Game Notes

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Purple Aces men’s basketball team seeks its third win in a row as it travels to face Wichita State on Wednesday evening at Koch Arena beginning at 7 p.m.
 
Fans back in Evansville can listen live on 91.5 WUEV or watch online at ESPN3.com.
 
In the final installment of the BracketBusters series, the Purple Aces finished on a high note, defeating Wright State by a 70-58 final at the Nutter Center on Saturday in Dayton, Ohio.  MVC Player of the Week Colt Ryan led the way with 21 points while #D.J. Balentine# finished the day with 18.  The game ended 10 years of BracketBusters action as UE finished with an even 5-5 mark; the Aces won three out of five road games, including Saturday’s triumph over WSU.
 
After a 4-1 start in league play, the Aces won three of their next nine games, however, since then, the Aces have won two out of three games while nearly topping Creighton in the other.  The primary stats that jump out when you compare both streaks have been scoring and rebounding.  Evansville is +8.7 in the last three games in scoring while falling by an average of 2.9 per game in the nine prior to it.  On the boards, the last three outings have seen the Aces outrebound the opposition by 7.0 per game; the earlier nine games in the 3-6 slide saw UE outrebounded by 1.0.
 
Since entering the starting lineup against Creighton, freshman Adam Wing has made an impact in each of his three games since.  The Morehead, Ky. native has posted an average of over 31 minutes per game while grabbing 7.7 boards per game.
 
After a 10-point, 7-rebound effort versus Creighton, Wing came back with a career-high 35 minutes of play against Illinois State and has set a career ark with 8 rebounds in each of the last two games.  Just as important as his efforts on the stat sheet was the fact that he has not been whistled for a foul over the last two games; entering the Illinois State game, Wing averaged 6.3 fouls per 40 minutes of play; since then, he has not had one foul in his last 65 minutes.
 
Wichita State rolls into Wednesday’s game with a 24-5 mark and has won its last five games to improve to 12-4 in the MVC.  A defensive-minded team, Wichita leads the league in rebounding while holding the top rebounding percentage at 57.2%, a total that is 5th in the country.
 
The Shockers do a great job of making the most out of each possession, averaging 1.05 points per possession (2nd MVC, 54th in the nation) while allowing just 0.892 points on the defensive end, tops in the Valley and 24^th overall.  WSU allows just 39.3% of the opponents’ shots to go in, that is #1 in the MVC and 32nd in the nation.
 
Junior Cleanthony Early is the Shockers’ leading scorer and ranks 7th in the conference with 14.7 points per game.  Carl Hall posts 12.5 points while leading the team with 7.2 rebounds per contest, 6th in the league; Hall leads the conference with 3.2 offensive rebounds per game.  In the BracketBusters win over Detroit, it was Malcolm Armstead leading the way with 20 points; Early and Hall each finished with 18.
 
Evansville took the win over the Shockers earlier this season at the Ford Center as the Aces finished with a 71-67 victory.  Ryan scored 24 points to lead all scorers while Troy Taylor had 12 and Ned Cox finished with 10. 
 
On Saturday, UE will wrap up the regular season versus Indiana State at the Ford Center.  UE’s six seniors: Colt Ryan, Troy Taylor, Ned Cox, Lewis Jones, Andy Chinn and Brandon Williams will be honored for their contributions to the program.