Game Notes

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Last season, the Purple Aces men's basketball team closed its MVC home slate against Indiana State.  This season, they open up that portion of that schedule against the Sycamores as the two squads are set to clash at the Ford Center at 7 p.m. Saturday in front of a national audience on ESPNU.
 
Tomorrow's game is "Pack the Ford Center Purple" day as fans are encouraged to wear purple to the game.  The first 1,000 fans through the gates will also be given a free purple t-shirt.  Fans can arrive early to support the women's team, who look to remain undefeated in Valley play as they take on Bradley beginning at 3:30.  At halftime of the men's game, you will have the opportunity to watch the famous Zooperstars, an inflatable act.    
 
In the MVC opener on Wednesday evening, the Purple Aces fell at Drake by a final of 94-66; UE never held a lead in the contest, but fought back from a 14-point deficit in the first half to trail by just four at the break.  Evansville's last four trips to Des Moines have seen the team outscored 342-258, an average of 21 points per game.  Second-half runs have been key to Drake's success in the last three home contests versus UE; the Bulldogs have combined to shoot
51-78 (65.4%) overall in the last three second halves while hitting 15 out of 22 treys; runs of 38-15 in 2011-12, 18-3 last year and 42-19 this year have played a major role in their victories.
 
UE began its 20th season as a member of the MVC at Drake on Wednesday and fell to 8-12 in its overall openers and 3-17 on the road in its first game; Evansville has been much better in its home openers, going 11-8 overall while taking wins in the last three home conference openers.
 
D.J. Balentine continues to pace the Valley in scoring with 22.6 points per game; he posted his 10th effort of 20+ points finishing with an even 20 on Wednesday against the Bulldogs.  His efforts in the final 1:48 of the first half at Drake kept UE right in the game as he scored nine points over that span; he has already jump started his Valley season compared to his freshman campaign when he totaled just 12 points in the opening five games of league play.
 
Prior to the Dec. 28 game against Grambling, Jaylon Brown's top scoring output for UE was 7 points on two occasions, since then, the Fishers, Ind. native has turned it on in a big way.  The last two games have seen Brown average 11.5 PPG while connecting on nine out of ten attempts; he hit all 5 shots to tally 14 against Grambling before going 4-for-5 at Drake to tally 9.   Brown is one of the top defenders for Evansville and leads the squad with 14 steals on the season; he posted four takeaways at Drake.
 
Christian Benzon has joined Jaylon Brown as a pair of Aces to turn their fortunes in the last two games; against the Bulldogs, he played a career-best 24 minutes with 5 points and 5 rebounds on 2-3 shooting.  Against Grambling, Benzon saw time on the floor for 15 minutes, hitting a pair of buckets to finish with five points along with a season-high 7 boards.
 
Indiana State comes to the Ford Center sporting a 10-3 overall record while taking the Valley opener over Loyola by a final of 70-58 at the Hulman Center.  Indiana State has scored over
80 points in seven of their first 13 games this season, including four in a row for the first time since 1984; the Sycamores scored 80 or more in five games in a row during that season.  The Sycamores have defeated three nationally-ranked teams in a row dating back to last season – a road win over No. 14 Wichita State on January 29 as well as a home court win over No. 13 Creighton on February 6; most recently, the Sycamores downed No. 21/22 Notre Dame in South Bend on November 17, 2013.
 
Jake Odum now has 1,289 career points scored as he tossed in six against Loyola and currently sits 14th on the ISU all-time scoring list.Odum is the 35th member of the ISU 1,000-point club and is just the eighth Sycamore to reach that mark during his junior season.  Leading the ISU offense is former Gonzaga transfer Manny Arop, who has tallied an average of 13.3 points per game.
 
Evansville has faced Indiana State more than any other team in the country since the beginning of the series on January 7, 1921; the Sycamores own an 85-75 edge in the series.  Home teams have had the dominant hand as Evansville is 51-28 at home while the Sycamores are 55-23 in games played in Terre Haute; the squads have met three times on a neutral floor with ISU taking two of those three meetings.  The Aces have won two of the last three home outings, including an 84-68 win on Senior Day last season, which marked the final regular-season home game for the stellar senior class of Colt Ryan, Troy Taylor, Ned Cox and Lewis Jones.