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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In their final home contest of the regular season, the University of Evansville men's basketball team will take on conference rival Drake beginning at 7:05 p.m. at the Ford Center.
 
The Purple Aces rallied from a 14-point first half deficit to take a lead in the second frame, but Southern Illinois hit 19 out of 25 free throw attempts to take a 61-56 win on Saturday.  Egidijus Mockevicius posted his fifth double-double in six games with a 19-point, 11-rebound performance; he hit 8 of his 10 shots from the field.
 
Following just three points against Indiana State earlier in the week, Blake Simmons rebounded with 11 against SIU with an accurate 4-8 shooting night while draining three triples; he also tallied a career-best four steals.  A crowd of 6,243 people attended the contest that featured the retirement of Scott Haffner's jersey; the average attendance for UE this season is 4,920, a tally that is just over 450 more per game than a season ago.
 
Mockevicius has been on an absolute roll in conference play, averaging 11.1 points per game while hauling in a league-best 9.1 rebounds; he has also hit a league-best 64.3% of his shots.  Overall, Mockevicius is the league's top rebounder (8.3/game) and shooter (63.7%) and is the #2 shot blocker with 1.8 per game.  He has posted five double-doubles in the last six games and has eight on the season; his streak is the best one since the 1993-94 campaign when Andy Elkins posted six double-doubles over the course of seven games from Jan. 9, 1994 through Feb. 2 of that year.
 
His efforts have reached an unreal level over the last four games as he has shot 79.4%, hitting 27 out of 34 attempts to improve to the second-best season in UE history.
 
Picked to finish tenth in the MVC prior to the season, Drake has used that as a rallying point to stand at 14-14 entering Tuesday's game while going 5-11 in league play.  Always known for their long range shooting, the Bulldogs lead the Valley in 3-point shooting, hitting 39.5% of their attempts; they make an average of 7.8 per game.
 
They hold the third-best rebounding margin in the league (+1.4) and that has been helped by 24.4 defensive boards per contest, also No. 3 in the MVC.  Richard Carter is the No. 4 scorer in the league with 16.6 PPG; he has kept that rolling in league play, averaging 15.2 points; he also leads the squad in assists with 101.
 
Drake has the top free throw shooter in the Valley as Jordan Daniels has connected on 41 out of 46 attempts, hitting his free throws at an 89.1% clip; he is also the No. 2 3-point shooter in the conference, hitting 48.3%.  Led by Daniels' long range efforts, the Bulldogs have three of the top ten 3-point shooters in the MVC; teammate Aaron Hawley is third at 44.9% while Chris Caird checks in at 9th at 38%.
 
A 94-66 Drake win on New Year's Day event up the overall series at 20-20; it marked the fourth home win in a row for DU as they won those contests by an average of 21 points per game.   Evansville took an 84-78 home win over the Bulldogs last season as Colt Ryan totaled 33 points; overall, Drake has won five of the last six games against UE.