digits in each game.  After notching 11 double-digit scoring games last season, he is well on his way to surpassing that mark. 
 
Defending SWAC Tournament champion Alabama State has gotten off to an 0-4 start to the 2011-12 campaign.  Last season, the Hornets won their fourth SWAC championship on their way to the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.  ASU returns four starters from last season’s team and were picked to win their league again. 
 
The Hornets have a tough schedule to open up the season, with ten of their first 11 games being on the road.  Tramaine Butler is the leading scorer for the Hornets with 15.5 PPG.  Kenderek Washington is close behind with 14.3 points per contest.
 
Alabama State and Evansville met just once in their histories, with that coming two seasons ago as the Aces held on for a 61-57 victory at Roberts Stadium.  Colt Ryan was the leading scorer in the contest with 17 points while James Harrsma had 13.  The game was tied at 29 at the half as free throw shooting would ultimately be the difference.  Evansville hit 16-of-23 shots from the charity stripe to hang on for the win.
 
On Saturday, UE will continue at home as TCU comes to town for a 7 p.m. game.  Tuesday’s game will be part of a doubleheader with the women’s team, who will square off against Ball State at 5:15 p.m.  Those with tickets to the women’s game will be able to remain in the arena for the men’s game.  Those ticketholders can get tickets at will call with their women’s tickets.
 
Youths under the age of 18 can get into the women’s game for free with a paying adult while those attending the men’s game can purchase upper bowl tickets at half price.