2017–18 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team American college basketball season
The 2017–18 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team represented the University of Evansville during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season . The Purple Aces, led by 11th-year head coach Marty Simmons , played their home games at the Ford Center as members of the Missouri Valley Conference . They finished the season 17–15, 7–11 in MVC play to finish in a three-way tie for seventh place. As the No. 8 seed in the MVC tournament , they lost to Northern Iowa in the first round.
On March 13, 2018, Evansville fired head coach Marty Simmons.[ 1] He finished at Evansville with an 11-year record of 184–175. On March 22, the school hired Boston Celtics assistant coach, former Kentucky player and Evansville native Walter McCarty as head coach.[ 2]
Previous season
The Purple Aces finished the 2016–17 season 16–17, 6–12 to finish in eighth place in MVC play . They defeated Indiana State [ 3] in the MVC tournament before losing to Illinois State in the quarterfinals.[ 4]
Offseason
Departures
Incoming transfers
Name
Number
Pos.
Height
Weight
Year
Hometown
Notes
Marty Hill
1
G
6'5"
170
Junior
Champlin, MN
Junior college transferred from Northeast CC
2017 recruiting class
College recruiting information
Name
Hometown
High school / college
Height
Weight
Commit date
Evan Kuhlman PF
Liberty Township, OH
Lakota High School
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
N/A
Sep 12, 2016
Star ratings : Scout : N/A Rivals : N/A 247Sports : N/A ESPN grade: NR
Noah Frederking SG
Okawville, IL
Okawville High School
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
195 lb (88 kg)
Oct 22, 2016
Star ratings : Scout : N/A Rivals : N/A 247Sports : N/A ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note : In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.
Sources:
Preseason
In the conference's preseason poll, the Aces were picked to finish in ninth place in the MVC.[ 5] Junior guard Ryan Taylor was named to the preseason All-MVC second team.[ 5]
Roster
2017–18 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team
Players
Coaches
Pos.
#
Name
Height
Weight
Year
Previous school
Hometown
G
0
Ryan Taylor
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
195 lb (88 kg)
RS Jr
St. John's Northwestern Military Academy Ohio
Gary, IN
G
1
Marty Hill
6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
180 lb (82 kg)
Jr
Champlin Park Northeast CC
Brooklyn Park, MN
F
5
Solomon Hainna
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
195 lb (88 kg)
RS Sr
Palisades Charter Midland College
Inglewood, CA
F
10
Evan Kuhlman
6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
220 lb (100 kg)
Fr
Lakota East
Liberty Township, OH
G
12
Dru Smith
6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
190 lb (86 kg)
So
Reitz
Evansville, IN
F
14
Dainius Chatkevicius
6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
240 lb (109 kg)
RS Jr
West Oaks Academy Vincennes
Klaipėda, Lithuania
C
15
Dalen Traore
6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
230 lb (104 kg)
Sr
Northwood Temple Academy Miami Dade College
Ivory Coast
G
25
Duane Gibson
6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
195 lb (88 kg)
RS Sr
Villa Angela-St. Joseph
Cleveland, OH
G
30
Noah Frederking
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
210 lb (95 kg)
Fr
Okawville
Okawville, IL
G
33
K. J. Riley
6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
190 lb (86 kg)
So
Standard of Excellence Howard College
Bronx, NY
F
35
John Hall
6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
215 lb (98 kg)
RS Fr
Standard of Excellence
Philadelphia, PA
G/F
50
Blake Simmons
6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
210 lb (95 kg)
RS Sr
Castle
Newburgh, IN
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on
Roster
Schedule and results
Date time, TV
Rank#
Opponent#
Result
Record
Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 10, 2017 *7:00 pm, ESPN3
Arkansas State
W 77–63
1–0
Ford Center (3,622)Evansville, IN
Nov 13, 2017 *11:00 am, ESPN3
North Carolina Central
W 68–55
2–0
Ford Center (6,048)Evansville, IN
Nov 16, 2017 *7:00 pm, ESPN3
Southeast Missouri State Cancún Challenge campus game
W 66–50
3–0
Ford Center (3,151)Evansville, IN
Nov 18, 2017 *3:00 pm, ESPN3
Binghamton Cancún Challenge campus game
W 66–61
4–0
