Game Notes

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Looking to rebound from Saturday’s game at Illinois State, the Purple Aces men’s basketball team will look for its 5^th consecutive win over Northern Iowa on Tuesday evening at the Ford Center.
 
Following last week’s promotion against Bradley, regular priced adult tickets are $4 off for the game.  At halftime, longtime UE fan Marvin Gray will be honored for his support of the program throughout the years.
 
Evansville is undefeated in MVC home games this season, winning all four contests at the Ford Center, including a 66-56 defeat of Bradley last week.  Despite holding leads in all three of the previous road games, UE has been unable to sustain those before falling in all three contests.
 
UE has searched for a scoring threat to compliment Colt Ryan and Ned Cox has been doing an admirable job of doing just that.  He has posted eight points or more in all but two games while registering double figures in 14 out of 21 contests, including a team-high 18 points at Illinois State on Saturday. 
 
Since the beginning of last season, Cox has been one of the top free throw shooters in the league as he has hit 79 out of 90 attempts, including 34 out of 39 this season.  Cox stands at 963 career points, just 37 away from becoming the 45th player in program history to score 1,000 points in his career.
 
All freshmen go through their lumps in the first year and UE guard #D.J. Balentine# is no different.  He came out of the gate extremely strong before hitting a stretch in late December and early January where he posted six points in five games.  Since then, Balentine has rebounded to average 8.2 points in his last five outings, including double-digit efforts at Drake and Illinois State.  In the slump, the frosh hit three out of 21 shots while missing all 10 treys; in the last five outings, Balentine has rebounded to hit 15 of his 39 attempts.
 
UNI fell to 11-10 and 4-5 in the league following a tough 59-58 loss at Indiana State on Saturday; a pair of free throws by Jake Odum with less than one second remaining lifted the Sycamores to the victory.  The Panthers are a very unselfish team as four players average 10 points or more, led by Anthony James, who has notched 12.6 points per game; Seth Tuttle is just behind with 11.1 points and a team-high 6.1 rebounds.
 
In what could turn into a battle from the line, UNI and Evansville are the top two free throw shooting teams in the league; UNI is 12th in the country hitting 75.8% of their attempts.  The Panthers also do a great job of not allowing the opposition to reach the line as they average just 15.3 fouls per game, the 33rd lowest total in the nation.  UNI is another great 3-point shooting team as they rank 40th in the US at 37.5%; they have attempted 432 on the season as opposed to 333 by UE.
 
A 2-game trip awaits UE after Tuesday’s match.  They travel to Springfield, Mo. to face Missouri State at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon before heading to Peoria, Ill. next Tuesday to face Bradley.