Evansville basketball is 'moving in the right direction' despite losing in MVC tournament

Now two years through the David Ragland era, the Evansville Purple Aces are trending toward the long-term success he often speaks about. They're building piece by piece, day by day.

“You want to make progress,” Ragland said, “but you have to go from one step to the next step to reach full potential. We’re moving in the right direction.”

No. 10-seeded Evansville bowed out of the Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball tournament on Friday night with a 79-58 loss to No. 2 Drake. The Aces couldn’t overcome a 21-point halftime deficit to pull the upset.

But the Aces (16-17) indeed made progress this season.

It was their first quarterfinal appearance since earning the No. 5 seed in 2021. UE hadn’t won an MVC tournament game since 2017 until it defeated Illinois State on Thursday.

Arch Madness: Evansville basketball advances in MVC tournament with wire-to-wire win over Illinois State

The Aces kept Friday’s game close to start, trailing by just three at the under-eight media timeout. Then Drake (26-6) caught fire. It ended the half on a 22-4 run to essentially put the game away and close the book on a stepping-stone season for the Aces.

“They set the tone pretty early just with their physicality on the defensive end and as the game went on, it did even out,” Ragland said. “It was even in the second half, 36-36, but it was a little too late.”

Ragland added postgame they "will see what’s best for our group" if they receive an invitation to a postseason tournament.

Yacine Toumi was the only UE player in double figures with 14 points to go along with nine rebounds. Chuck Bailey III and Kenny Strawbridge Jr. each added nine and Antonio Thomas had eight as both teams shot 42% from the field.

MVC Player of the Year Tucker DeVries led all scorers with 19 points, plus six rebounds and six assists.

ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi has Drake as a “next four out” team in his latest bracketology and it swept all three matchups with the Aces, including a 49-point beatdown in Des Moines.

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

This season was a bit of a roller coaster for the Aces.

UE won its first six games and 10 of its first 12. Then it lost seven of eight before later ending the regular season on a seven-game losing streak, which included a pair of heartbreaking losses at the buzzer. Still, the Aces improved their win total from five to 16 in Ragland’s second year. They won their first MVC tournament game in eight seasons. And they were one of the most-improved teams nationally this year.

There’s plenty of positive momentum to build upon.

“It was a different team,” Toumi said. “Everybody was locked in and I knew from the beginning that we could do something special, so I’m really proud of these guys.”

Seniors Gage Bobe, Strawbridge Jr. and Thomas are out of eligibility while Toumi hasn’t decided whether he will return for his final year – that’s four of five starters from Friday’s loss. There could be plenty of roster turnover again, as is the case for everyone in the transfer portal era.

But Ragland and his staff are committed to revitalizing this storied program. They’re not finished yet.

“Coach Ragland and his staff have done an incredible job as they’re continuing to build that roster out,” Drake coach Darian DeVries said. “The actions they’re doing defensively, offensively – you know, if Ben (Humrichous) doesn’t get hurt and miss a significant amount of time, I think they finish higher.

“He’s certainly got it going in the right direction and they’re a good team. I thought they did a really nice job with this group.”

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville basketball exits MVC tournament after loss to Drake