EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Looking to continue the best Missouri Valley Conference start in five years, the University of Evansville men's basketball team travels to Peoria, Illinois for a weekend series at Bradley. Games are set for Saturday, Jan. 16 and Sunday, Jan. 17 inside Carver Arena. Both contests tip at 3 p.m. CT and will be carried live by ESPN3 and the Purple Aces Radio Network.
Setting the Scene
- For the second time in conference play, the Purple Aces take to the road; the team played its first league series at Southern Illinois, earning a split
- A unique scheduling nugget - this is just the second time since 2008 that the Aces have played a road game at Bradley before January 20
- The Braves have seen numerous schedule changes due to the pandemic with their opening two league series being postponed
- Bradley opened up their Valley slate last weekend, splitting two games at UNI
Last Time Out
- Hot shooting in the second half saw Illinois State finish with a 73-68 win over the Aces on Sunday at the Ford Center
- ISU hit 17 of its 23 attempts (73.9%) int he second half as they held on for the win
- Despite the offensive efficiency by the Redbirds, Evansville was able to stay within striking distance and got within four points in the final minute
- Noah Frederking hit five 3-pointers on his way to 15 points while Evan Kuhlman and Shamar Givance registered 13 and 12, respectively
- Givance and Jawaun Newton each had career highs in assists with Givance dishing out eight helpers while Newton finished the game with seven
- As a team, the Aces were credited with 20 assists; it was the highest tally since posting 22 on Dec. 7, 2019 against Miami Ohio
He Makes a Difference
- With his team sitting at 0-3, Jawaun Newton made his season debut and has led the Purple Aces to six wins in nine games since that point
- Newton came out of the gate strong, setting his career high with 19 points in his first contest of the year versus Eastern Illinois; he matched that total on January 9 against Illinois State where he hit 8 of his 12 field goal attempts while going 3-for-5 from long range
- His accuracy has been evident in the last four games with 21 of his last 36 shots finding the bottom of the net; inside the arc - 17 of his last 23 tries have been good
- The junior has scored at least six points in all nine of his games while totaling nine or more tallies on eight occasions
Presence Down Low
- Iyen Enaruna gave his team exactly what it needed in the series against Illinois State
- The junior posted eight points and two offensive rebounds in each game while playing a total of 35 minutes in the two contests
- Enaruna has taken his efficiency to a new level over the last five games, hitting 60% of his tries (12 out of 20) while averaging 5.6 PPG
- Against SEMO, Enaruna set his scoring high with nine points while adding six boards
Scouting the Opponent
- Bradley starts the week with a 7-4 record while splitting their opening two MVC games last weekend
- With the pandemic forcing multiple scheduling changes to the Braves' conference slate, they did not open until last weekend
- The Braves split a series at UNI, falling by a 78-72 score in the opener before taking a 75-73 win
- Elijah Childs paces the team with 14.6 points per game, 7.8 rebounds and a total of 17 blocked shots on the season
- Ja'Shon Henry is just behind with 11.7 points while Terry Nolan Jr. Averages 11.5
- Sean East II has a team-best 47 assists on the year while turning the ball over just 17 times
- INFO: For all of the latest information on University of Evansville athletics, visit GoPurpleAces.com or follow the program on Twitter via @UEAthletics.
- FUTURE UNAFRAID: To make a gift to the Future Unafraid initiative and contribute to the Purple Aces' response to COVID-19, please visit UEAlumniOnline.com/FutureUnafraid
- SUPPORT: For information on giving to UE Athletics or its individual athletics programs, visit the SUPPORT tab on the top of GoPurpleAces.com.
- TICKETS: To purchase tickets for University of Evansville athletics events, log on to GoPurpleAces.com and click on the TICKETS tab on top of the page.
