ACES vs KWC Article

[ACES..ACES]

Aces Host KWC Wednesday In Final Exhibition



Bradley Strickland led UE
with 18 points Saturday.

The final pre-season game for the University of Evansville men's basketball team takes place at Roberts Stadium Wednesday when the Purple Aces meet perennial Division II national power Kentucky Wesleyan. Game time is 7:05 CST.

Wednesday’s game is Evansville’s final tune-up prior to the November 13 regular season opener at Lipscomb. This is the first time Evansville has played Kentucky Wesleyan in an exhibition game, and it’s the first game between the two since Dec. 8, 1986, when UE won 74-71 at Roberts Stadium. It also brings together the two schools with the most NCAA Division II national championships in men's basketball–Kentucky Wesleyan with eight and Evansville with five. Evansville joined the Division I ranks in 1977.

A BIT MORE SUBDUED
The atmosphere may be a little calmer Wednesday compared to last Saturday’s Vectren Community Classic in which 11,597 fans packed Roberts Stadium for the UE-USI game. However, the highest attendance figure in Roberts Stadium history came in a game between Evansville and Kentucky Wesleyan in 1959-60, when 13,913 fans packed Roberts to watch the Aces edge the Panthers 76-69 in the semifinals of the NCAA College Division (now D-II) tournament.

SATURDAY’S WIN
Evansville built a 10-point halftime lead and then withstood a second half University of Southern Indiana rally to beat the Eagles 77-75 on Saturday. Senior center Bradley Strickland scored a game-high 18 points. Senior power forward Matt Webster added 17 points and a game-high nine rebounds. The Aces struggled to find the range from outside, hitting only 2 of 15 three-point attempts. Defensively, however, Evansville forced 26 USI turnovers and made 15 steals. As a result, the Aces got off 61 shots compared to the Screaming Eagles’ 51.

GOOD START FOR THE BENCH
All five players who came off the bench Saturday scored at least three points. Art Stalbergs, Justin Petty, Darin Granger, Jay Couisnard and Taylor Morrow combined to score 22 points in 54 minutes. Two additional players who could see playing time Wednesday are junior forward Victor Gomez and freshman center Pieter van Tongeren. Gomez is just getting back into shape after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in September. van Tongeren is eventually expected to give the Aces depth at center.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS
Head coach Todd Lee is in his second year of the rebuilding process at Division II Kentucky Wesleyan. The Panthers were 7-19 overall last season. They lost their first exhibition game last Friday, 103-72 at Southeast Missouri despite 24 points from 6-5 senior Rodney Edgerson, in his first year at KWC after transferring from Washington State University. Junior college transfer Tim Baker, a 6-3 guard, added 12 points. The Panthers will have nine players in uniform Wednesday, and 11 by mid-December. Former UE guard Maurice Blakey and junior college transfer T.J. Smith become eligible at the end of the first semester.

LOTS OF HISTORY
Kentucky Wesleyan's eight NCAA Division II (formerly College Division) national championships came in 1966, ‘68, ‘69, ‘73, ‘87, ‘90, ‘99 and 2001. Evansville is second on the list with five, in 1959, ‘60, ‘64, ‘65 and ‘71. The Division II Men’s Basketball 50th Anniversary Team was announced last March, and the 10-man team included Jerry Sloan and Ed Smallwood from Evansville, and Antonio Garcia and George Tinsley of Kentucky Wesleyan. Evansville’s Arad McCutchan was chosen as one of two coaches on the 50th Anniversary Team along with Clarence ‘Big House’ Gaines of Winston-Salem State.

COMING UP
After Wednesday’s game, Evansville returns to practice Friday in preparation for the regular season opener at Lipscomb next Monday. Lipscomb has three starters back from a 21-11 team that tied for first in the Atlantic Sun Conference and reached the NIT last March.

For a complete look at the UE Game Notes, go to the 2006-07 Game Notes link on the right side of the men's basketball page here at GoPurpleAces.com









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:aces: :aces: :aces: :aces: :aces: :aces: :aces:

[E-Ville]

Looking forward to it. I think the Aces will come out more poised tonight. Prediction: Aces by 18.

Evansville, In. Home of the most exciting college basketball exhibition game and the nation's second largest street festival.

[ACES..ACES]

ACES win 84-75...4 players in double figures, led by Webster's 19, Holsinger 18, Anslinger 14, Granger 13

KWC only won 3 games last year :( things aren't looking too good for the Aces after scraping by 2 D-2 schools....

[E-Ville]

Thanks for the post. I missed the game. But did you happen to catch it. What was the flow of the game like? How was Pieter? I just heard Merfeld speak on it, and he was really happy with Granger. But I didn't hear him say anything about Pieter.