Ford Center (3,167)Evansville, IN
Nov 21, 2017 *7:30 pm, CBSSN
vs. Fresno State Cancún Challenge semifinals
W 59–57
5–0
Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya (982)Cancún, Mexico
Nov 22, 2017 *7:30 pm, CBSSN
vs. Louisiana Tech Cancún Challenge championship
L 61–63
5–1
Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya (982)Cancún, Mexico
Nov 29, 2017 *8:00 pm, ATTSNRM
at New Mexico MW–MVC Challenge
L 59–78
5–2
Dreamstyle Arena (8,943)Albuquerque, NM
Dec 2, 2017 *1:00 pm, ESPN3
Oakland City
W 98–56
6–2
Ford Center (3,213)Evansville, IN
Dec 5, 2017 *6:00 pm, ESPN3
at Bowling Green
W 91–76
7–2
Stroh Center (1,489)Bowling Green, OH
Dec 9, 2017 *1:00 pm, ESPN3
Canisius
W 65–58
8–2
Ford Center (3,363)Evansville, IN
Dec 16, 2017 *3:00 pm, ESPN3
Austin Peay
W 78–74 OT
9–2
Ford Center (3,403)Evansville, IN
Dec 17, 2017 *3:00 pm, ESPN3
Midway
W 79–52
10–2
Ford Center (3,010)Evansville, IN
Dec 20, 2017 *6:00 pm, ESPN2
at No. 4 Duke
L 40–104
10–3
Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314)Durham, NC
Missouri Valley regular season
Dec 23, 2017 1:00 pm, NBCSC
Illinois State
L 66–72
10–4 (0–1)
Ford Center (4,039)Evansville, IN
Dec 30, 2017 3:00 pm, FSMW /NBCSC
at Loyola–Chicago
L 59–66
10–5 (0–2)
Joseph J. Gentile Arena (1,914)Chicago, IL
Jan 3, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3
at Southern Illinois
L 63–65
10–6 (0–3)
SIU Arena (4,622)Carbondale, IL
Jan 6, 2018 3:00 pm, ESPN3
Bradley
W 68–44
11–6 (1–3)
Ford Center (4,171)Evansville, IN
Jan 10, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3
Missouri State
W 64–55
12–6 (2–3)
Ford Center (3,237)Evansville, IN
Jan 13, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPN3
at Drake
L 65–81
12–7 (2–4)
Knapp Center (3,313)Des Moines, IA
Jan 17, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3
Indiana State
L 66–71
12–8 (2–5)
Ford Center (3,601)Evansville, IN
Jan 20, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3
at Bradley
L 53–66
12–9 (2–6)
Carver Arena (6,205)Peoria, IL
Jan 24, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3
at Valparaiso
W 75–65
13–9 (3–6)
Athletics–Recreation Center (2,219)Valparaiso, IN
Jan 27, 2018 1:00 pm, ESPN3
Drake
W 77–73
14–9 (4–6)
Ford Center (4,295)Evansville, IN
Jan 31, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3
at Northern Iowa
W 57–49
15–9 (5–6)
Ford Center (3,352)Evansville, IN
Feb 3, 2018 3:00 pm, ESPN3
at Illinois State
L 71–75
16–9 (5–7)
Redbird Arena (6,923)Normal, IL
Feb 7, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPn3
Valparaiso
W 63–59
16–10 (6–7)
Ford Center (3,425)Evansville, IN
Feb 10, 2018 2:00 pm
at Missouri State
L 55–72
16–11 (6–8)
JQH Arena (3,358)Springfield, MO
Feb 13, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3
at Northern Iowa
L 41–47
16–12 (6–9)
McLeod Center (3,346)Cedar Falls, IA
Feb 18, 2018 3:00 pm, ESPN3
Loyola–Chicago
L 66–76
16–13 (6–10)
Ford Center (4,887)Evansville, IN
Feb 21, 2018 6:00 pm, ESPN3
at Indiana State
L 53–58
16–14 (6–11)
Hulman Center (4,295)Terre Haute, IN
Feb 24, 2018 1:00 pm, ESPN3
Southern Illinois
W 75–44
17–14 (7–11)
Ford Center (4,312)Evansville, IN
Missouri Valley tournament
Mar 1, 2018 6:00 pm, ESPN3
(8)
vs. (9) Northern Iowa First round
L 50–60
17–15
Scottrade Center (4,852)St. Louis, MO
*Non-conference game.
# Rankings from
AP Poll . (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in
Central Time .
Source[ 6] [ 7]
References
^ Goodman, Jeff; Borzello, Jeff (March 13, 2018). "Sources: Marty Simmons out after 11 seasons at Evansville" . ESPN.com . Retrieved March 18, 2018 .
^ "Evansville hires Celtics' McCarty as coach" . ESPN.com . Retrieved March 22, 2018 .
^ Lyons, Joe. "Eighth-seeded Evansville cruises past Indiana State in MVC tourney" . stltoday.com . Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
^ "Evansville vs. Illinois State - Game Recap - March 3, 2017 - ESPN" . ESPN.com . Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
^ a b "Missouri State Picked to Win MVC Men's Basketball" . Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
^ "Evansville Purple Aces Basketball 2017-18 Schedule - Purple Aces Home and Away - ESPN" . ESPN.com . Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
^ "University of Evansville - 2017-18 Men's Basketball Schedule" . gopurpleaces.com . Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
Venues Culture & lore People Seasons NCAA national championships in bold