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The Purple Aces on Saturday make their first trip to Murray, Ky. since the 1991-92 season for the Sears BracketBusters. Tip-off is at 7:00 between the 14-12 Aces and the 20-7 Racers, who lead the Ohio Valley Conference with a 12-3 record.

This is the ninth year for the Bracketbusters event, and Evansville’s eighth year as part of it.  Originated in 2003 as a way to bolster NCAA Tournament possibilities for the top mid-major teams, the event expanded in 2004 to include virtually all teams in the competing leagues.  MVC teams are 47-26 all-time in Bracketbusters games going into the 2011 event.
Here is the breakdown of Evansville’s 3-4 record in Bracketbusters:
2004: Central Michigan 90, Evansville 73 (Away)
2005: Loyola 68, Evansville 64 (Home)
2006: Tennessee-Martin 69, Evansville 62 (Home)
2007: Evansville 69, Samford 65 (Away)
2008: Evansville 63, Eastern Illinois 55 (Away)
2009: Evansville 75, Miami, Ohio 61 (Home)
2010: UIC 82, Evansville 80 (Home)

Although Murray State has the better record, Evansville has a slightly better RPI ranking.  As of Thursday, the Aces were ranked 117th and the Racers 128th among the nation’s 345 Division I teams in the RealTime RPI rankings.  In the Collegiate Basketball News RPI, it’s Evansville at 113 and Murray State at 120.

Murray State leads the series against Evansville 21-10.  The two teams played eight out of nine years from 1984-85 through 1992-93, with each team winning four games.  Since then, the only meeting came at Evansville’s Roberts Stadium in 2002-03, when the Racers went home with a 76-58 victory.

With two games remaining for all 10 teams in the MVC race, Evansville is alone in sixth place, one game behind fifth place Creighton and two games ahead of seventh place Drake.  UE can
finish as high as a fourth place tie or as low as a sixth place tie.  The Aces can go into the tournament no higher than the #4 seed and no lower than #7.  The top six finishers advance directly to the March 4 MVC Tournament quarterfinals.  The seventh through 10th place teams must play March 3 in order to reach the quarterfinals.

Pieter van Tongeren has shot 50 percent or better in 14 of his last 15 games.  The 6’11” senior center leads the Missouri Valley Conference in field goal percentage by a wide margin, shooting 65 percent.

The Aces are 10-3 this season when Kavon Lacey shoots 50 percent or better.  After hitting 11 of 17 shots over a three-game stretch (UE won two of the three), the senior guard has been held to 3-for-13 shooting in the last two games (both UE losses).

Troy Taylor has scored 28 points in the last five games after scoring a total of eight points in the previous five games.  The sophomore guard was slowed last week by flu-like symptoms, but is back at full health this week.

Senior Clint Hopf left the game against Wichita State Tuesday with a sprain to his right knee.  He is expected to play Saturday.  

Since not playing against Bradley Jan. 23, sophomore Lewis Jones is 16-for-24 from the floor (.667). Before that, Jones was shooting .362, with 17 baskets in 47 attempts.