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Fresh off one of the biggest college basketball upsets of the last two decades, Evansville returns home for a meeting with SMU on Monday night.
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How to Watch SMU vs Evansville
The game (7 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on TV anywhere, but you can watch it live on ESPN+
ESPN+ is the digital streaming service from ESPN that has exclusive coverage of over 1,500 college basketball games this season, plus other live sports every day, all the 30-for-30 documentaries and additional original content (both video and written) all for $4.99 per month.
Or, if you also want the new Disney+ streaming service and Hulu, you can get all three for $12.99 per month, which works out to 25 percent savings.
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Once signed up for ESPN+, you can then watch SMU vs Evansville live on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the ESPN app.
SMU vs Evansville Preview
Evansville, who hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 1999, won 11 games last year. They have just one senior on the roster, and they were picked to finish eighth out of 10 team in the Missouri Valley Conference. Most signs pointed to it being another rebuilding year in Walter McCarty’s second season at the helm.
Well, three games into the season and all those signs have been destroyed.
After what was quietly a very nice win over Ball State–the Cardinals should compete for a MAC title–to start the season, Evansville went into Rupp Arena as 24.5-point underdogs and toppled No. 1 Kentucky, shocking the college basketball world and putting an end to the Wildcats’ streak of 52 straight home wins over unranked non-conference opponents.
K.J. Riley, the Purple Aces’ lone senior, led the way with 18 points, Kansas transfer Sam Cunliffe added 17 off the bench, and Evansville led for most of the game en route to the 67-64 victory.
“We just believed and trusted each other and made plays for each other. Guys came out and gave their all. They’ve got a good basketball team. Kentucky’s going to be a really good team, going to be around at the end of it,” said McCarty, who went to high school in Evansville and college at Kentucky before spending 11 seasons in the NBA. “We played a heck of a game tonight.”
After following up that historic win with a victory over DII Indiana Kokomo, 3-0 Evansville gets another test Monday night against SMU, who are also off to a 3-0 start.
The Mustangs, who were picked to finish eighth in the AAC, have compiled early-season victories over Jacksonville State, New Orleans and Jackson State. Juniors Isiaha Mike and Tyson Jolly have led the way, averaging 20.0 and 19.3 points per contest, respectively.
One key to this matchup will be the rebounding battle. Evansville did a fantastic job of limiting to Kentucky’s second-chance opportunities, grabbing 27 of 35 available defensive rebounds, and they’ll have to do so again against a big, physical SMU team that ranks 30th in the country in offensive rebounding percentage.
Another area to watch will be SMU’s defense of the three-point line. The Mustangs are currently holding opponents to a putrid 23.3 percent from deep, but Evansville is far more dangerous than anyone SMU has faced this fur. The Purple Aces have hit nine threes in each of their three games this season.
Put it all together, and you have a game that stacks up as one of the most interesting of the week.