Trey Guidry scored nine of his game-high 15 points in the first half, as Illinois State made 18 of its first 34 field goals, but the Birds hit just six of their final 28, as Evansville turned a six-point second-half deficit into a 72-56 victory.
Evansville, 6-19, 5-11 in the Valley, completed a season series sweep of the Redbirds, 8-17, 3-13, by winning for just the ninth time in 27 series meetings, and the second time in 12 tries against the Birds in Normal. Matt Webster led UE with 12 points and Justin Petty added 11 in a balanced attack. The Aces were 26-51 from the field, 14-25 in the second half.
With the score tied 17-17, Trey Guidry got the Redbirds rolling with a three-pointer set up by his own steal. After a Bradley Strickland bucket for UE, Guidry buried two more threes in succession and ISU led 26-19. The Redbirds led 34-31 at halftime thanks to 14-27 shooting from the field.
ISU led 39-33 in the first three minutes of the second half with the help of Marcus Arnolds first basket of the game and his first blocked shot, which Guidry converted to a driving basket. Evansville answered ISUs early spurt with a 17-0 run to tak e a 58-43 lead into the final eight minutes. ISU went scoreless from 15:19 to 7:30, with the Birds missing nine shots and committing five turnovers on 14 possessions. Gregg Alexanders steal and layup stopped the drought, but Evansville held on to a double-digit lead.
The Redbirds forced 22 UE turnovers to just 15 of their own, but Evansville offset that stat with a 40-28 rebounding edge led by Clint Cuffles 10.
The Redbirds play their final road game of the regular season at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at Wichita State before returning to Redbird Arena for Mondays regular-season finale at 7:05 p.m. against Drake.
