Date: December 29, 2007
Location: Evansville, Ind.
Site: Roberts Stadium
Tip-off: 8:05 p.m. EST
Radio: The Crock 92.7 FM
Talent: Brian Fritz and Matt Renn
Series: Indiana State Leads 73-72
Last Time: UE 76, ISU 61 (2/11/07)
The Sycamores have played 10 games to date this season, all of which were in preparation for tonight's Missouri Valley Conference opener at in-state rival Evansville. The Sycamores bring a 5-5 overall record into the contest, as do the Purple Aces who wrapped up their non-conference schedule at 5-5.
ISU is coming off a 62-57 win at home last Saturday against MAC foe Bowling Green. Senior Gabe Moore led all scorers with 19 points and added seven steals, seven assists and five rebounds to lead the way for the Sycamores. Sophomore Marico Stinson also scored in double figures with 17 points in the win over the Falcons. The win improved ISU's record at home to 5-0, which means the team will be looking for its first road win of the season tonight.
Evansville is on a roll of late, as the Purple Aces won their fourth game out of the last five with an 80-71 victory over Norfolk State last Saturday. Jason Holsinger led the Aces in scoring with a season-high 24 points, while Shy Ely added 15 and Darin Granger scored 13 points to even the team's record at 5-5.
The all-time series between the two schools stands at 73-72 in favor of the Sycamores. The in-state rivals have played 145 games dating back to the 1920-21 season. With a win, Evansville can tie the all-time series, while ISU is looking to break a four-game losing streak against Evansville, as the Aces have won four in a row and six of the last seven against ISU. In addition, UE has won the last three contests played between the two squads at Roberts Stadium, the site of tonight's game.
► Indiana State's Kevin McKenna is in his first season at the helm of the Sycamores program, after completing his ninth season at Creighton as an assistant coach, where he helped the Bluejays advance to four NCAA tournament appearances. From 2001-05, McKenna spent four years as the head coach (89-33) at NCAA Division II Nebraska-Omaha, where he guided the Mavericks to four consecutive 20-win seasons and three appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament. He is assisted by Greg Lansing, Stan Gouard and Lou Gudino.
► Evansville's Marty Simmons is in his first season as the head coach at UE. Prior to taking the reigns at his alma mater, Simmons was the head coach for five seasons at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, where he led the Cougars to two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and two 20+ win seasons. In six years as a collegiate head coach prior to coming to UE, Simmons was 98-73 He is assisted by Marcus Belcher, Jimmy Elgas and Ben Wierzba.
► The University of Evansville is located in Evansville, Ind., and has an enrollment of 2,421. The Purple Aces are members of the Missouri Valley Conference and play their home games at Roberts Stadium (11,600).
► The Purple Aces are led by first-year head coach Marty Simmons. Prior to taking the reigns at his alma mater, Simmons was the head coach for five seasons at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, where he led the Cougars to two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and two 20+ win seasons. In six years as a collegiate head coach prior to coming to UE, Simmons was 98-73.
► The Purple Aces return eight letter winners and two from last year's squad that finished with a 14-17 overall record and a 6-12 mark in Valley Play.
► The Aces tallied their highest scoring output of the season in the 80-71 victory over Norfolk State last Saturday. The Aces shot between 40 and 42 percent in each of their first five games. However, in their last five, the Aces have shot between 48 and 51 percent in each contest.
► Junior guard Jason Holsinger took over Evansville's team scoring lead from Shy Ely by scoring a season-high 24 points in
Saturday's win over Norfolk State. There's not much difference between Holsinger and Ely in scoring, though. Through 10 games,
Holsinger has 132 points while Ely has tallied 128 on the season. Holsinger's performance earned him Missouri Valley Conference
Player of the Week honors.
Senior guard Gabe Moore had one of the best all-around performances of his career against Bowling Green last Saturday with 19 points, seven assists and five rebounds. However, it was his thievery that stole the show as Moore swiped a career-high seven steals against the Falcons to give him 27 on the season, which currently ranks second in the Valley among all players. In addition, those seven steals upped the Little Rock, Ark., native's career mark to 165, which ties him for fourth place on the all-time list with former Sycamore great and current radio color analyst Matt Renn. Moore needs 24 more steals to take over third place, which is currently held by Michael Menser at 188.
