EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A 2-game home stretch awaits the University of Evansville men's basketball team, beginning on Saturday with a 1 p.m. game against Missouri State inside the Ford Center. Tickets are still available and fans out of town can follow via ESPN+ and the Purple Aces Radio Network.
Setting the Scene
- Evansville's regular season series against the Bears comes to an early and in the third week of Missouri Valley Conference play as MSU picked up a 65-52 win over the Aces in the conference opener on Dec. 31
- UE has had the upper hand against the Bears in Evansville, winning seven of the last nine homes games in the series
- Sam Cunliffe was the top scorer for UE in that contest, posting 13 points; he has been the Aces points leader in three out of five conference outings
- The offense looks to get back on track; in non-conference games, the team posted an average of 78.1 points per game, but that number has dropped to 53.8 in five MVC contests
Last Time Out
- On Wednesday at Indiana State, the Aces jumped out to an early 6-2 lead, but a pair of first-half rallies sent the Sycamores to the half with a 34-19 lead and they would finish the night with a 65-42 victory
- Evansville made a furious rally in the second half - trailing by a 43-21 tally, the Aces scored 13 in a row to cut their deficit to nine points before Indiana State fended off the challenge while finishing the game on a 22-8 run
- Despite playing just 13 minutes, Sam Cunliffe as the Aces top scorer, hitting five of his seven attempts on his way to 12 points while Artur Labinowicz finished with nine
- Sophomore Jawaun Newton hauled in a career-high seven rebounds with five of those coming on the offensive end
Upping his game
- Sam Cunliffe continues to improve his shooting efficiency, adding a 5-of-7 effort at Indiana State to improve his season tally to 40.8%
- Over the last five games, Cunliffe has shot over 40% each time out, hitting 24 of his 48 attempts while leading the team in scoring in three of the five MVC games
- From long range, Cunliffe has been just as impressive, knocking down seven of his 16 3-point tries in the last four games; prior to that, he connected on two out of 19 attempts beyond the arc
- In the final 10 non-conference games, Cunliffe shot over 40% from the field just twice
- He has 11 double figure efforts in 18 contests
Making the Effort
- Sophomore Jawaun Newton has worked to overcome a tough December stretch that saw him miss two games while playing an average of 5 minutes per contest over a 3-game stretch
- In the last four games, Newton has been on the floor for at least 14 minutes in each game while contributing in different ways
- His hard work culminated in a career-high of seven rebounds at Indiana State with five of those caroms coming on the offensive end
Scouting the Opponent
- Missouri State enters the second meeting of the season against the Aces with an 8-10 mark while going 2-3 through their first five MVC outings
- Keandre Cook continues to pace the Bears with 14.8 points per game; he is their leading shooter from outside, knocking down 37 triples
- Gaige Prim checks in with 12.8 points while Tulio Da Silva is averaging 10.1 PPG along with a team-high 7.3 rebounds
- In the first meeting in Springfield on New Year's Eve, the Bears opened conference play with a 65-52 win with Da Silva leading MSU with 14 points with Lamont West and Isiaih Mosley each finishing with 13
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