Game Notes

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Evansville will look for its first win in Carbondale, Ill. since the 2000-01 season as the Aces’ men’s basketball team will face Southern Illinois on Saturday at 2:05 p.m. at SIU Arena.
 
The Aces halted a two-game skid on Wednesday evening at Bradley, leading from start to finish while coming away with a 92-62 victory.  It marked just the third 30-point MVC win for Evansville since entering the league in 1994.  The other victories of that margin were 31-point victories over Creighton (85-54 in 1994-95) and Southern Illinois (95-64 in ‘95-96).  Both of those wins came at Roberts Stadium.  It was the first 30-point win of any kind since a 115-74 win at Hawaii Hilo in 1998.
 
As a team, Evansville recorded 31 assists on 41 field goals en route to 92 points.  The 31 assists marked the most ever by an opponent for Bradley at Carver Arena while the 41 field goals were the most against the Braves since 1997.  The 41 field goals and 31 assists marked the most in the Coach Simmons era at UE while the 92 points were tied for the most since Simmons came back to UE in 2007.  The Aces also scored 92 against Oakland City on Nov. 14, 2009.
 
Playing center in one of the top leagues in America is tough enough.  Doing it as a freshman is even tougher, but don’t tell that to Ryan Sawvell.  The true freshman has recorded double-digit outing in six of the last nine games while shooting the ball with extreme accuracy, a 65.4% clip to be exact.  That percentage tops the MVC in league games and would be third in the nation with enough attempts.  Sawvell has also gotten the job done on the boards, notching 16 at Bradley, the first time a UE player has done so since Nate Garner against WKU on Dec. 13, 2008.  Over the last nine games, Sawvell has averaged 8.8 PPG while hauling in 5.7 rebounds per contest.
 
While Sawvell is shooting at a clip that would be No. 3 nationally, fellow freshman Jaylon Moore has also been accurate while playing limited minutes off the bench.  Moore set a career mark with a 3-for-3 outing at Bradley, improving his season shooting to 7-8.
 
In the four games following his personal best of 24 points at Missouri State, Lewis Jones was just 1-of-10 with a total of two points.  Jones took a turn in the right direction hitting four out of eight shots en route to eight points and five rebounds. 
 
After scoring eight points in each of the last two games while dealing with a slight illness, Denver Holmes came back with a fury, tying his top scoring output at UE with 23 points.  He also recorded 11 assists as he picked up his first double-double.  The 11 assists marked the most since Kavon Lacey had 11 against Oakland City on Nov. 13, 2010.
 
While it is hard to call a 24-point outing a quiet one, that has become the norm for Colt Ryan, who has averaged 23.2 PPG in MVC play, 1.2 points more than his nearest competition.  He has scored 17 points or more in 11 out of 12 league games, including a career-high 39 points in the first meeting against Bradley.  Ryan has garnered two MVC Player of the Week honors and has hit 90.5% of his free throws since league play began.  The junior is 8th in the nation in scoring.
 
Starting point guard Troy Taylor has turned his season around over the last eight contests.  Since the Aces’ game at Indiana State, the junior has been on an absolute roll, averaging a team-high 8.1 rebounds per game while dishing out a team-high 41 assists while scoring an average of 8.1 points per game.  Taylor made two stabs at the second triple-double in UE history, most recently on Jan. 29 against Indiana State where he finished with 9 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.
 
It has been a tough year for Southern Illinois, who has struggled to a 7-16 record and a 4-8 mark in the MVC.  The Salukis have lost two in a row, including a 58-49 game at Northern Iowa on Tuesday evening.  Senior Mamadou Seck leads the Salukis in most categories including scoring (12.4 PPG), rebounding (7.9 RPG), minutes (30.2 MPG) and assists (64).  Seck averages 4.1 points per game more than anyone else on the squad and was the top scorer for SIU in their first meeting with UE, notching 20 points while tying for the game high with eight rebounds.   
 
On December 29, Evansville opened up MVC play with a 78-60 win over Southern Illinois in the first ever MVC game at the Ford Center.  Colt Ryan began his recent roll with 25 points while Kenneth Harris and Denver Holmes tallied 11 apiece.   SIU grabbed an early lead in the first minute, but the Aces took a 48-27 lead at the half and never looked back.