2014–15 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 Basketball 2014–15 Evansville Purple Aces Evansville Purple Aces logo.svg 200 Missouri Valley Conference The Valley 24–12 9–9 Marty Simmons 8th Jimmy Elgas Carson Harris Geoff Alexander Ford Center CIT champions The 2014–15 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team represented the University of Evansville during the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Purple Aces, led by eighth year head coach Marty Simmons, played their home games at the Ford Center and were members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 24–12, 9–9 in MVC play to finish in fifth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley tournament to Illinois State. They were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they defeated IPFW, Eastern Illinois, Louisiana–Lafayette, UT Martin, and Northern Arizona to become CIT champions. Previous season The Purple Aces finished the season 14–19, 6–12 in MVC play to finish in a tie for eighth place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley tournament where they lost to Wichita State. Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Ryan Sawvell 0 F/C 6'8" 200 Junior Mundelein, IL Transferred to Wofford Tyler Ptacek 22 G 6'3" 175 Freshman Parma, OH Transferred Mike Leazer 23 G 6'3" 170 Sophomore Mount Prospect, IL Transferred to Wisconsin–Parkside Rokas Cesnulevicius 25 F/C 6'8" 215 Junior Alytus, Lithuania Injured Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School Taylor Stafford 1 G 6'0" 170 Junior Duluth, MN Junior college transfer from Eastern Arizona College. Sergej Vucetic 14 C 7'1" 236 Junior Vrbas, Serbia Transferred from Nebraska. Under NCAA transfer rules, Vucetic will have to redshirt for the 2014–15 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. Willie Wiley 22 F 6'7" 210 Junior Springfield, IL Junior college transfer from Vincennes. Class of 2015 recruits no no 2015 Dainius Chatkevicius PF Orlando, FL West Oaks Academy 6 9 245 N/A NR NR NR 2015 2015 Evansville Signees 2015 Evansville Signees 2015 Evansville Signees July 23, 2014 yes Roster 2014 Evansville Purple Aces y yes Taylor Stafford 1 G 6 1 170 JR Duluth, MN Eastern Arizona College Christian Benzon 2 G 6 4 195 SO Gainesville, FL The Rock School Jaylon Brown y 3 G 6 0 185 SO Fishers, IN Fishers Duane Gibson 4 G 6 3 195 SO Cleveland, OH Villa Angela-St. Joseph Mislav Brzoja 5 G 6 4 215 SO y Zagreb, Croatia Villanova Jaylon Moore 10 F/C 6 7 230 SR Olive Branch, MS Olive Branch Adam Wing 12 G 6 4 205 JR Morehead, KY Rowan County Sergej Vucetic 14 C 7 1 238 JR Vrbas, Serbia Nebraska yes Willie Wiley 22 F 6 7 215 JR Springfield, IL Vincennes D. J. Balentine 31 G 6 2 210 JR Kokomo, IN Kokomo David Howard 44 F/C 6 8 225 SO y Nashville, TN Montgomery Bell Blake Simmons 50 G/F 6 5 210 SO Newburgh, IN Castle Egidijus Mockevičius y 55 C 6 10 225 JR Kuršėnai, Lithuania Lithuanian Edu. Sciences Marty Simmons (Evansville) Jimmy Elgas (Illinois State) Carson Harris (Manchester (IN)) Geoff Alexander (Western Illinois) http://gopurpleaces.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball& Schedule http://www.gopurpleaces.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball& 2021-22 Men's Basketball Schedule no 2014-15 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings 2014 yes yes |- !colspan=9 style="background:#5C2F83; color:#FF5100;"| Exhibition 11/01/2014 1:05 pm yes no McKendree Ford Center Evansville, IN 2,722 88–60 11/08/2014 3:05 pm yes no Wabash Ford Center Evansville, IN 3,936 95–50 |- !colspan=9 style="background:#5C2F83; color:#FF5100;"| Regular season 11/15/2014 2:05 pm yes no Earlham Ford Center Evansville, IN 4,238 116–45 1–0 11/19/2014 6:00 pm yes