The Salukis and Purple Aces open Valley play at the Ford Center on Wednesday.
The Aces have played 9 games already this season and sit at 3-6. They have wins over #344 IUPUI, #346 Eastern Illinois, and D3 DePauw.
Last Season:
SIU played Evansville back to back at the Banterra Center last season. In the first game on December 27th, 2020; the Salukis won 63-57 to go to 7-0. Lance Jones led the Salukis with 19 points on 5-12 shooting and Marcus Domask added 14 points and 7 rebounds.
In the 2nd game on December 28th, 2020; the Purple Aces won 84-72 and ended the Salukis 7 game winning streak to start the year. Evansville won behind a 17-29 performance from 3. Samari Curtis had 29 points on 9-13 shooting. Marcus Domask led the Salukis with 25 points on 9-13 shooting and added 7 assists. This would be Domask's last game of the season.
Meet the Purple Aces:
The Aces are a veteran team that starts 4 Seniors and 1 Junior. They're 56th in the country in experience (average college experience of 2.39 years) and 72nd in the country in minutes continuity from last year (63.7%).
Like all Todd Lickliter coached teams, Evansville plays at an extremely slow pace. Evansville has the longest average possession length in all of college basketball at 21.3 seconds per possession. The Purple Aces also shoot a lot of 3's. They're 20th in the country in 3 point attempts per field goal attempts (48.9) and 28th in the country in percentage of points coming from 3's (41.8%).
What Evansville does well so far this year is they're 74th in the country in steal % (7.8%). What Evansville hasn't done well so far is they're 322nd in the country in offensive rebounding % (21.5%). The Aces also haven't been great at defending the 3 as they're 301st in the country in 3 point percentage against (38.2%). Evansville hasn't been a great shooting team so far this year. They're 223rd in the country in 3 point % (31.8%) and 267th in the country in 2 point % (45.5%).
The Purple Aces' leading scorer this season is 6'3 Senior Jawuan Newton with 14.6 points per game. After averaging 3.1 points per game his Freshman year and 5.5 points per game his Sophomore year, Newton had a bit of a breakout year last season averaging 13.5 points per game. Despite being 6'3, Newton is also the Purple Aces' leading rebounder with 5.5 rebounds per game.
5'10 Senior guard Shamar Givance leads the Purple Aces in % of possessions with 28.1% of their possessions, 128th in the country. Givance averaged 13.3 points per game last season and was named to the All-MVC second team. Coming into this season, Givance was named to the Preseason All-MVC third team. So far this season, Givance is 78th in the country in assist rate (31.7%) and is averaging 3.8 assists per game. Givance has been really good at getting to the free throw line as he's 276th in the country in fouls drawn per 40 minutes and 310th in the country in free throw rate. Givance is also 2nd on the team in 3 point shooting percentage. (12-30, 40%).
One of the nice surprises for Evansville so far this season has been 6'7 Junior Antoine Smith Jr. Smith Jr. started his collegiate career at Incarnate Word where he started 14 games and averaged 7.3 points per game. He then left the program and didn't appear to play anywhere in 2019-20 before showing up at Collin County Community College in Texas. There Smith Jr. averaged 15 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per game and was named 1st Team All-Conference player in the North Texas College Athletic Conference. This season with Evansville, Smith Jr. is averaging 7.1 points per game and has been really impressive from 3 as he's 13-30 from 3 (43.3%). Smith Jr. is 124th in the country in effective field goal % and 130th in the country in true shooting %.
High school basketball fans in Southern Illinois know 6'4 Senior Noah Frederking of Okawvile, IL. Frederking is in his 5th year with Evansville and despite an impressive career with the Purple Aces, he's really struggled out of the gates this season. Last season, Frederking was one of the best 3 point shooters in the country (55-135 40%, 186th in the country), this season he's just 10-36 from 3 (27.8%).
No word yet if we'll see 6'8 Senior Evan Kuhlman, who has missed 2 of his last 3 games with a shoulder injury.
