Evansville Purple Aces (8-24, 6-15 MVC) vs. Belmont Bruins (20-11, 16-4 MVC)
Coralville, Iowa; Friday, 7 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Belmont and Evansville play in the MVC Tournament.
The Bruins’ record in MVC games is 16-4, and their record is 4-7 in non-conference games. Belmont ranks sixth in the MVC in rebounding with 33.0 rebounds. Quinn Eubank paces the Bruins with 6.7 boards.
The Purple Aces are 6-15 against MVC opponents. Evansville gives up 75.8 points to opponents while being outscored by 8.1 points per game.
Belmont is shooting 39.7% from the field this season, 4.6 percentage points lower than the 44.3% Evansville allows to opponents. Evansville averages 7.1 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.6 more makes per game than Belmont allows.
The teams meet for the third time this season. Belmont won 79-73 in the last matchup on Jan. 30. Avery Strickland led Belmont with 23 points, and Georgia Cox led Evansville with 23 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jailyn Banks is scoring 15.3 points per game with 3.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists for the Bruins. Strickland is averaging 14.8 points and 3.7 rebounds while shooting 49.5% over the last 10 games.
Sydney Huber is shooting 33.5% from beyond the arc with 2.0 made 3-pointers per game for the Purple Aces, while averaging 8.4 points. Camryn Runner is averaging 20.1 points, 6.3 assists and 1.7 steals over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Bruins: 8-2, averaging 74.2 points, 36.0 rebounds, 14.1 assists, 9.9 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 41.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 61.3 points per game.
Purple Aces: 3-7, averaging 72.6 points, 30.0 rebounds, 16.9 assists, 7.1 steals and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 43.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.1 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
