TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Indiana State Sycamores will be looking for their first season sweep of the year Wednesday night when they travel to Evansville for their second matchup against the Purple Aces this season. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+ from the Ford Center.
 
The Sycamores are coming off their first win since Jan. 7, defeating UNI 79-71 at home Saturday afternoon to snap a five-game skid. Cameron Henry posted a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double while Xavier Bledson and Zach Hobbs combined for 34 points off the bench.
 
Saturday's win was the first time ISU dished out 15 or more assists and had five players score in double figures since the win against UIC Jan. 7. The Sycamores also improved to 10-1 when outrebounding their opponent.
 
Before Saturday's game, ISU was 0-6 when tied or trailing at the half. After being tied 39-39 at halftime versus UNI, the Sycamores are now 1-6 when being tied or trailing at the half.
 
At 14-9 (7-5 MVC), head coach Josh Schertz has surpassed last season's amount of total (11) and Valley (4) wins. Only four ISU coaches have improved win totals from year one to year two.

SERIES HISTORY
Indiana State leads the all-time series 100-83 dating back to 1921, picking up its 100th win in the series earlier this season on Dec. 29 at the Hulman Center. The Sycamores have won nine of their last 10 against the Aces but are 34-53 all-time against Evansville on the road.

LAST GAME AGAINST THE ACES
Julian Larry shot lights out and led the Sycamores with a career-high 21 points as Indiana State defeated Evansville 91-63 at the Hulman Center to remain perfect in Missouri Valley Conference play.
 
The Sycamores opened the game on a 13-0 run, shooting 5-of-5 from the field and forcing three Evansville turnovers during that span. ISU did not allow an Evansville bucket until 16:37 in the first half.
 
This game was the first time Indiana State has beat a Valley team by 25 or more points since beating Loyola by 29 points Feb. 5, 2020.
 
Julian Larry made his first start of the season and 49th career start as a Sycamore. He shot a perfect 100 percent across the board and assisted or scored each of ISU's first four baskets in the game. Larry finished his night with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-8 shooting with three triples, and he dished out four assists with two steals and no turnovers.
 
All 13 active Indiana State players saw the floor in the game, and 12 of those 13 Sycamores scored. The only player who did not score was Rob Martin, and he had three assists in 7:47 of action.

LAST TIME OUT
Five different Sycamores scored in double figures Saturday afternoon as Indiana State got back on track, snapping a five-game skid with a 79-71 win over Northern Iowa at Hulman Center in front of a loud home crowd that included men's basketball alumni dating back to 1948.
 
In a game that saw 10 lead changes and six ties, the Sycamores led by just two points at 70-68 with just 2:00 to go in the second half. Indiana State took advantage of late free throws, shooting 6-of-6 at the line down the stretch with four straight stops to end the game.
 
Xavier Bledson led the Sycamores in scoring off the bench with 20 points while Cameron Henry posted a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Cooper Neese and Zach Hobbs added 14 points each while Robbie Avila posted 10 points.
 
The Panthers reached a game-high 18-10 lead with 11:51 to go in the first, but Bledson checked in with an immediate impact and assisted two straight Sycamore buckets before hitting his second triple of the day to cut ISU's deficit to 22-18 at 10:00.
 
Henry laid up a basket and then hit two free throws to retake the lead for ISU at 30-19 with 5:04 remaining in the opening frame, and back-to-back buckets from Neese put the Sycamores up 37-31 at 2:45. UNI closed out the first half with a 6-0 run including a last-second dunk to even things up at 39-all going into the break.
 
Neese opened the second half with a triple and Courvoisier McCauley put his name on the scoresheet with a trey at 16:25 to tie things back up at 46-46. Hobbs nailed his fourth 3-pointer of the game before a Henry slam dunk put the Sycamores up 64-60 with 7:39 to go.
 
With ISU leading by just two points at 70-68 with two minutes left, Bledson drew an and-one and completed the three-point play to push the lead to 73-68. The Sycamores hit all six free throws in the last 18 seconds of action to cushion the win.

POWERED BY THE BENCH
Bledson posted a team-high 20 points Saturday for his second 20+-point outing this season, and Hobbs nailed four triples for a season-high 14 points. Those 34 points are tied for ISU's second-most bench points against DI opponents this season, even with 34 bench points against Drexel when Bledson had an ISU career-high 22 points off the bench and behind 38 bench points against Evansville when 12 different Sycamores made it on the scoresheet. ISU ranks second in the Valley in bench points this season.

FOLLOW THE SYCAMORES
For the latest information on Sycamore Basketball, be sure to visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from both the App Store and the Google Play Store.
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