There will be no 1:00 p.m. Mass in Neu Chapel this Sunday. Anyone who will be arriving on campus and looking for area Mass times is encouraged to check the Newman Center website, http://www.uenewman.com
 

Francesco Planchenstainer will be the featured speaker at the Newman Catholic Student Center this Monday evening, discussing how his faith has developed through the experience of living in different countries. Dinner begins at 5:30 p.m., with discussion from 6-7 p.m. Francesco is a PhD candidate from Italy in residence at UE this year while completing an internship with Mead Johnson. Everyone is welcome! Contact Mike Roesch at mr201@evansville.edu with any questions.
 

The Schroeder Family School of Business Administration is hosting Dr. Brian Schwarz as a guest speaker on Wednesday January 9. He will be speaking from 4-5 p.m. in Smythe Hall (Room 170), Schroeder Family School of Business Administration Building.  Brian’s topic is “Doing Business in China.”  The entire community is invited.

Brian has been a senior lecturer in business for 12 years in Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai, China.  He is currently an adjunct business professor at East China Normal University.  Brian has taught a variety of business courses including Organizational Behavior, Marketing Management, Corporate Strategy, and Managerial Economics.  Brian has published in numerous business magazines including the China Economic Review, Shanghai Business Review, and China International Business.  Brian Received his Doctorate in Business Administration at California Coast University.
 

UE Libraries will observe the following schedule of hours during the December Recess beginning on December 12 and concluding on January 6. Contact William Louden, University Librarian, with questions at either 812.488.2376  or wflouden@evansville.edu

• Wednesday, December 12: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Thursday, December 13: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Friday, December 14: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Saturday, December 15: CLOSED
• Sunday, December 16: CLOSED
• Monday, December 17: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, December 18: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, December 19: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Thursday, December 20: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Friday, December 21: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Saturday – Tuesday,, December 22–January 1: CLOSED
• Wednesday, January 2: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Thursday, January 3: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Friday, January 4: 7:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Saturday, January 5: CLOSED
• Sunday, January 6: CLOSED
• Monday, January 7: Resume regular hours

The artwork of Ralph M Larmann, associate professor of art, will be featured at the Sheldon Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana from January 4 through March 23. The show, titled Paradoxical Currents, is thematically oriented and presented in conjunction with the city of Terre Haute's "Year of the River." The exhibition will be presented in the Museum's Education Gallery with an opening reception at 6-9 p.m. on Friday, January 4. The exhibition and opening reception are free and open to the public.

Professor of Creative Writing William Baer’s award-winning one-act play, Morons, has been selected to be part of The Actors’ Theatre of Santa Cruz’s 18th Annual Eight Tens at Eight Festival under the direction of Brian Spencer.  Opening night is Friday, January 4, and the play will receive 18 individual performances.  Professor Baer also has two poems featured in the current issue of Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, and two other poems are forthcoming in the next issue of The Virginia Quarterly Review.

Condolences to Vicky Hughes, instructor of software applications in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department, whose father, Charles E. Marks, passed away on Tuesday, December 18, surrounded by his family. Mr. Marks, a resident of Lexington, Ky., was 80. A gathering of family and friends with a time of sharing was held on Saturday, December 22, at Clark Legacy Center in Lexington, Ky.

The men’s basketball team is hosting a Military Appreciation Night this Saturday, January 5 at 8 p.m. The Athletic Department is looking for volunteers to help pass out American flags at the doors to fans pregame to help honor military members and their families. Volunteers would need to be at the Ford Center Will Call by 6:30 p.m. and would be done at game time. Two tickets to the game will be provided for volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering please contact Cherie Leonhardt by Friday, January 4 at 12 p.m., by calling 488-2141 or emailing cl29@evansville.edu.

Freshman Egidijus Mockevicius and senior Troy Taylor posted career efforts as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team evened its conference record with a thrilling 62-59 win over Missouri State at the Ford Center on Wednesday evening.Mockevicius led all scorers with 18 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting effort.  The frosh also led Evansville (8-6, 1-1 MVC) with five blocks and seven offensive boards.  Taylor finished with an amazing 19 rebounds along with six points and four helpers.  His effort was just two shy of the UE record of 21 rebounds, which Richie Johnson set in a 1984 game versus Western Kentucky.  Taylor’s total was the most in a single game for a Missouri Valley Conference guard in 25 years.

“We knew it was going to be a grind-it-out type of game, they threw a bunch of different lineups at us and were really good at going after matchups, but overall I am very proud of our team,” head coach Marty Simmons said.  “They really had to dig deep and find ways to make plays to be able to win.”

It was freshman Egidijus Mockevicius with the quick start for UE, hitting his first two buckets as the Aces opened up a quick 4-0 advantage.  After the Bears (3-11, 1-1 MVC) notched a pair of buckets to tie it up, Troy Taylor hit an open Mockevicius for two more buckets as the freshman from Lithuania would later hit a free throw while recording UE’s first nine points.

Evansville hit five of its first eight attempts while holding MSU to 2-for-7 en route to a 12-4 lead.  Its hot start slowed a bit as the Aces would hit just one of the next 11 shots while MSU cut the deficit to 14-13 at the 12-minute mark of the period.  Lewis Jones ended a scoreless streak of 5:39 for UE with a jumper with just over six minutes remaining in the frame.

Jones’ bucket later extended into seven UE points in a row as he knocked down a three to put Evansville up 21-15.  That would be the halftime score as the UE defense had its best half of the year in holding MSU to just 15 points.  The Bears were scoreless on 10 of their last 11 possessions of the period.  Mockevicius had a game-high of nine points in the half, hitting all four attempts.  The rest of the Aces combined to hit just four out of 23 while both squads shot just over 29% in the period.

A pair of free throws by Mockevicius early in the second half gave Evansville its largest advantage at 27-17.  With UE up 29-19, the Bears went on a 5-0 run, capped off by a Nathan Scheer three-pointer.  The threes kept falling as Missouri State knocked down three over a span of two minutes.  Both squads combined to connect on four treys in two minutes after combing to go 1-of-13 in the first half.  Scheer later hit another one to bring MSU with a pair at 32-30.

The spurt would turn into a 17-6 run by the Bears as Anthony Downing picked up an and-one to give MSU its first lead at 36-35.  Lewis Jones hit a pair of free throws on the ensuing trip down the floor to put the lead back in the hands of the Aces.  The back-and-forth action continued until Missouri State took its largest lead at 47-43 when Gavin Thurman downed his second trey of the game and Keith Pickens followed it up with a bucket of his own with three minutes left.

Lewis Jones, who notched a career-high 24 tallies last season on the road at MSU, made his 14th point of the night a big one as it found the bottom of the net to cut the lead to two.  After a turnover, Taylor sank his free throws to tie the game back up at 47-47.  The inspired play by Evansville continued as the defense forced Downing to take a long three at the buzzer, which was corralled by Mockevicius, who found an open Colt Ryan for the shot to put UE back on top.

Up by four points with under ten seconds left, Scheer notched a layup and on the inbound pass for UE, Downing stole it and laid it in to knot the game at 51-51 and send the game to overtime.  Each team scored on its opening possession of the extra period before an old-fashioned 3-point play by Mockevicius helped UE go up by a 58-54 score. 

The freshman improved to 6-of-6 on the game with under a minute left to make it a 60-56 game in favor of UE, but Anthony Downing recorded his 17th point on a trey with 40 seconds left to make it a 1-point game.  With the pressure on and the game clock dwindling, Ned Cox hit a jumper in the lane to put UE up by three with just six seconds remaining and that would be the final as a heave by the Bears fell short at the buzzer.

Led by Taylor’s 19 rebounds, Evansville finished with a 43-37 advantage on the boards and is now a perfect 6-0 when winning that battle.  Mockevicius finished with eight caroms, seven coming on the offensive glass.  Missouri State outshot UE by a .404-.361 margin while the Aces hit 80% (16-of-20) of the free throws while MSU was just 57.1% from the charity stripe.

Also finishing in double figures for Evansville was Jones, who equaled his season mark with 14 points and Colt Ryan, who registered 13.  Downing led the way for MSU with 17 points and 9 rebounds while Nathan Scheer added 10 tallies of his own.

Southern Illinois is the next opponent for UE as the Salukis are set to come to the Ford Center for an 8:00 p.m. tilt.  The MVC Network is slated to televise the game.  Next week, UE will take to the road on Wednesday looking for its second-consecutive win at Northern Iowa.

The University of Evansville women’s basketball team will open the 2013 calendar year and Missouri Valley Conference play with a pair of home games against Drake and Creighton.  The Purple Aces host the Bulldogs Thursday, Jan. 3 for a 7 p.m. game at the Ford Center, prior to hosting the Bluejays, Saturday, Jan. 5 at 5 p.m.

Evansville (2-9, 0-0 MVC) will be looking to snap an eight-game losing streak against Drake Thursday night, as the Aces dropped both contests at the Toledo Invite to host Toledo and Hampton in their last two outings Dec. 21 and Dec. 22.  UE rallied late against the Rockets, but fell, 60-50, before dropping a 64-45 decision to the Lady Pirates to conclude to the two-day event. 

