Game Notes

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – For the first time since February 26, 1994, the University of Evansville men's basketball team will take on Xavier as the teams will face off on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. ET at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati.
 
Evansville will make its first appearance on Fox Sports 1 while you can also tune into the radio broadcast at www.WUEV.org and on 91.5 FM WUEV.
 
The Aces were back home and improved to 5-0 at home and put an end to a 3-game skid with a 78-65 win over Miami University on Saturday afternoon.  D.J. Balentine was the top scorer for UE with 22 points while Egidijus Mockevicius posted the first double-double of his career.  With the win, the Purple Aces improved to 31-10 in 2+ seasons at the Ford Center.
 
Prior to the Nov. 30 game at Ohio U., sophomore Egidijus Mockevicius had just four double-digit scoring outings; that all has changed as of late as he has notched three such games in a row.   The native of Lithuania has averaged 16 points per game in the last three contests to go along with 9.7 rebounds; over that stretch, Mockevicius has hit 19 out of his 28 shots.  His efforts culminated in the first double-double of his career against Miami with 17 points and 13 rebounds.  For the season, Mockevicius is averaging .30 rebounds per minute, by comparison, the MVC leader in rebounding, Seth Tuttle of UNI, averages .26/minute.
 
There is something about the home cooking Evansville that has helped the Aces shoot their way to a .565 percentage at the Ford Center.  On the road, it has been a different story as UE hit 41.3% of its attempts.  The disparity is even greater when you examine the 3-point shooting as the Aces have hit 52.7% of their treys as opposed to 26.1% on the road.  When you look at the defense, the numbers are nearly identical as UE allows the opposition to hit 45.7% of its shots and 35.1% of its 3's at home compared to 45.9% and 36.6% from long range in road outings.
 
After a quick "slump" that saw D.J. Balentine average 14.5 points in games at IU and Ohio U., the sophomore has found his stroke once again, posting 25 points at Murray State before tallying 22 in the home win over Miami.  Balentine has been in the top five in the nation all season long and continues to rank fourth overall with 24.9 PPG.  He still sits atop the Valley in scoring (24.9 PPG) and minutes played (36.3/ game) while ranking third in free throw percentage (89.3%) and 3-pointers made (2.1/gm) and is fifth as he averages 4.0 assists per contest.
 
For the first time since their days in the MCC, Evansville and Xavier will meet on the hardwood.   The Musketeers are 6-3 overall with strong wins over Tennessee and Bowling Green; they are 1-3 in the last four games, including three losses (Iowa, Tennessee, USC) in the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.  Xavier is led by head coach Chris Mack, who played for both schools participating in Tuesday's game; he attended Evansville from 1989-90 before transferring to Xavier.
 
With 15.9 PPG, Semaj Christon leads the way for XU; Samaj is the defending Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year and is coming off of a 22-point effort against BGSU.  Junior Matt Stainbrook has done extremely well in his first season at XU; the transfer from Western Michigan has  averaged 10 points and a team-high 7.6 boards per contest.   Xavier is currently in its first season as a member of the Big East Conference; they joined former MVC member Creighton along with Butler to team with seven institutions that were members of the old Big East.
 
Once a fierce rivalry, the Aces and Musketeers will take to the floor for the 40th time overall and first meeting since Feb. 26, 1994.  Xavier has been dominant at home, taking 16 out of 19 games while the Aces held strong with a 9-6 home mark; UE has won two of the last three outings, including an 80-69 win in the 1993 MCC Tournament in Indianapolis.