Game Notes
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With its first-ever CollegeInsider.com Tournament win under its belt, the Purple Aces men’s basketball team is ready for the second round of play as Eastern Kentucky comes to town on Saturday for a 12:30 p.m. game at the Physical Activities Center (PAC) on the USI campus.
Tickets are still available until game time and cost $15. They are general admission. You can purchase tickets today at the Carson Center or by calling 812-488-ACES until 6 p.m. All methods of payment are accepted today. You may also buy tickets beginning at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at the PAC, but cash will be the only form of payment accepted on Saturday.
Postseason play continues for the Aces as they will take on Eastern Kentucky at the Physical Activities Center on the campus of USI. For the second time in three years and the fourth time since entering Division I in 1977, the Aces notched a postseason victory, taking down Tennessee State in the opening round of play on Tuesday at the Ford Center.
Colt Ryan notched a game-high 22 points as he moved within 33 points of tying the all-time UE mark set by Larry Humes; Ryan stands at 2,203 points in his illustrious college career.
A win versus Eastern Kentucky would mark the first time the program has won two postseason games in 42 years. The championship season of 1971 was the last time UE has won more than one game in a postseason tournament as the Aces went a perfect 5-0 en route to their fifth NCAA College Division National Championship. Along with that possibility comes another as Evansville needs just one more win to reach the magic number of 20 for the season; that would be the first time UE has reached that milestone since going 23-10 in 1998-99.
USI will once again play host to the Purple Aces on their campus for a postseason contest as UE takes on EKU at the Physical Activities Center on Saturday afternoon. In 2011, the Aces also called the PAC home in game one of the College Basketball Invitational. Hofstra was the opponent as Evansville ended a six-game postseason losing streak to earn a 77-70 win over the Pride; prior to that game, the last postseason win came in the NCAA Tournament over Oregon State in 1989. That contest saw four Aces register double figures, led by Colt Ryan’s 21; UE and Hofstra each hit 50.9% of their shots (27-53).
Eastern Kentucky comes to Evansville with a 25-9 record and a 12-4 mark in the OVC. In the opening round of the CIT, the Colonels picked up a 69-62 win at Gardner-Webb. A strong offensive team, EKU has several strong national and OVC rankings including: FG% (46.6% - 3rd OVC/34th NCAA), 2FG% (55.2% - 2/6), free throw percentage (78.6% - 1/2), turnovers/game (11.4 - 1/48) and assist/turnover ratio (1.31 - 1/25).
Glenn Cosey leads the way for EKU with 15.1 points/game; he has hit 42.5% of his attempts on the season and tallied 22 in the win at Gardner-Webb. Corey Walden led all players in their opening round win with 26 points. Newburgh native and Castle HS grad Eric Stutz has notched 8.2 PPG while leading the team with 4.7 boards per contest.
Below is the full schedule for the second round of CIT play:
SATURDAY MARCH 23
Eastern Kentucky (25-9) @ Evansville (19-14) 1:30 pm
Rider (19-14) @ East Carolina (19-12) 5:00 pm
Canisius (19-13) @ Youngstown State (18-15) 7:05 pm
Tulane (20-14) @ Bradley (17-16) 8:00 pm
Illinois-Chicago (18-15) @ Northern Iowa (19-14) 8:00
Air Force (18-13) @ Weber State (27-6) 9:00 pm
SUNDAY MARCH 24
Kent State (21-13) @ Loyola MD (22-11) 3:00 pm
MONDAY MARCH 25
UC Irvine (21-15) vs. Oral Roberts (19-14) 8:00 pm
