COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team opened the season with six out of seven games on the road in the month of November. But with that stretch over, the Golden Eagles look forward to December, when they will play four of five games in the friendly confines of Eblen Center, beginning with a Dec. 1 contest against Evansville at 7 p.m.
The Golden Eagles are 3-8 against the Purple Aces all time. The
last time the two teams met was the 1998-99 season when Evansville
punished Tech on its way to a 96-56 victory over the Golden
Eagles.
The Purple Aces enter the game at 2-2 overall, with wins over
Oakland City University (not to be confused with the Oakland
University that Tech faced on Nov. 23) and SIU Edwardsville and a
pair of losses to No. 10 Butler and Miami. Evansville is led in
scoring and rebounding by James Haarsma. Haarsma is averaging 14.0
points and 7.5 rebounds in Evansville’s four games this
season. Colt Ryan is scoring 13.0 points per game for the Purple
Aces, and Bryan Bouchie is also averaging double figures with 11.0
ppg. Evansville is 2-1 at home and 0-1 on the road this season.
The Golden Eagles are 3-4 overall entering the game, with three of their four losses coming to NCAA tournament teams from a season ago. Tech is led by Kevin Murphy who is averaging 13.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Frank Davis is second on the team in scoring, with 12.1 points per game, and is coming off a 23-point performance against Kansas. Alfred Jones is the team's top rebounder, grabbing 5.6 boards per game.
Tech will visit Jacksonville State in the Ohio Valley Conference opener on Dec. 5 before returning to Cookeville to host Ball State (Dec. 12), Bryan College (Dec. 19) and Union (Dec. 30) in December home games.
Tuesday's game tips off at 7 p.m. Individual game and season tickets are on sale now at the Golden Eagle athletic ticket office. Contact the ticket office by calling 372-3940 or visiting TTUsports.com
