GAME NOTES: Playing seven of their next eight games at home, the Evansville Purple Aces settle in for a meeting against Wright State on Tuesday night at Roberts Stadium.

Hitting the road only once until the second week of January, the Purple Aces are coming off the Gulf Coast Showcase where they won two of three outings. The latest triumph came against San Francisco last week, a favorable 79-72 decision in Florida in order to move to 4-1 on the campaign.

The Raiders were also involved in an early-season tournament last week, but in their case they lost two of three outings. After bowing to both Cal State Fullerton and FIU by a combined seven points, Wright State survived against host USC Upstate on Saturday in a 56-51 final in order to climb back above the .500 mark.

In terms of the all-time series between these two squads, the Purple Aces have won both previous encounters, the most recent of which was a 70-58 final two seasons ago in Ohio.

The Wright State defense came to play against USC Upstate the last time out, holding the hosts to just 37.5 percent shooting from the field and forcing them into 15 turnovers, en route to the five-point victory. JT Yoho posted a team-high 17 points and also pulled down six rebounds, followed by Joe Thomasson who tallied 11 points, five assists and four boards for a squad that landed in the win column despite making only six trips to the free-throw line, making five, on the evening.

Yoho has appeared in only four of the team's seven games thus far, but he has made a major impact with his 19.5 ppg, not to mention clearing a team-best 7.8 rpg as well. One of only two players to have started every contest, Chrishawn Hopkins is responsible for 14.6 ppg and a team-high 22 assists, not to mention 4.4 rpg which makes him one of the more well-rounded performers on the roster for Wright State.

Leading the charge for Evansville in the victory over the Dons was Egidijus Mockevicius who recorded a double-double consisting of 14 points and 14 rebounds, while D.J. Balentine accounted for 23 points on 4-of-8 shooting behind the 3-point line. Off the bench, Jaylon Brown and Mislav Brzoja contributed 15 and 11 points, respectively, the latter also pulling down seven rebounds and handing out six of the unit's 14 assists for good measure.

Even though he is shooting just 61.9 percent at the free-throw line through the first two weeks of the campaign, Balentine is still leading the Purple Aces in scoring with 17.8 ppg, while his 17 assists are also at the top of that particular list as well. Mockevicius, a 68.4 percent shooter from the field, is on the verge of averaging a double-double with his 12.6 ppg and 9.4 rpg for a team that is outscoring the opposition by 20.2 ppg in the early going.

With Mockevicius on the interior and the rest of the Purple Aces not hurting themselves with poor shot selections, this is a meeting that should again land in favor of Evansville.