By Joe Danneman - bio | email
Posted by Kelsey Wheatcroft - email
EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - Butler will be coming to Evansville to battle the Aces in the first game at the new arena on November 12. The game will also be one of the highlights of UE's homecoming weekend.
The Aces are under contract to play Butler in Evansville next season, so that part of the story isn't the big announcement.
It's the guts of Marty Simmons to schedule a back-to-back final four team in one of the program's most important games that makes this a big deal.
Evansville has now played a regular season game against a team that advanced to the Final Four three years in a row: North Carolina in 2009 and Butler in 2010 and 2011.
Overall, the Purple Aces have played 10 games against teams that went on to the Final Four that season.
Aces Head Coach Marty Simmons says, "Appreciation to Coach Stevens and their staff. I do believe they opened up at Louisville this year and opened their new arena, and they agreed to do this. As good of a coach as he is, and he's a great coach, he's a great person, and we just have such a rivalry."
UE Athletic Director John Stanley says, "We've had that long time relationship with Butler and I know people will be excited about getting to see Butler because they have had so much success, and the same with Indiana."
The Aces also play the Hoosiers in Evansville that same month. It will be the second in a three-game series that will wrap up in Bloomington during the 2013-‘14 season. The first game took place in Bloomington on November 21, 2010, with IU winning 67-54.
The new 290,000-square foot Evansville arena will be the home court for the University of Evansville Purple Aces men's and women's basketball teams.
The arena will be the region's center for sports and entertainment, designed to host basketball, hockey, concerts, exhibitions, and shows for audiences as large as 11,000.
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