2020–21 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team

2020–21 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball
2020–21 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Record	8–8 (6–4 MVC)
Head coach	Todd Lickliter (1st season);
Assistant coaches	Logan Baumann; Thomas Jackson; Brandon Crone;
Home arena	Ford Center
	Seasons ← 2019–20 2021–22 →

2020–21 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 17 Loyola Chicago †	16	–	2	.889	26	–	5	.839
Drake	15	–	3	.833	26	–	5	.839
Missouri State	12	–	6	.667	17	–	7	.708
Indiana State	11	–	7	.611	15	–	10	.600
Evansville	7	–	11	.389	9	–	16	.360
Valparaiso	7	–	11	.389	10	–	18	.357
Northern Iowa	7	–	11	.389	10	–	15	.400
Bradley	6	–	12	.333	12	–	16	.429
Southern Illinois	5	–	13	.278	12	–	14	.462
Illinois State	4	–	14	.222	7	–	18	.280

† 2021 MVC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 2020–21 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team represents the University of Evansville in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Purple Aces are led by first-year head coach Todd Lickliter and play their home games at the Ford Center as members of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC).

Previous season

The Purple Aces finished the 2019–20 season 9–23, 0–18 in MVC play to finish in last place. As the No. 10 seed in the MVC Tournament, they lost to Valparaiso in the first round.

Preseason

Evansville was picked to finish last in the MVC despite returning a trio of seniors starters.^[1] ^[2]

Roster

2020–21 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	0	Gage Bobe	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	So	South Knox	Vincennes, IN
G	1	Emmette Page	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Jr	Ossesso Senior High School	Brooklyn Park, MN
F	2	Jack Levitch	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Sr	Trinitiy High School	Louisville, KY
G	3	Jawaun Newton	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Jr	Burges	El Paso, TX
G	4	Devan Straub (W)	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	RS Sr	Mater Dei IU Kokomo	Evansville, IN
G	5	Shamar Givance	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	Jr	First Love Christian Academy	Toronto, ON
F	10	Evan Kuhlman	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Sr	Lakota East	Liberty Township, OH
G	11	Thomasi Gilgeous-Alexander	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	So	The Potter's House Christian Academy	Hamilton, ON
F	23	Trey Hall	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	Link Year Prep	Willimantic, CT
G	24	Alex Matthews	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Fr	John Hardin HS	Elizabethtown, KT
G	30	Noah Frederking	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Sr	Okawville	Okawville, IL
F	31	Iyen Enaruna	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Cloud County CC	Amsterdam, Netherlands
G	41	Samari Curtis	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	So	Xenia HS Nebraska	Xenia, OH
F	42	Peace Ilegomah	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	Sr	Montverde Academy Pittsburgh	Benin City, Nigeria

Head coach

Todd Lickliter (Butler)

Assistant coach(es)

Logan Baumann (Louisville)
Thomas Jackson (Butler)
Brandon Crone (Butler)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 25, 2020* 3:00 pm, ACCN	Louisville Wade Houston Tipoff Classic	L 44–79	0–1	KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
Nov 27, 2020* 12:00 pm, ESPN3	Prairie View A&M Wade Houston Tipoff Classic	L 61–64	0–2	KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY
Dec 2, 2020* 7:00 pm, ESPN+	at UT Martin	L 87–93 ^2OT	0–3	Skyhawk Arena Martin, TN
~~Dec 6, 2020~~* ~~TBA~~	~~IUPUI~~	Cancelled due to COVID-19^[3]		~~Ford Center~~ ~~Evansville, IN~~
Dec 9, 2020* 6:00 pm	Eastern Illinois	W 68–65	1–3	Ford Center Evansville, IN
~~Dec 12, 2020~~* ~~2:00 pm~~	~~Saint Louis~~	Cancelled due to COVID-19^[4]		~~Chaifetz Arena~~ ~~Saint Louis, MO~~
Dec 15, 2020* 6:00 pm	Southeast Missouri State	W 63–61 ^OT	2–3	Ford Center Evansville, IN
Dec 21, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN+	Belmont	L 63–72	2–4	Ford Center Evansville, IN
Missouri Valley Conference regular season
Dec 27, 2020 3:00 pm, ESPN+	at Southern Illinois	L 57–63	2–5 (0–1)	SIU Arena Carbondale, IL
Dec 28, 2020 5:00 pm, ESPN+	at Southern Illinois	W 84–72	3–5 (1–1)	SIU Arena Carbondale, IL
Jan 2, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN+	Northern Iowa	W 65–61	4–5 (2–1)	Ford Center Evansville, IN
Jan 3, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN+	Northern Iowa	W 70–64	5–5 (3–1)	Ford Center Evansville, IN
Jan 9, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN3	Illinois State	W 57–48	6–5 (4–1)	Ford Center Evansville, IN
Jan 10, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN3	Illinois State	L 68–73	6–6 (4–2)	Ford Center Evansville, IN
Jan 16, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN3	at Bradley	L 60–69	6–7 (4–3)	Carver Arena Peoria, IL
Jan 17, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN3	at Bradley	L 55–86	6–8 (4–4)	Peoria Civic Center Peoria, IL
Jan 31, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN3	Valparaiso	W 70–52	7–8 (5–4)	Ford Center Evansville, IN
Feb 1, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN3	Valparaiso	W 58–51	8–8 (6–4)	Ford Center Evansville, IN
Feb 6, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+	at Loyola–Chicago			Joseph J. Gentile Arena Chicago, IL
Feb 7, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+	at Loyola–Chicago			Joseph J. Gentile Arena Chicago, IL
Feb 14, 2021 6:00 pm	Indiana State			Hulman Center Terre Haute, IN
Feb 21, 2021 3:00 pm	at Drake			Knapp Center Des Moines, IA
Feb 22, 2021 6:00 pm	at Drake			Knapp Center Des Moines, IA
Feb 26, 2021 6:00 pm	Missouri State			Ford Center Evansville, IN
Feb 27, 2021 6:00 pm	Missouri State			Ford Center Evansville, IN
MVC Tournament
March 4–7, 2021 TBD	TBD			Enterprise Center St. Louis, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

References

^ "UNI favored in MVC Men's Basketball Poll". MVC-Sports.com]. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
^ "2020-21 MVC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll" (PDF). mvc-sports.com. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
^ Courier & Press: "Evansville basketball cancels Saturday's game with Saint Louis"
^ Courier & Press: "Evansville basketball cancels Saturday's game with Saint Louis"

[1] "UNI favored in MVC Men's Basketball Poll". MVC-Sports.com]. Retrieved December 20, 2020.

[2] "2020-21 MVC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll" (PDF). mvc-sports.com. Retrieved December 20, 2020.

[3] Courier & Press: "Evansville basketball cancels Saturday's game with Saint Louis"

[4] Courier & Press: "Evansville basketball cancels Saturday's game with Saint Louis"

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball
Venues	Roberts Municipal Stadium (1956–2011) Ford Center (2011–present)
Culture & lore	1977 team plane crash
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold