EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A pivotal home game is on tap for the University of Evansville men's basketball team when the Purple Aces welcome Indiana State on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. The Purple Aces Radio Network and ESPN3 will have full coverage.
Setting the Scene
- This is a huge contest that will have implications within the Missouri Valley Conference standings...Indiana State is currently in 4th place with an 8-6 league mark while the Aces sit in 5th with a 6-6 record
- Following Sunday's game, the squads reconvene in Terre Haute on Wednesday, Feb. 17 for a 4 p.m. CT game
- The Sycamores have been on a roll, winning seven of their last eight games this season and are currently the only MVC team to defeat Loyola this year
- In the series against the Aces, ISU has won eight in a row dating back to January of 2018...prior to that, Evansville had the upper hand, winning five out of seven
Last Time Out
- It was another hard-fought contest when the Aces faced Loyola on Sunday in Chicago...the Ramblers led by as many as 14 points before the Aces got back within two possessions late in the second half
- Trailing by 13 at the break, Evansville improved greatly in the second half...UE shot just 30.4% to open the game, but hit 51.9% of its attempts in the final 20 minutes to close the gap
- Shamar Givance scored a team-best 17 points while Jawaun Newton knocked down 8 of his 11 attempts to register 16
- Noah Frederking added 14 tallies while draining 4 of his 5 long range attempts
Pinpoint Accuracy
- To say that Jawaun Newton has been efficient is a great understatement...since 1/2/21, Newton an unbelievable 57-for-99 from the field, 71.9% inside the arc and has shot 57% or higher in seven of the last 10 games
- He connected on 8 of his 11 attempts in game 2 at Loyola, including all eight tries from inside the arc...in the Valparaiso series, Newton hit 12 of his 15 shots from inside while averaging 14.5 points
- At Bradley, Newton set his career mark with 22 points in the opening contest...the junior hit 9 of his 14 attempts, including 4 out of 6 from outside...the final tally surpassed his previous mark of 19, which came on two occasions earlier in the season
Quite a Streak
- UE's top scorer in the Loyola series was Noah Frederking, who averaged 14.5 points per game...he scored 15 in the opener before a 4-for-5 performance from outside saw him tally 14 on Sunday
- In the 2-game series, Frederking was 7-for-12 from outside and 11-of-21 overall
- Frederking has scored at least seven points in 16 out of 18 games this season and has reached double figures in 11 of those contests
- After scoring 2 points game one against Illinois State, Frederking has rebounded to average 11.0 PPG in the last 7 games
- Frederking has hit multiple 3-pointers in each of the last 7 games and 16 times in 18 games overall this season
Scouting the Opponent
- Indiana State comes into Sunday's game with a record of 11-8 while going 8-6 in league play
- The Sycamores are 7-1 over their last eight games including series sweeps over Bradley, Illinois State and Southern Illinois...on January 10, ISU dealt Loyola their only league loss of the season - a 76-71 win in Terre Haute
- Tyreke Key paces ISU with 15.9 points per game and is third on the team with 5.3 rebounds
- Jake LaRavia and Cooper Neese check in with 11.7 and 11.2 points per game, respectively
- LaRavia has a team-high 44 assists and 29 steals while sitting second with 6.1 rebounds per game and a total of 16 blocked shots
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