EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Few players make the jump from year one to year two as D.J. Balentine did last season.  The Kokomo, Ind. native posted 8.1 points per game as a freshman before assuming the role of leading scorer last year, finishing the season at 22.8 points per game.
 
Balentine was the top scorer in the Missouri Valley Conference, seventh in the nation and was the #2 sophomore scorer in the country.  He also had the best season for a sophomore in program history, posting 752 points.  That is 117 better than the previous mark of 735, which Ed Smallwood did as a sophomore in 1957-58.
 
So where did the change come in?  One of the most important things Balentine was able to do was watch Colt Ryan close up in the 2012-13 campaign.  While Balentine had a strong freshman season, he used the experience gained that season and turned it into a record-breaking one as a sophomore.
 
One of the biggest improvements came at the free throw line.  In his first season at UE, Balentine made just 18 free throws.  Last season, he exceeded that total twice in a single game.  Over the course of the full season, Balentine hit 216 free throws, which was second in the nation.
 
Balentine's top effort of the season came at Northern Iowa where he scored 43 points.  It was the no. 5 scoring game amongst all DI players last season.  He posted 22 efforts of 20 or more points and six games scoring 30 or more points.
 
Another impressive fact about D.J. comes when you compare his start to that of the all-time leading scorer at UE – Colt Ryan.  Through 68 games, Ryan totaled 1,056 points with Balentine just 13 tallies behind with 1,043.  When you compare the sophomore seasons of both, Balentine finished with 752 points with Ryan recording 503.
 
This season, Balentine looks for even more.  Not in the personal statistics, but for the team as a whole.  With the supporting cast that he has this season, the sky is the limit.