Saturday, March 1st, 8:05 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Roberts Stadium (12,300) -- Evansville, Indiana. Television: None. Home Record: NIU 11-6, Evansville 7-7. Away Record: NIU 5-7, Evansville 2-12. Neutral Record: NIU 0-0, Evansville 0-0. Conference Record: NIU 8-9, Evansville 3-14. Series Record: Evansville leads, 17-14.

GAME NOTES: In the season finale for both teams, the Evansville Purple Aces look to finish on a positive note when they host the Northern Iowa Panthers in a Missouri Valley Conference tussle at Roberts Stadium. Evansville has experienced more valleys than peaks this season, and the squad suffered another one of those valleys on Wednesday night when the Purple Aces fell at Wichita State. The 68-54 setback was the third loss in the past four games for the Aces, who haven't won back-to-back games since the beginning of December. Northern Iowa has a chance to even its conference record even though the squad is in the middle of a rough patch. Before Wednesday night, the Panthers had lost five of their previous six games and their only win came in overtime against Wichita State (77-75). On Wednesday however, NIU gave its fans something to cheer for in the home finale, as the Panthers came away with a convincing 73-58 victory over Indiana State. Even though Evansville holds a three-game lead in the all-time series against Northern Iowa, the Panthers have rattled off six straight wins, including a 64-51 victory back on January 2nd.

Eric Coleman once again led the Panthers in the 15-point win over Indiana State, pacing the squad with 21 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. That's two consecutive double-doubles for Coleman, who dropped 26 points and 11 boards in a 12-point loss last weekend to Illinois-Chicago. The center is currently posting 11.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game and is the clear catalyst to Northern Iowa's success. Adam Viet got involved in the latest win, hitting four three-pointers and adding 16 points to the winning cause. Viet tops the team with a .430 three-point field goal percentage and needs to look for his shot more on the perimeter. Jared Josten is also depositing double digits on the season with 10.1 ppg, but he could improve on his .392 field goal percentage.

The Purple Aces have had trouble matching baskets with the rest of the MVC, as the team is netting less than 60 ppg. Evansville missed Jason Holsinger for three games in mid-February, as he was nursing a hand injury. The guard is putting up 13.0 points and dishing out more than four assists per game. Holsinger logged 10 points and four assists against Wichita State, but it was not enough to pull out the win. Leading scorer Shy Ely once again paced the Aces with 16 points to improve his average to 14.5 ppg. Ely, along with Nate Garner, are combining to pull down more than 10 rebounds a game, but the team is still pretty weak on the interior as they are regularly outrebounded by their opponents, as the 39-21 disparity on the glass against WSU showed.

Tonight marks Evansville's home finale, so Holsinger and Ely will certainly pull out all of the stops in this one. Unfortunately, the duo doesn't have much help and the Panthers should manage another season sweep of the Purple Aces.

Predicted Outcome

Northern Iowa 65, Evansville 59