GAME NOTES: The Evansville Purple Aces go in search of their sixth win of the season when they host the IUPUI Jaguars on Saturday night at the Ford Center.

The Purple Aces knocked off the Wright State Raiders, 86-78, on Tuesday night in their first home game since returning from the Gulf Coast Showcase. In that tournament, Evansville posted wins over Fresno State and San Francisco, and lost by a mere two points to Green Bay.

Last Saturday night, the Jaguars were narrowly defeated by the Georgia State Panthers, 66-63, in their second loss in a row. IUPUI reached the .500 mark with an overtime victory versus Ball State on Nov. 22, but then lost a road game at Drake by double digits three days later.

Evansville leads the all time series with IUPUI, 2-0. The two teams met last season, with the Purple Aces winning a shootout, 84-78.

D.J. Balentine dropped in 28 points in Evansville's recent win over Wright State. Egidijus Mockevicius finished with a double-double, as the Lithuanian center collected 20 points and 11 rebounds. Mislav Brzoja also played well, contributing nine points, seven assists and five rebounds in the victory. The Purple Aces finished the game shooting an impressive 66.7 percent from the field, including an 18-of-24 mark in the second half. Evansville played great offense down low, as they collected 50 points in the paint. The Aces also moved the ball well, tallying 21 assists.

Balentine and Mockevicius have been important pieces for Evansville's success this season. Balentine is averaging 19.5 ppg, the most on the team and third most in the Missouri Valley Conference. Mockevicius is netting 13.8 ppg, second-most on the team and ninth-most in the Missouri Valley Conference. Mockevicius is also grabbing 9.7 rpg, the highest total on the team and in the MVC. Brzoja has also been a consistent contributor for the Purple Aces. The Croatian is third on the team in scoring with 10.7 ppg, and second on the team in rebounding with 5.5 rpg. Evansville's offensive performance has been great this season, as they currently shoot 54 percent from the floor in putting up 78.3 ppg -- both of which rank first in the MVC. The Purple Aces have also been playing great defense against 3-point attempts, allowing opponents to shoot just 29.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Marcellus Barksdale netted 22 points for the Jaguars in the loss to Georgia State. Other contributors for IUPUI were P.J. Boutte (12 points, eight assists, five rebounds), and reserve DavRon Williams (10 points, eight rebounds). The Jaguars were only down a point going into halftime, and shot a very impressive 15-of-21 in the second half, including a 7-of-9 mark from 3- point range. But the Jags didn't help their cause by turning the ball over 24 times, which the Panthers converted into 27 points. IUPUI also failed to register a single free throw in the last 20 minutes, and allowed Georgia State to score 36 points in the paint.

The Jaguars will need more offensive production to reach .500 again this season. They currently have just one scorer averaging in double digits (Barksdale, 10.8 ppg), and are only shooting 41.3 percent from the field. At the defensive end, opponents are averaging 72 points per game against IUPUI, and shooting 46.4 percent from the field. Both of those statistics rank the Jaguars in the bottom three for team defense in the Summit League. IUPUI is also turning the ball over 16.8 times per game, the highest average in the league. Clearly, the Jaguars need to improve in all facets of the game, and limit their turnovers if they want to improve their prospects this season.

Evansville is scoring a lot of points, while IUPUI allows a lot of points. The Purple Aces have lost just once this season, and it was by a scant two points. It's going to be a long bus ride back home for the Jaguars.