Game Notes
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville men’s basketball team will play its final home game before Missouri Valley Conference action, taking on Tennessee Tech at the Ford Center at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
Last weekend, the Aces got back on the winning track with an 86-65 victory over North Carolina A&T.
Colt Ryan hit his stride with 29 points, shooting 7-12 from the floor while going a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line.
Kenneth Harris tallied 13 points and was also perfect from the line, hitting all 11 attempts.
Ned Cox notched 12 points while
Denver Holmes had 10.
Ryan leads the MVC with 36.4 minutes per game. Ryan has played at least 31 minutes in every game this season and has logged 42 minutes in each overtime game for the Aces. The last time Ryan did not play 30 minutes in a game was last season at Murray State when he saw 28 minutes of action. Last year, there were eight times where he played fewer than 30 minutes.
In the game against North Carolina A&T, the Aces hit 26 out of 28 free throws, good for a 92.9%. Kenneth Harris was 11-11 while Colt Ryan was 10-10. The last time Evansville hit over 90% of its attempts from the line was against Drake on January 12, 2011 when UE connected on 12 out of 13 attempts. For Ryan, it was his second performance of 10-10 or better in his career. Last season in the game at Drake, he was 11-of-11.
Evansville forced North Carolina A&T into 24 turnovers on Saturday. It marked the fourth time the Aces have forced 20 or more turnovers this season after doing so just three times all of last season. The top defensive outing came against Oakland City where UE forced 28. For the season, UE has forced 156 turnovers, tops in the MVC.
Tennessee Tech is 5-4 on the season and is coming off of an 89-87 overtime win at home against Lipscomb. Zac Sawnsey was named the preseason Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year while the Golden Eagles were picked to finish second in the league. While Swansey received preseason honors, it has been senior Kevin Murphy stealing the thunder in the regular season. Murphy is in the top 20 in the nation in scoring, averaging 20.8 PPG. Last time out against Lipscomb, he his 10-of-22 shots, including 4 out of 8 treys en route to a 29-point effort.
The Aces are 10-2 in their 12 meetings against Tennessee Tech, in a series that dates back to the 1949-50 season. Evansville has won the last six contests, including a 91-90 double overtime victory two years ago. Ned Cox set his then career mark with 22 points in that game while Colt Ryan chipped in 19. James Haarsma notched a double-double, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
UE will wrap up the pre-Christmas schedule on Tuesday as it travels to Miami (Ohio) for a game against the RedHawks. Tip is set for 6 p.m. CT. On December 29, the Aces will open up league play against Southern Illinois at the Ford Center.
