EVANSVILLE, Ind. – On Saturday, the University of Evansville men's basketball team returns to the road for a 3 p.m. game at Valparaiso. ESPN+ and the Purple Aces Radio Network will have the broadcast.
Last Time Out
- Evansville dropped its fourth game in a row, falling to UIC by a final score of 78-67 on Wednesday evening at the Ford Center
- Tayshawn Comer led UE with 18 points while Gabriel Pozzato had 13
- For the second game in a row, the Purple Aces had five players score in double digits
Raising His Game
- In his first season in the MVC, Tayshawn Comer has performed at his best against league competition
- Comer is averaging 16.9 PPG in Valley games, tying him for second
- He has played all 120 minutes in the last three games for UE
- On January 6, he was named the MVC Player of the Week after averaging 25 points against Southern Illinois and Indiana State
- He reset his career scoring high with 26 against the Salukis, passing his previous high of 23 when he was at Eastern Kentucky
- Over the last seven games, Comer is averaging 18.9 PPG
He's Back
- After missing eight games, Gabriel Pozzato was back on the floor against Belmont
- In his return, Pozzato scored four points in just over 24 minutes of work before tallying 13 points and a career-high 5 assists against UIC
- Pozzato has posted double figures in 10 of his 12 games this year
- In the games versus Murray State and WKU, Pozzato played all 80 minutes before seeing 35:23 of work against UTC
Back on Top
- Finishing with a career-high 11 assists against Belmont, Tanner Cuff has retaken the MVC lead with his assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.67 (9th in the nation)
- Over the last four games, Cuff has 19 assists versus just two turnovers
- Cuff added nine rebounds against the Bruins to improve his season average to a team-best 6.35 per game, which is 9th in the league
- On the offensive side, Cuff has scored 7 or more in 8 of the last 11 games and is averaging 8.6 PPG on the season
Home Cooking
- Josh Hughes has recorded double figures in each of the last five home games
- After registering 10 points versus Belmont, Hughes had 12 against UIC
- His numbers at home have been off the chart - he is 10.7 points while shooting 51.3% (39-76) from the field and 40.5% (17-42) from outside
- On the road, Hughes has averaged just 3.2 points while shooting 18.5% (12-65) from the floor and 2.9% (1-35) from long range
- Hughes has not scored more than 2 points in any of the last four road contests
Scouting the Opponent
- Valparaiso holds a 10-10 overall mark while going 3-6 in the first nine MVC games
- The Beacons have dropped four games in a row including an 81-71 game at Drake on Wednesday
- Prior to the skid, Valpo won three in a row with victories over Missouri State, Northern Iowa, and Indiana State
- Cooper Schwieger leads the team in multiple statistics including scoring (14.4 PPG), rebounding (7.1 RPG), FG% (50.0%), free throw % (88.2%) and blocked shots (30)
- Tyler Schmidt is averaging 12.1 PPG while Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro and All Wright chip in 11.8 and 11.3 PPG, respectively
