by purple&orange » January 30th, 2016, 8:19 am
Does anyone recall the line on the first game, for some reason WSU -8.5 seems to stick in my head. Granted WSU was just getting Van Vleet back and it was early in conference play but that number seems to stick out in my head.
When Evansville has struggled this season, it's been mostly short bursts that have done them in. The Indiana State loss, ISU got hot early and had a sizable early advantage. Then they closed the 1st half on a 13-0 run after UE clawed their way back to a one point game. For me that's the biggest key for Evansville, avoiding a WSU run that over the length of the run WSU outscores UE by 8+ points.
The Shockers are tough, regardless of the arena they play in. The one thing this Aces group has done really well that the Aces of the past few seasons seem to have struggled with is once they do get hit, they take the run and continue to play and not let a 8-0 run turn into a 15-20 deficit rather quickly.
I posted this on the UE board but I wonder if the SIU game was the best thing to happen to them before this game. A comeback victory with a lot of emotion. WSU is a grind because of the way they defend and make you defend. It's going to be a battle for Evansville but it's been too long since a conference game had the meaning that this one did because at least in my mind this is a validation game which granted it's only one game. I'm sure that an Evansville win starts to play the narrative that the MVC is not a lock for the Shockers by some national people while a WSU win plays up the it's a one bid league WSU isn't losing to anyone, etc.
There is a lot of excitement about this UE team and in particular this game. The result of the first game was not what I was hoping for but it was a great battle. Hoping for another close, tight battle, just with a different result.