Saturday, January 18, 2014, 1:00 p.m.
Ford Center, Evansville, IN

After starting the season with five consecutive wins overall and five home wins, Evansville is 3-10 in their last 13 games and has one home win since December 7. The Aces are 1-4 in their last five home games, with their only win coming against Grambling (0-11 in D1). Meanwhile, Loyola is working on a 12-game road losing streak, its longest road losing streak since December 2001. (The Ramblers are 1-1 in neutral site games during the current streak, with the only win coming against SIU-Edwardsville). So something’s gotta give in this game.

The Aces are led by super soph D.J. Ballentine, a strong (6’2”, but 210 pounds) shooting guard who leads the MVC with 22.4 ppg. He can shoot from outside (his 42 made threes lead the MVC, and he hits them at a 44% clip), and by driving to the hoop he tops the MVC in free throw attempts at 131 and made free throws at 113 (86%). When the defense tries to double up on him, he’s adept at finding the open man, which earns him an average of 4.2 assists per game.

The Evansville inside game is paced by 6’10” sophomore center Egidijus Mockevicius, who ranks second in the MVC with 7.9 rebounds per game (he pulled down 18 boards in his last outing, an OT loss at Illinois State) to go with his 8.8 points. The big Lithuanian doesn’t take a lot of shots, but leads the league with 61% field goal percentage and he ranks second in blocked shots a 1.5 per game. Mockevicius has fouled out of three games on the season—all losses—at Indiana, at Xavier, and a 27-point home blowout to Northern Iowa.

6’3” freshman point guard Duane Gibson—who started but only played 3 minutes in Wednesday’s game against Illinois State due to illness—adds 7.1 points and 4.4 assists per game, and doesn’t shoot from beyond the arc. Gibson’s scoring game is getting to the line frequently, where he collects nearly half his points. The coach’s son, 6’5” freshman guard/forward Blake Simmons, is second on the Aces in points (9.2) and third in minutes (31.3). Adam Wing, a 6’4” sophomore guard, is another deadly free throw shooter (84%) who rounds out the starters with 8.8 points and 4.2 boards.

Some of the Aces’ woes may have begun when junior Ryan Sawvell-- a 6’8” forward from Mundelein, one of only three upperclassmen on the team, and the first man off the bench—suddenly decided to leave the program seven games into the season. He started only one game, and last saw action in Evansville’s blowout loss at Ohio. The Aces are 3-8 since his unexpected departure. Perhaps he expected more playing time as an upperclassman.

Opening Vegas Line: Aces by 5

Loyola Game Notes: http://www.loyolaramblers.com/sports/m- ... 14aaa.html

Evansville Game Notes: http://www.gopurpleaces.com/documents/2 ... df?id=2083

Streaming Video (pay): http://gopurpleaces.com/showcase/

Loyola Audio: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/luc.portal#

They sound very aggressive offensively. Maybe we will see more of the zone again.
Im trying to remember....Marty Simmons ....Lawrenceville High School???in Illinois. Early 80's????

One other thing: Since I set up the board, the Evansville message board had some tech issues and set up a new message board.

http://www.purpleacesfans.com/

I will update the old links soon.

Nice preview, as always! Looks like you can stream the video for a $7 one day pass.

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart

I'll pass.

_________________
Cigarboy sucks!

By the way, Evansville's SID told me Duane Gibson is ready to go tomorrow. A stomach bug kept him out Wednesday but he's recovered.

Given who's playing who tonight and tomorrow and our upcoming schedule, this is a big game for the Ramblers. If Loyola can pull out a win, and all other home teams win this weekend, we'll find ourselves tied with Illinois State in 4th place at 3-3. With a loss, we'd be 2-4-- in a six-way tie for the bottom, and with five of our remaining 12 games against the top three teams in the league.

If you can keep DJ from going off, it'll increase your chances. We haven't played the Aces yet but Marty seems to focus his offense around 1 guy with a couple of others that can occasionally hit some shots. Mock could be a very valuable player for them if they weren't determined to have a guard lead the conference in scoring every year.

Best of luck. Wish this game was available on ESPN3 or something as it'd give me something to do before the WSU game on ESPN2 at 3pm. This Shocker fan is pulling for you guys.

_________________
The Roundhouse

I splurged and paid $7 to watch the game. Good quality. Don't let me down Ramblers!

Everyone besides Thomas and Doyle is 0-for-6 from the field. Need some balanced scoring against this team.