Game Notes

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In the final game before Christmas, the Purple Aces men's basketball team will play host to Butler on Saturday afternoon at the Ford Center.
 
Tip is set for 2:05 p.m. and will feature the team wearing the sleeve jerseys along with Frisbee dogs at halftime.  AcesTV will carry the live broadcast of the game while you can listen online at www.wuev.org and on the radio at 91.5 FM.
 
In-state rival Butler comes to the Ford Center in one of the final nonconference tune-ups prior to the beginning of the Missouri Valley Conference slate.  Evansville had seven days to regroup following a 57-51 loss to Jackson State last weekend at the Ford Center.
 
Making a difference for the Tigers was Brandon West, who hauled in 22 rebounds while registering 14 points; he was the first player to finish with 20 boards against the Aces since 12/20/97 when Jayson Wells had 20 for Indiana State in a 62-52 Sycamore victory.  By hitting just one 3-pointer, JSU became the first team to beat the Aces with one trey since Buffalo did in November of last season.
 
A 7-9 shooting effort against Jackson State helped Egidijus Mockevicius tally his fifth double figure game in a row, by far the top streak of his career.  He is the first forward for UE to post five 10+ point games in a row since Kenneth Harris had six two years ago.  Over the last five games, Mockevicius has connected on 29 out of 43 attempts (67.4%) to average 12.8 points along with 7.8 rebounds per game while seeing 26 minutes of action per contest.  The first five games saw him average 17.5 minutes while averaging 5.8 points and 4.3 boards.
 
Sophomore D.J. Balentine's average of 22.8 points per game leads the MVC and ranks in the top 15 in the country.  The Kokomo, Ind. product has been putting his time in, leading the Valley with 37 minutes per game while being on the floor for 159 out of the last 160 minutes.  The Kokomo, Ind. product has registered double figures in each of the 11 games to open the season; the last player to open the season on a run like that was Shy Ely, who tallied double digits in the first 13 games of the 2008-09 season.
 
Butler has played a strong schedule on its way to an 8-2 mark this season including a 76-70 win over Purdue last time out; the Bulldogs also have wins over Vanderbilt and Washington State.  The only two losses for Butler have been by two points, including to Oklahoma State (67-69) and an overtime defeat against LSU (68-70).
 
Sophomore Kellen Dunham averages 19.3 points, second in the Big East; he finished with a game-high 25 points versus the Boilermakers.  Just behind him is Khyle Marshall, who averages 17.1 points and finished right around that tally with 18 points in the victory over Purdue.  Averaging 9.8 points is Kameron Woods; he is one of the top rebounders in the Big East, standing second with 9.2 per game.  Guard Alex Barlow has recorded 22 steals thus far, tops in the conference and just outside of the top 25 in the nation.
 
Evansville's series against Butler has been the second-most played rivalry in UE history.  The schools have met 119 times; the Aces have only faced one opponent more than that, taking on Indiana State 160 times since 1921.   UE holds a 62-57 lead, but Butler has had the upper hand since 1996, taking 12 out of 15 matchups.  In games played in Evansville, the Aces are 34-22, including an 80-77 victory over the Bulldogs two years ago in the Ford Center opener.