EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Arch Madness opens on Thursday with the 10th-seeded University of Evansville men's basketball team facing #7 Illinois State at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Tip is set for 6 p.m. CT with the MVC TV Network and the Purple Aces Radio Network on the call.
MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year
- On and off the floor, Ben Humrichous epitomizes what it means to be a student-athlete and others have taken notice as Humrichous was named the 2024 MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Monday
- Humrichous owns a perfect 4.0 GPA at UE as he pursues his Master of Science in Leadership...in his undergraduate work at Huntington (Ind.) University, he finished with a 3.93 GPA
- He is the third Purple Aces to win the award joining Jason Holsinger (2009) and Colt Ryan (2012 and 2013)
All-Bench Team Honorees
- Chuck Bailey III and Tanner Cuff were both named to the 2024 MVC All-Bench Team on Tuesday afternoon
- Bailey played in 30 games as a freshman while making one start
- The 4-time MVC Freshman of the Week averaged 8.6 points and 2.6 boards per game
- Cuff saw action in all 31 regular season games with his top game being a 16-point effort in the win over UIC
Last Time Out
- Evansville scored the first eight points of Sunday's game at Belmont, but a late first half run by the Bruins saw them take a 38-26 halftime lead before winning by an 83-66 final
- Kenny Strawbridge Jr. led UE with 14 points and 8 rebounds while Josh Hughes posted 13 tallies and 7 caroms
- Antonio Thomas scored 11 while Cam Haffner finished the day with 10 points
Storming into March
- Another strong effort in the regular season finale at Belmont has Kenny Strawbridge Jr. ready to make noise in the postseason
- Strawbridge has posted 12+ points in seven of the last nine games including back-to-back 14-point efforts over the last week
- He has averaged 11.6 points and 3.4 assists in his last nine games while posting multiple assists in eight of those contests
- Defensively, he is one of the best in the MVC and is second with 1.70 steals/game
Strong Finish
- Converting five of his 10 attempts and knocking down three triples, Josh Hughes finished with 13 points at Belmont
- It was a strong game that put an end to a 5-game stretch that saw him post a total of six points
- Over the last nine games, he is 18-of-37 from the field - 48.6%
- Since Jan. 13, Hughes is shooting 45.5% (20/44) from long range
Hitting his Stride
- Over the last five games, Cam Haffner is averaging 7.6 points per game while scoring 9+ points in three of those outings
- At Belmont, Haffner was 4-of-6 from the field on his way to 10 points while the streak began with 11 points, tying his season mark
- Haffner's 5-game stretch has seen him go 15-for-27 (55.6%) from the field and 8-of-17 (47.1%) from outside
Scouting the Opponent
- Illinois State enters Arch Madness as the #7 seed following a 15-16 regular season and a 9-11 showing in the MVC
- ISU dropped two of its last three games with road losses at Bradley and Valparaiso; they defeated Missouri State by a 75-74 final in their home finale
- Darius Burford paces the Redbirds with a 13.2 PPG scoring average but has been limited to 21 games and has not played since Feb. 3
- Myles Foster is second on the team with 12.2 PPG and leads the way with an average of 8.0 rebounds
- Malachi Poindexter was the star the last time UE and ISU met in Normal; he recorded 27 points in an 86-79 Illinois State victory
