Game Notes

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Looking to push its winning streak to five games, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team will travel out west to face Colorado State on Saturday.
 
Game time is set for 3:30 p.m. CT and will take place at Moby Arena.  Fans can follow the game by logging onto www.CSURams.com to view their live stats and a live stream of the contest.
 
Evansville won its fourth-consecutive game on Monday, taking down Alabama A&M by a 72-46 final at the Ford Center.  The Aces led by as many as 39 points before cruising to the 26-point win.  Three UE players found their way into double figures, led by Colt Ryan’s 13 points.  Ned Cox registered 11 while sophomore Jaylon Moore chipped in a career-high of 10.
 
For the season, the Aces are holding opponents to 51.7 points per game, a total that is tied for 6th in the nation.  The most a team has scored on the Aces was 58 by Notre Dame.  UE has held its last three opponents to 50 or fewer points; by comparison, Evansville held just one team to under 50 last season as Western Illinois mustered up 45 points in a Feb.18 meeting; this year the Leathernecks scored just 44 points versus UE, the fewest point an opponent has scored since Oakland City had 42 in the 2010-11 season opener.  The last time the Aces held three opponents in a row under 50 points as UE held Cleveland State, Buffalo and SEMO to 49, 44 and 45 points, respectively, early in the 2006-07 season.
 
Through the first four games of the 2012-13 campaign, UE found itself being outrebounded by an average of 10 per game; that has all changed over the last two contests as the Aces are on the better end of the final tally, finishing with an average of 8 more rebounds than the opposition.  Last season, Evansville had just one two-game streak of outrebounding its opponents, doing so against Bradley and Illinois State.
 
Sophomore Jaylon Moore posted the top effort of his career in the win over Alabama A&M, notching ten points on 5-of-6 shooting, it marked the first double-digit outing for Moore in his time at UE.  Through just six games in 2012, Moore has scored 32 points; he registered 30 all of last season.
 
Moore has made the most out of his touches since his arrival at UE, connecting on 25 out of 38 attempts, a shooting percentage of 65.8%; in the Aces 4-game win streak, the Mississippi native has been even better, going 14-for-19, 73.7%.
 
For the first time since suffering a hip pointer in the loss to Buffalo, Colt Ryan spent significant time on the floor versus Alabama A&M, seeing 22 minutes of playing time.  Ryan quickly got the rust off to finish with a game-high 13 points and 7 assists; he was also 3-of-5 from three-point range while hitting both free throws to remain at 100% for the year.
 
Colorado State is coming off of a 20-12 season and has kept the momentum rolling into this year, starting off with a 5-0 mark. The Rams are outscoring their opponents by an average of 18.2 PPG.  Last year, CSU made its ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, falling to Murray State in the second round; it marked the third-straight postseason appearance for the Rams.
Moby Arena has been a hostile place for opponents to play at as CSU has won its last 16 home contests.  Three players are averaging double figures for the Rams, led by Colton Iverson’s 16.6 PPG; Pierce Hornung (12.0) and Iverson (11.0) lead the Mountain West Conference in rebounding.  Rebounding is the strength of CSU; they are #1 in the nation in rebounding
percentage and second in the country, averaging 39.8 boards per game.
 
Saturday’s game will be the first time Evansville and Colorado State have met on the hardwood. It is the fourth year of the challenge, but just the third time Evansville has participated. In 2010, UE fell by a 57-56 final at Air Force before losing to TCU at home by a 70-69 tally last season.