[UE-BBALL#1]

Pieter is going to be useless at least at the beginning of the season. Slow on D, literally did not move on offense, would post up when the ball rotated over, would catch and not even glimpse towards the basket.

Granger will be a good player and will step in at shooting guard next year. He gives us 3 legitimate dead eye shooters.

[Pocket Aces]

First of all...KWC won 7 games last year. :grin: Only nine players tonight. They get two more in December. They really had to gut the program a couple years ago when they got into some hot water. Their program has won the most D2 championships (8). Second on the list? The Aces with 5.

Little energy tonight after the festival that was the USI game, but enough good things to win.


GOOD:

Granger can stroke it and he looked very confident tonight. He wasn't afraid to miss and come right back to it.

Holsinger 7 assist and Anslinger had 8 assist. Good team play on offense.

Strickland had 8 rebounds. He has got to average at least 6rpg.

BAD:

Defense was near the conference bottom last year and both exhibition opponents shoot over 50%.

Bench still has little if no production. Granger looked good. Couisnard has done some good things including trying to play back-up PG by default. Stalbergs is a train wreck, Petty isn't going to give much, Morrow isn't ready for this level, Gomez is still re-couping from surgery so could help but seems almost disinterested in a way. Pieter looked helpless tonight, but only played a couple of minutes. He's a good bit away from contributing.

Strickland's career was summed up in the last two games: exhibition 1-18 pts
exhibition 2- 6 points. He is so aggrevating to watch at times. Nobody taller than 6'6" on KWC and he couldn't take advantage.




Off to Nashville on Monday to play a darn solid Lipscomb team.

[Aces101]

I would not be surprised to see Granger in the starting lineup in the near future. He is so smooth and confident. When the game was close, Granger was the player who took and hit the big shots. I would not be surprised to see a starting 5 of Holsinger, Anslinger, Granger, Webster, and Strickland. This would push Ely back to the bench and could be an asset in that role. The bench could go big with Ely, Couisnard, Petty, Stalbergs, and van Tongeren on the floor (substitute Gomez when healthy).

I enjoy watching Cooz play. He is high energy and is a great defender. It appears to me as if he will be the player defending the quick guards while letting Holsinger defend the shooting guard when they are on the floor together.

[Pocket Aces]

I would not be surprised to see Granger in the starting lineup in the near future. He is so smooth and confident. When the game was close, Granger was the player who took and hit the big shots. I would not be surprised to see a starting 5 of Holsinger, Anslinger, Granger, Webster, and Strickland. This would push Ely back to the bench and could be an asset in that role. The bench could go big with Ely, Couisnard, Petty, Stalbergs, and van Tongeren on the floor (substitute Gomez when healthy).

I enjoy watching Cooz play. He is high energy and is a great defender. It appears to me as if he will be the player defending the quick guards while letting Holsinger defend the shooting guard when they are on the floor together.


Granger has some skills that could have him starting, but the problem with that would be taking a good rebounder in Ely from a team that already struggles in that area and putting in a 6'0" 160 lb. guard. That would REALLY make us a poor rebounding club. Ely is a better defender at this point, and again, that is already a weak spot.

We struggle so much, especially offensively, off the bench. Granger seems to be able to get shots when he wants. That would be nice to have off the bench. Ely would bring energy from that role too, but the rebounding and defense is what I think keeps Ely in for now.

I as well like the early defense seen from Cooz. There needs to be some work done on the 1-3-1 half court trap they showed, but it looked good with Couisnard out at the top of it.

[UE-BBALL#1]

I agree that it would be best to bring in Granger off the bench. With Holsinger and Anslinger in the starting 5, the shooters are already there, Webster and Strick add the power, and Ely is the slasher type player. Granger is really our only outside shooting option off the bench, unless you are big on Stahlbergs and his 3 point attempts.

UE is going to have to play better Monday night to win, especially defensively. I think that the offense will be there and that Saturday night was a fluke with our guards being off their game. If the defense improves, we have the outside shooters and post game to compete with anyone.

[Ace Happy]

The only thing I would add to the comments above regarding the mixed play of the Aces against KWC was that Merfeld was subbing constantly which didn't allow much rhythm in our offense. Ely came out 1 minute into the second half for example. While Granger was definitely impressive, Ely didn't get much time (13 minutes). I hope his confidence doesn't suffer since we will need him big time this year whether starting or coming off of the bench.

I would expect that Pieter will redshirt. No info on that score, but he won't be a factor this year IMHO. Too easy to move him off of the block, U.S. game quickness is "foreign" for him.