KenPom:
KenPom has #143 SIU beating #219 Evansville 62-61 and gives SIU a 52% chance of winning.
Past Evansville/SIU games on YouTube:
1995: 2/25 SIU 70 Evansville 69 (Home)
1998: 1/12 Evansville 77 SIU 69 (Road)
2000: 12/08/99 SIU 82 Evansville 51 (Home) 1/28 SIU 81 Evansville 59 (Road)
2001: 2/3 SIU 67 Evansville 65 (Kent Williams Buzzer Beater) (Road)
2005: 1/12 SIU 69 Evansville 57 (Road)
2006: 3/3 SIU 71 Evansville 55 (MVC Tournament Quarterfinal)
2007: 2/24 SIU 76 Evansville 69 (Home)
2016: 1/27 Evansville 85 SIU 78 OT (Home)
2020: 2/5 SIU 64 Evansville 60 OT (Road) 2/20 SIU 70 Evansville 53 (Home)
Links:
Purple Ace Place Message Board
Bryan Mullins with the media 11/30
Brendan Mullins ESPN Radio 103.5 Interview
Evansville HC Todd Lickliter interview
Saluki Radio Flashback: 2001 SIU @ Evansville (Kent Williams Buzzer Beater)
I have 8 tickets reserved and only 4 spoken for. Only $12.50 each. Please PM me, if interested.
I have 8 tickets reserved and only 4 spoken for. Only $12.50 each. Please PM me, if interested.
That's not bad really, I was looking at tickets yesterday and behind the Salukis bench is like $40 without fees, couldn't believe that.
Brendan Mullins interview on In the Dawghouse on ESPN 103.5:
https://www.1035espn.com/episode/in-the-dawghouse-11-29-21-brendan-mullins/
Brendan Mullins interview on In the Dawghouse on ESPN 103.5:
https://www.1035espn.com/episode/in-the-dawghouse-11-29-21-brendan-mullins/
Apparently, Coupet is banged up. Brendan Mullins said he'll play at Evansville, but his leg is barking again. They didn't ask about Banks or Jones. I would like to have heard an injury update on Jones ankle and Banks nose. Banks obviously got hit in his already broken nose. Hope both are ok to play Wednesday. Anyone hear any updates on either of those two?
Brendan Mullins interview on In the Dawghouse on ESPN 103.5:
https://www.1035espn.com/episode/in-the-dawghouse-11-29-21-brendan-mullins/
Apparently, Coupet is banged up. Brendan Mullins said he'll play at Evansville, but his leg is barking again. They didn't ask about Banks or Jones. I would like to have heard an injury update on Jones ankle and Banks nose. Banks obviously got hit in his already broken nose. Hope both are ok to play Wednesday. Anyone hear any updates on either of those two?
I've seen Coupet wince from time to time but I think he's fine. Definitely worried about Jones because ankle injuries tend to linger and have a decent chance of re-injury. Banks is probably fine as long as he's okay playing with a mask. Mullins said he broke his nose on Thursday in practice and chose to play with the mask. Feels like we have a lot of practice injuries.
Bryan Mullins with the media:
Kudos to Heff for FINALLY asking about the health and status (both current and long term) of Ben Harvey and Trent Brown. Harvey's issue, as we know, is complicated and therefore there are no updates that can be provided. His health is paramount and an enlarged spleen is both dangerous and scary. Mullins mentioned that Brown has not practiced this week but that he WILL be back on the court once they are confident he can play without risking flare ups of his ailing back.
SIU favored by 1.5, easily the tightest Valley game tomorrow.
I have 8 tickets reserved and only 4 spoken for. Only $12.50 each. Please PM me, if interested.
That's not bad really, I was looking at tickets yesterday and behind the Salukis bench is like $40 without fees, couldn't believe that.
If anyone wants these tix, meet me at Will Call 30 minutes prior to gametime. $10 each for anyone wearing Maroon. $15 each for anyone wearing purple. 🤣
Go Dawgs! We need to start the season off with a road win tonight.
