Arch Madness: Evansville basketball hopes to snap skid, make a run in MVC tournament

EVANSVILLE — It’s been a steep upward trajectory that Indiana State has enjoyed under third-year head coach Josh Schertz.

Previously at NCAA Division II powerhouse Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.), Schertz and his staff have led the Sycamores from a 4-14 finish in the Missouri Valley Conference two years ago to winning the league outright this season at 17-3. It is ISU’s first regular-season title since 2000.

Indiana State is where Evansville head coach David Ragland began his D-I coaching career as an assistant under Greg Lansing from 2010-14. Those years were some of the Sycamores' best of this quarter-century, but watching as Schertz has taken the program to another level has been inspiring to Ragland.

“I spent some time there and I know some of the challenges that he may face but he’s done an unbelievable job,” he said. “His team is well deserving for what they’ve been able to accomplish. Really happy for him, their team, and their community.”

Ragland inherited a UE program under significant distress but seemingly has it on a similar trajectory. The Aces (15-16, 6-14 MVC) have bounced back to respectable this year after going 5-27 (1-19 in MVC) a season ago. They enter the MVC Tournament this week as the No. 10 seed and will open with No. 7 Illinois State (15-16, 9-11).

Tipoff is 6 p.m. CST Thursday at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The game will be televised on Bally Sports Midwest, streamed on MVC TV Network and ESPN+ as well as broadcasted on 107.1FM WJPS radio.

After the Big Ten, the MVC is the second oldest D-I athletics conference in the nation, and with it, carries great pageantry into the tournament affectionately called “Arch Madness.”

No team has ever won four games in as many days to claim the MVC tourney title. Only one has ever come close and reached the championship game: Valparaiso as a No. 7 seed in 2020.

While UE hopes to join Valpo in that feat, it must shake off a current seven-game losing streak. Anyone who has watched the Aces this season knows they need a healthy Ben Humrichous on the floor to make any type of run into this coming weekend.

And that was why Humrichous (15.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg) sat during the season finale 83-66 loss at Belmont.

“We’re thinking about what’s going to put us in the best position to accomplish (four games in as many days) and that’s a healthy team period but especially a healthy Ben,” Ragland said. “We knew where we were at – we knew we were going to be the 10 seed regardless. For him to be able to have a couple days rest going into Arch Madness made a lot of sense to us.

“We just felt that was the best approach to take in order to get guys ready for this upcoming week.”

Ragland added that Humrichous “will be available” and “will play.”

Evansville basketball: The Purple Aces' key to success? A healthy Ben Humrichous. 'He’s a really tough matchup.'

The 6-foot-7 forward was named Monday the MVC Scholar Athlete of the Year as he holds a 4.0 GPA while pursuing his Master of Science degree in Leadership. Previously, Humrichous posted a 3.93 GPA while earning his bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Huntington (Ind.) University. He’s the third student-athlete in program history to receive the honor, joining Jason Holsinger (2009) and Colt Ryan (2013).

UE split the regular-season series with Illinois State with each winning on its respective home court; UE 58-54 on Jan. 27 and ISU 86-79 on Feb. 18.

Two completely different games. In the last meeting, the Redbirds torched UE’s defense for 1.32 points per possession – the Aces’ most allowed in MVC action.

It hasn’t been a pretty picture on that end of the floor as of late and particularly so beyond the 3-point arc. The Aces have allowed a league-worst 38.1% from 3-point range. Not only that but during this seven-game losing skid, opponents average 25 attempts per game and are shooting 42.2% from 3.

Overall, ISU has been led by Myles Foster, a 6-7 and 235-pound transfer from Monmouth who is averaging a team-high 13.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in MVC play.

Last time out, it was Malachi Poindexter who gave UE the most trouble. The 6-3 senior guard cut loose for a career-high 27 points on 6 of 10 shooting from downtown. Another hot shooter that UE will try to slow down is Johnny Kinziger, one of the MVC's top freshmen

Whoever wins between UE and ISU will advance to play No. 2-seeded Drake at 6 p.m. Friday.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Arch Madness 2024: Evansville hopes health leads to tournament run