Game Notes

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Evansville will look for its second ever season sweep of Creighton when the two schools tangle in Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball action on Tuesday evening in Omaha, Neb.
 
The game is set to be televised by the MVC Network.  Due to the New Orleans Hornets at Indiana Pacers game on FOX Sports Indiana, FOX Sports Indiana Plus will clear the telecast in Evansville (Insight Channel 505 (digital box) and 12.10 (no box) and WOW Channel 7), Fort Wayne (Comcast Channel 9), Indianapolis (Bright House Channel 81 and Comcast Channel 81), Newburgh (Time-Warner Channel 23) and Terre Haute (Time-Warner Channel 13).
 
Evansville made it two in a row and a perfect 3-for-3 all-time against Western Illinois as the Aces grabbed a 68-45 victory over the Leathernecks on Saturday.  Colt Ryan led all players with 20 points and eight assists while Denver Holmes notched 15.  The Aces got the job done on the defensive end, forcing 23 WIU turnovers while holding them to just 14 points in the first half.  That marked the lowest output by any UE opponent in a half this season.
 
The February 18th game against Western Illinois marked the ninth season that the Aces have participated in the BracketBusters competition and have posted a 4-5 record over that span.  UE has faced schools in the OVC (Eastern Illinois, Murray State, UT-Martin), MAC (Miami OH, Central Michigan), Horizon (Loyola, UIC) and Southern Conference (Samford).  The Aces and Leathernecks have squared off twice prior to this season, with UE winning both ends of a home-and-home series in 2004 and ‘05.
 
In the three games prior to the contest against UNI, Ryan averaged just 11.3 PPG after posting an average of over 20.0 over the remainder of the season.  That has all changed as Ryan has scored 20 points in each of the last two contests against UNI and Western Illinois.  Ryan has also spread the ball around, averaging eight assists in those contests.
 
Junior Lewis Jones has averaged 5.5 points and 2.5 rebounds per contest, but when is scoring touch is hitting on all cylinders, the Aces are too.  In games where Jones has recorded eight or more point, Evansville is 8-1.  The one loss was a 1-point defeat at Southern Illinois.  His top effort of the season came at Missouri State where he recorded a career-high 24 points while hitting 9-of-14 shots.  In UE’s 14 wins, Jones has averaged 7.6 PPG while hitting 58.1% of his shots.  Jones’ production has gone down in the 13 losses for the Aces as he has scored an average of just 3.2 PPG while shooting 24.6%.

Creighton is receiving votes in both polls on the strength of their 23-5 mark.  They are the most accurate shooting team in the country, hitting 51.1% of their shots and are the third-best three-point shooting team (42.8%).  The Bluejays are also extremely unselfish, averaging 18.3 assists per game, third in the NCAA.  Sophomore Doug McDermott leads the way for CU with 23.2 points per game, third in the country while shooting 61.7% on the season.  Last time out, McDermott recorded 36 points as the Bluejays won their Bracketbusters game against Long Beach State by a final of 81-79.  Antoine Young hit the game-winner for Creighton with just 0.3 seconds left in the game.
 
Just two weeks ago, Evansville and Creighton met at the Ford Center as the Aces halted a six-game skid against the Bluejays, taking a 65-57 win over the No. 15 team in the nation at the time.  Kenneth Harris had 15 points while Colt Ryan finished the game with 14.  UE led by double figures in the opening stanza before Creighton rallied to lead by seven points in the second half.  The difference came in the final minutes as UE wrapped up the game on a 13-1 run to take the win.  Evansville held Creighton to season lows in scoring and three-point percentage.
  
On Saturday, Evansville will wrap up the regular season, playing host to Missouri State at the Ford Center beginning at 1:05 p.m.  The four seniors on the Aces will be honored at the game.