EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Another home game is on tap Saturday with the University of Evansville men's basketball team playing host to Valparaiso inside the Ford Center with a 1 p.m. tip. The game will be available on ESPN3 and the Purple Aces Radio Network presented by Learfield.
Game Notes - ESPN3 - Live Stats - Live Audio
Setting the Scene
- Saturday's contest will be the "Party Like It's 1999" game featuring the 20-year reunion of the 1999 NCAA Tournament Team, who won the MVC regular season championship
- UE looks to snap a 4-game skid after dropping an 81-73 game to Bradley on Wednesday evening
- Following Saturday's game, Evansville heads to Indiana State and Southern Illinois over the course of the next week
Last Time Out
- A 12-0 run by Bradley pushed them to an 81-73 win over UE on Wednesday night
- Evansville led 46-40, but the run by the Braves gave them the lead for good
- K.J. Riley led the way once again with 14 points while Evan Kuhlman finished the game one point off of his career high, totaling 13 points
- Marty Hill added 10 points and 7 rebounds while John Hall cemented his conference rebounding lead, adding 9 caroms
Takeaways from Bradley
- Prior to the home game against Illinois State, the Aces had not allowed an opponent to shoot 50% or higher; since then, three of UE's four opponents have reached the mark including Bradley, finishing at 51.7%
- Riley was 3-for-5 from the line in the game; he is now tops in the nation with 174 free throw attempts on the season
- UE connected on 11 3-pointers against the Braves; it was the fourth time in the last five games UE has hit double digit triples; Evansville has connected on at least seven 3-pointers in each MVC game
At the Top
- Five more free throw attempts against Bradley saw K.J. Riley vault to the top of the national standings with 174 attempts on the season
- Riley's 128 made free throw is 9th in the NCAA
- He has gone 34-of-48 from the stripe in the last five games alone
- The Bronx product now has scored 10+ points in 14 of the last 16 games; he reset his scoring high with 25 points against Drake in the MVC opener
- He ranks 9th in the country with 7.5 fouls drawn per game
- For the season, Riley leads the Aces with 14.3 points per game; his tally is tied for 8th in the Valley
Scouting the Opponent
- Valparaiso enters its first season meeting against UE with a 12-10 mark and a 5-4 record in Valley play
- The Crusaders won their first four MVC games, but have dropped three in a row and four of their last five including a 55-54 overtime loss to Missouri State on Tuesday
- Leading scorer Ryan Fazekas, who scores 12.7 points per game, has been limited to 16 games due to injury
- Behind him is Derrik Smits, who checks in with 12.2 PPG while Markus Golder and Javon Freeman average 10.5 and 10.3 points per game, respectively
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