EVANSVILLE, Ind. – On Tuesday evening, the University of Evansville men's basketball team makes the short trek to Carbondale, Ill. for a road game at Southern Illinois. Tip is set for 7 p.m. CT with the Purple Aces Radio Network and ESPN+ having the coverage.
Last Time Out
- Trailing by as many as 18 points in the second half, the Purple Aces rallied to get within five points before Valparaiso won by a 76-69 final on Saturday at the Ford Center
- Yacine Toumi tied his career mark with 18 points while adding 7 rebounds
- Antoine Smith Jr. posted a season-best 16 points while Marvin Coleman II and Kenny Strawbridge Jr. added 15 and 12 points, respectively
- Freshman Gabe Spinelli made the first start of his career and scored 3 points
Continuing the Turnaround
- Over his last nine games, Marvin Coleman II is averaging 14.7 points per game while raising his season average from 5.4 points to 9.8
- He scored a career-best 22 points at Missouri State on Jan. 4 and followed that with 16 points against Illinois State
- Coleman reached double figures just once in the first 10 games before doing so in eight of the last nine outings
- His effort at Missouri State bested his old record of 18 points, which came earlier this season against Campbell
- Along with his scoring, Coleman has been depended on for extra minutes and has played at least 35 minutes in 8 of the last 9 contests
Season High
- Antoine Smith Jr. scored a season-high 16 points against Valparaiso and has recorded an average of 10.7 points in his last three outings
- It is a nice rebound from the prior four games that saw him post 4.8 PPG
- Smith has regained his edge from outside, knocking down 7 of his last 18 attempts and is shooting 39.2% from outside on the year
Top Marks
- Chris Moncrief has played at least 23 minutes in each of the last two games including his top season total of 24:51 against Valparaiso
- He recorded two blocks and two rebounds against the Beacons
- In the road game at Bradley, Moncrief played 23:13 and picked up two blocked shots
Scouting the Opponent
- Southern Illinois has won 9 of its last 10 games to enter Tuesday's game with a 14-5 overall mark
- The Salukis are one of three teams tied for the MVC lead at 6-2 in a logjam atop the conference with no clear cut favorite with the top eight teams separated by just one game
- Marcus Domask continues to pace the SIU in scoring and rebounding
- Domask is recording an average of 16.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest while pacing the squad with 67 assists and 10 blocks on the season
- Lance Jones is the other double-digit scorer for the Salukis with 14.4 points and a team-best 34 steals
