Game Notes

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – After ten years, the University of Evansville will take part in its final Ramada BracketBusters game on Saturday as the Aces travel to face Wright State at 1 p.m. at the Nutter Center.
 
Playing one of its top games of the season, the Purple Aces beat Illinois State in dominant fashion on Wednesday, earning a 79-62 victory.  Taking a less aggressive approach, the Aces committed just 13 fouls while sending ISU to the line only seven times; on the other side, UE forced 22 Redbird fouls while attempting 28 free throws.  Colt Ryan posted a game-high 31 points after notching 23 in the first half; Ned Cox finished strong once again, tallying 16.
 
Saturday’s game will mark the tenth and final appearance in the BracketBusters series for Evansville; UE has posted a 4-5 record in its first nine games.  Last season, Purple Aces topped the Leathernecks of Western Illinois by a 65-48 final at the Ford Center. Below are the all-time results from UE’s BracketBuster history.
 
2012 – vs. Western Illinois – W, 68-45
2011 – at Murray State – L, 72-47
2010 – vs. UIC – L, 82-80
2009 – vs. Miami (OH) – W, 75-61
2008 – at Eastern Illinois - W, 63-55
2007 – at Samford – W, 69-65
2006 – vs. UT-Martin – L, 69-62
2005 – vs. Loyola – L, 68-64
2004 – at Central Michigan – L, 90-73
 
One of the top free throw shooters in MVC and UE history, Colt Ryan is sixth in all-time free throws made with 546 in his career.  His 9-for-12 outing against Illinois State helped him jump four spots on the list, most notably passing Larry Bird’s tally of 542 set in his career at Indiana State, which spanned from 1976-79. 
 
Another Ace is in the midst of his top offensive streak at UE as Ned Cox has posted 16 points or more in three of the last four games.  Much of that success can be attributed to his accuracy from 3-point range as he has connected on 9 of his last 17 treys.  The last four games have seen the San Antonio native average 15 points per game while rocketing up the all-time UE scoring list; since registering his 1000^th points, Cox has moved up to 38th on the list, just eight points behind Bradley Strickland.
 
Adam Wing has found his way into the starting lineup in each of the last two games and has responded in a big way.  After a 10-point, 7-rebound effort versus Creighton, Wing came back with a career-high 35 minutes of play against Illinois State while setting his career mark with eight rebounds while notching eight more points.  Just as important as his efforts on the stat sheet was the fact that he did not get whistled for a foul versus the Redbirds; entering the game, Wing averaged 6.3 fouls per 40 minutes of play.
 
Saturday’s game will be just the second all-time meeting between the Raiders and Aces; Wright State is 18-9 overall and are 9-5 in the Horizon League and are tied with Green Bay for third place.  Defense is at the base of Wright State’s philosophy as they allow opponents to score just 58.2 points per game, tops in their league.
 
WSU ranks third in the conference in shooting defense and allow the opposition to hit just 31.2% of its attempts from outside.  Cole Darling leads the way for the Raiders with 11.3 points per game while his 4.6 rebounds is tied for the team lead.  Just behind him is Reggie Arceneaux, who has notched 9.7 PPG to go along with a team-high 73 assists; J.T. Yoho has seen 47.1% of his treys go through the net, that total leads the Horizon League.  Over their last five games, WSU has been victorious four times, including a 70-68 win at Green Bay in double overtime.
 
The last and only meeting between Evansville and Wright State came on March 10, 1976 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Roberts Stadium.  UE finished with an 85-75 win to advance to the Great Lakes Regional Championship game where they were defeated by Eastern Illinois.  Mike Smith, then a junior, led the way with 24 points while sophomore Scott Johnson tallied 17 and Joe Peulen had 15.  Forward Jeff Frey finished the outing with 10 points and 14 boards.  With the game knotted at 36-36 at the half, the squads continued to battle to the end as the game was still tied at 75 with 2 minutes remaining; at that point, Evansville finished the game on a 10-0 run to earn the win.
 
Next week, UE will play its final two regular season games next week, beginning with a trip to Wichita State on Wednesday.  Next Saturday, UE will finish the season with a home contest against Indiana State.  That game will mark senior day as Colt Ryan, Ned Cox, Troy Taylor, Lewis Jones, Andy Chinn and Brandon Williams will be honored.