yes no Miami (OH) Millett Hall Oxford, OH 826 69–50 2–0 11/24/2014 1:30 pm yes yes no Fresno State Germain Arena Estero, FL Gulf Coast Classic quarterfinals 2,118 58–52 3–0 11/25/2014 5:00 pm yes yes no Green Bay Germain Arena Estero, FL Gulf Coast Classic semifinals 3,027 62–64 3–1 11/26/2014 5:00 pm yes yes no San Francisco Germain Arena Estero, FL Gulf Coast Classic 3rd place game 3,867 79–72 4–1 12/02/2014 7:05 pm yes no Wright State Ford Center Evansville, IN 3,291 86–72 5–1 12/06/2014 7:05 pm yes no IUPUI Ford Center Evansville, IN 3,889 89–62 6–1 12/09/2014 7:00 pm yes yes no Belmont Curb Event Center Nashville, TN 1,160 65–62 7–1 12/13/2014 1:05 pm yes no Murray State Ford Center Evansville, IN 5,083 79–81 7–2 12/18/2014 8:05 pm yes no Ohio Ford Center Evansville, IN 3,610 81–69 8–2 12/21/2014 1:05 pm yes no Alabama State Ford Center Evansville, IN 3,861 81–63 9–2 12/28/2014 1:05 pm yes no Coppin State Ford Center Evansville, IN 4,329 85–80 10–2 |- !colspan=12 style="background:#5C2F83; color:#FF5100;"| Missouri Valley Conference regular season 01/01/2015 7:00 pm no Northern Iowa 23 Ford Center Evansville, IN 5,151 ESPN3 52–49 11–2 (1–0) 01/04/2015 12:30 pm yes no Indiana State Hulman Center Terre Haute, IN 3,948 ESPN3 75–79 11–3 (1–1) 01/07/2015 7:00 pm no Loyola–Chicago Ford Center Evansville, IN 4,321 ESPN3 70–71 11–4 (1–2) 01/10/2015 1:00 pm yes no Bradley Carver Arena Peoria, IL 5,614 66–56 12–4 (2–2) 01/14/2015 1:00 pm yes no Missouri State JQH Arena Springfield, MO 5,097 56–54 13–4 (3–2) 01/17/2015 1:00 pm no Wichita State 13 Ford Center Evansville, IN 7,015 41–61 13–5 (3–3) 01/21/2015 7:00 pm yes no Loyola–Chicago Joseph J. Gentile Arena Chicago, IL 1,278 65–56 14–5 (4–3) 01/24/2015 3:00 pm no Southern Illinois Ford Center Evansville, IN 5,521 ESPN3 75–66 15–5 (5–3) 01/27/2015 7:00 pm no Indiana State Ford Center Evansville, IN 4,054 ESPN3 89–78 16–5 (6–3) 01/31/2015 2:00 pm yes no Drake Knapp Center Des Moines, IA 4,120 65–70 16–6 (6–4) 02/03/2015 7:00 pm yes no Illinois State Redbird Arena Normal, IL 4,352 ESPN3 51–77 16–7 (6–5) 02/07/2015 1:00 pm no Bradley Ford Center Evansville, IN 4,106 53–56 16–8 (6–6) 02/10/2015 7:00 pm no Missouri State Ford Center Evansville, IN 3,502 ESPN3 73–66 17–8 (7–6) 02/14/2015 3:00 pm yes no Southern Illinois SIU Arena Carbondale, IL 5,265 72–64 18–8 (8–6) 02/17/2015 7:00 pm no Drake Ford Center Evansville, IN 3,418 61–52 19–8 (9–6) 02/22/2015 3:00 pm yes no Wichita State 13 Charles Koch Arena Wichita, KS 10,506 ESPNU 43–62 19–9 (9–7) 02/25/2015 8:00 pm yes no Northern Iowa McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA 6,935 57–68 19–10 (9–8) 02/28/2015 1:00 pm no Illinois State Ford Center Evansville, IN 5,491 67–69 OT 19–11 (9–9) |- !colspan=9 style="background:#5C2F83; color:#FF5100;"| Missouri Valley tournament 03/06/2015 2:35 pm yes no Illinois State Scottrade Center St. Louis, MO Quarterfinals 9,015 MVC TV/ESPN3 67–71 19–12 |- !colspan=9 style="background:#5C2F83; color:#FF5100;"| CIT 03/18/2015 7:00 pm yes no IPFW Ford Center Evansville, IN First round 1,826 82–77 20–12 03/23/2015 7:00 pm yes yes no Eastern Illinois Lantz Arena Charleston, IL Second round 2,404 83–68 21–12 03/26/2015 7:30 pm yes yes no Louisiana–Lafayette Blackham Coliseum Lafayette, LA Quarterfinals 3,541 89–82 22–12 03/31/2015 6:00 pm yes no Tennessee–Martin Ford Center Evansville, IN Semifinals 3,008 CBSSN 79–66 23–12 04/02/2015 6:00 pm yes no Northern Arizona Ford Center Evansville, IN Championship game 4,549 CBSSN 71–65 24–12 AP Poll Central Time References Category:Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball seasons Evansville Evansville Category:CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament championship seasons Evans Evans