No, the MAC is not a test for high schoolers to dread like the ACT or the SAT's for college preparation and entrance. But, the Sycamores used the MAC for quality preparation for the Missouri Valley Conference season that starts tonight. ISU posted a 3-1 record against teams from the Mid-American Conference during its non-conference slate, including wins over Northern Illinois, Ball State and Bowling Green. The team's only loss came on the road against Miami (Ohio), who has wins over Xavier, Mississippi State and Illinois.
One look at the season statistics for ISU and one can see that the team has shared the scoring duties. At Tulane, four Sycamores scored in double figures, marking the third time this season that the team had achieved that feat. Marico Stinson led the way with 14 points and was joined by Harry Marshall (12), Gabe Moore (11) and Isiah Martin (10) in the scoring column. The last time the Sycamores achieved that feat were in back-to-back games against Northern Illinois and IPFW.
The first half of ISU's game at Tulane was extremely competitive, thanks to a pair of strong performances by freshmen Aaron Carter and Isiah Martin. With the team trailing 10-2 at the 15:28 mark, Martin jump-started a 13-4 run for the Sycamores with a layup.
Carter followed by connecting on back-to-back three-pointers and added a jumper to score the next eight points in a row for ISU to tie the game at 12-12 at the 11:04 mark. Later in the half, Martin made himself known once again by converting a layup to give ISU a 26-25 lead with four minutes left in the half. Then, he added his third layup of the half with a minute left in the half to put the Sycamores up 32-31 at the time. Carter finished the half with eight points, while Martin chipped in with six points.
Sophomore guard Marico Stinson came out firing early this season for the Sycamores, as he scored in double figures in three of the team's first four games. Stinson's scoring numbers dropped off over the next few games, though, with just two and seven points respectively against IPFW and Purdue. However, he got back to his scoring ways with a season-high 18 points against Ball State. He followed that by leading the team with 14 points at Tulane and with 17 points against Bowling Green last Saturday. The Memphis, Tenn., native is now averaging 11.7 points per game, has scored in double figures in six of the team's 10 games and is joined by Gabe Moore (10.9) as the only Sycamores averaging double figures this season.
Through the first 10 games of the season, it's pretty easy to see that the Sycamores like to play basketball at home in front of the fans at Hulman Center. In ISU's four games at home, the squad is averaging 67.4 points per game while allowing opponents just 54.0 points per contest. The Sycamores are shooting .459 from the field, including .375 from three-point range, while posting a +9 turnover margin on way to a 5-0 record. However, the road has been less friendly to the Sycamores, as they are averaging 60.6 points compared to their opponent's 75.8 average in five games. ISU is shooting .384 from the field as a team (opponents .500), including a miniscule .232 from three-point range (opponents .430), which has led to a 0-5 record.
Whenever the Sycamores play their in-state rival Ball State, Jay Tunnell seems to put together career games. In the team's 59-48 win over the Cardinals, Tunnel recorded his first double-double of the season by scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. However, that performance falls short of his day against the Cardinals last season, when he scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in a win over BSU on December 2, 2006. In three career games against Ball State, Tunnell is averaging 14.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game and has recorded two of his four career double-double performances.
It had been almost a year since an ISU player last recorded a double-double, but Jay Tunnell put an end to that string with his 16 point, 10 rebound performance against Ball State. Coincidentally, it was Tunnell and teammate Adam Arnold who last achieved the feat as both recorded double-doubles against Wagner on December 22, 2006. Tunnell recorded 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Arnold chipped in with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Home has been a welcome place for the Sycamores this season, as the team is 5-0 in
front of their fans at the Hulman Center heading into Missouri Valley Conference play tonight. In its last game at home, ISU defeated Bowling Green by a score of 62-57 on Saturday to keep their record at home un-blemished. Since the 2005-06 season, ISU has compiled a 16-2 record at the Hulman Center against non-conference opponents, with the only losses coming to IPFW (1/2/06) and Miami (Ohio) (2/17/07).
The Sycamores are 5-5 on the season, but those losses are not due to teams scoring too many three-pointers. Through 10 games, ISU has allowed just 56 three-pointers to its opponents. In addition, opponents are shooting just 34.8 percent from three-point range against ISU this season, which currently ranks as the third-best 3-point field goal percentage defense in the Missouri Valley Conference.