Sophomore Mallory Ladd, who became eligible prior to the Toledo Invite after transferring from Valparaiso, posted a pair of double-doubles in her first two games with UE, tallying 11 points and 11 rebounds against Toledo, prior to turning in a 10-point, 10-rebound performance against Hampton.  Senior Samantha Heck led the Aces with 28 points during the event, scoring 16 against Toledo, and finished second on the squad with 16 rebounds.

As a team, Evansville averages 54.4 points per game and is shooting 34.0 percent from the field, including a 29.6 percent clip from three-point range.  UE ranks third in the Valley in two categories with 75 made three-pointers and 71.6 percent mark from the foul line.  At the Toledo Invite, the Aces converted on 27 of their 32 opportunities from the charity stripe for an 84.4 percent mark.

Individually, Heck is the nation’s top free throw shooter, hitting 96.6 percent of her chances at the charity stripe (28-for-29).  In addition, the senior forward leads UE in scoring (14.5 ppg), field goal percentage (45.3%) and three-point field goal percentage (42.1%).  Redshirt sophomore Khristian Hart is averaging in double figures at 13.4 points per contest and ranks third in the MVC with 28 three-pointers made.  Ladd ranks third on the squad with a 10.5 point scoring average and boats a team-high 10.5 boards per game.

Drake (5-6, 0-0 MVC) enters Thursday’s contest with Evansville having won its last two games, defeating Saint Louis and Milwaukee.  The Bulldogs posted an 80-70 victory over the Panthers in their last outing, shooting 51.6 percent from the field.  Kyndal Clark led DU with 19 points and was one of four DU players that finished in double figures.

Drake is averaging 65.2 points per contest and is shooting 38.6 percent from the floor.  The Bulldogs own a 30.9 percent clip from beyond the arc and is shooting 71.4 percent from the free throw line.  In addition, DU owns a +1.2 rebounding margin, is averaging 6.6 steals per outing and has won its last 11 games against Evansville.

Clark leads Drake in scoring at 13.8 points per game and has tallied a team-high 21 steals.  Morgan Reid leads Drake in rebounding at 7.5 boards per contest and ranks second on the team in scoring at 11.0 points per outing.  Alyssa Marschner leads the Valley with 60 assists and Carly Grenfell ranks second in the league in three-point shooting percentage at 42.9 percent (24-for-56).

The Bulldogs return seven letterwinners and three starters from last year’s team that finished 18-16 overall and tied for fifth in the final MVC standings.  DU was tabbed to finished ninth in the MVC Preseason Poll and is under the direction of first-year head coach Jennie Baranczyk.

Drake owns a 30-10 advantage in the all-time series with Evansville and has claimed victories in the last 11 meetings, including in last season’s MVC Tournament.  The Aces last defeated the Bulldogs during the 2007 season campaign, a 69-66 overtime win in Des Moines, Iowa.

Creighton (8-3, 0-0 MVC) will open league play Thursday at Southern Illinois before making the trip to the Ford Center.  The Bluejays saw their six-game winning streak halted in their last outing, as CU fell, 88-81, to Minnesota in double overtime in Minneapolis.  Creighton’s only other two losses were to nationally-ranked opponents in Oklahoma and Kansas.  Sarah Nelson led the Bluejays with 19 points and nine rebounds in their loss to the Golden Gophers, while Marissa Janning added 18 points and seven boards in 36 minutes off the bench.

Creighton ranks second in the country in three-pointers made per game at 9.8 triples per contest and rank 14th nationally in three-point shooting percentage with a 37.2 percent.  Additionally, CU leads the MVC in assists (16.6 apg) and assist/turnover ratio (1.0) and, ranks second in field goal percentage (41.0%) and three-point percentage defense (27.7%).

Individually, Nelson leads the Bluejays in scoring (12.5 ppg) and rebounding (8.0 rpg), and has tallied a team-high 15 blocked shots.  Marissa Janning ranks second on the squad with a 10.8 points per game scoring average and is among the nation’s best three-point shooters, as her 51.1 percent three-point percentage ranks fourth in the NCAA.  MVC Preseason Player of the Year Carli Tritz is also averaging in double figures for CU, scoring 10.1 points per contest with a team-high 25 steals.

The Bluejays return 11 letterwinners and four starters from last year’s team that finished 20-13 overall and fourth in the Valley with an 11-7 mark in league play.  Creighton is under the direction of Jim Flanery, who is in his 11th season at CU and owns a career record of 198-132.

Creighton leads the all-time series with Evansville, 29-11, with each team winning a game during the 2011-12 regular season.  The Bluejays handled the Aces, 65-33, in Omaha, before UE earned a narrow, 48-45 win in the rematch at the Ford Center.