Battle of Backbone Mountain

1988–89 Midwestern Collegiate Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Evansville	10	–	2	.833	25	–	6	.806
Saint Louis	8	–	4	.667	27	–	10	.730
Xavier †	7	–	5	.583	21	–	12	.636
Dayton	6	–	6	.500	12	–	17	.414
Detroit Mercy	4	–	8	.333	7	–	21	.250
Loyola (IL)	4	–	8	.333	11	–	17	.393
Butler	3	–	9	.250	11	–	17	.393

† 1989 MCC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1988–89 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team represented the University of Evansville in the 1988–89 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Their head coach was Jim Crews and they played their home games at the Ford Center as members of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. After winning the MCC regular season championship, the Purple Aces received an at-large bid to the 1989 NCAA tournament. They defeated Oregon State in the opening round before losing to the eventual National runner-up, Seton Hall, in the second round.

Roster

1988–89 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	3	Scott Haffner	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Sr	Noblesville, IN
C	53	Dan Godfread	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	Jr	Fort Wayne, IN

Head coach

Jim Crews (Indiana)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
Nov 27, 1988*		at Valparaiso	W 75–56	1–0	Athletics-Recreation Center Valparaiso, Indiana
Nov 30, 1988*		at Southern Illinois	L 71–73	1–1	SIU Arena Carbondale, Illinois
Dec 5, 1988*		Wisconsin-Green Bay	W 68–60	2–1	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Dec 7, 1988*		at Wake Forest	L 73–79	2–2	Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Dec 10, 1988*		Austin Peay	W 89–72	3–2	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Dec 12, 1988*		Indiana State	W 94–75	4–2	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Dec 20, 1988*		Bucknell	W 79–54	5–2	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Dec 23, 1988*		Wyoming	W 84–63	6–2	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Dec 29, 1988*		Siena	W 79–70	7–2	Roberts Municipal Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Dec 31, 1988*		at Murray State	W 78–70	8–2	Racer Arena Murray, Kentucky
Jan 3, 1989*		Alcorn State	W 81–44	9–2	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Jan 10, 1989*		at Toledo	W 61–59	10–2	John F. Savage Hall Toledo, Ohio
Jan 14, 1989		Butler	W 61–45	11–2 (1–0)	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Jan 19, 1989		at Xavier	L 73–81	11–3 (1–1)	Cincinnati Gardens Cincinnati, Ohio
Jan 21, 1989		at Dayton	W 83–65	12–3 (2–1)	University of Dayton Arena Dayton, Ohio
Jan 26, 1989		Detroit Mercy	W 80–63	13–3 (3–1)	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Jan 28, 1989		Loyola (IL)	W 89–76	14–3 (4–1)	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Feb 4, 1989		Saint Louis	W 98–66	15–3 (5–1)	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Feb 6, 1989*		Southern Illinois	W 89–87	16–3	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Feb 11, 1989		at Butler	W 90–77	17–3 (6–1)	Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis, Indiana
Feb 13, 1989*		at Cincinnati	W 83–69	18–3	Cincinnati Gardens Cincinnati, Ohio
Feb 16, 1989		Xavier	W 88–82	19–3 (7–1)	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Feb 18, 1989		Dayton	W 109–83	20–3 (8–1)	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Feb 23, 1989		at Detroit Mercy	W 85–71	21–3 (9–1)	Calihan Hall Detroit, Michigan
Feb 25, 1989		at Loyola (IL)	W 115–104	22–3 (10–1)	International Amphitheatre Chicago, Illinois
Feb 27, 1989*		Ohio	W 95–69	23–3	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Mar 4, 1989		at Saint Louis	L 61–72	23–4 (10–2)	Kiel Auditorium St. Louis, Missouri
MCC tournament
Mar 10, 1989*		at Dayton MCC Tournament Semifinal	W 84–79 ^OT	24–4	UD Arena Dayton, Ohio
Mar 11, 1989*		vs. Xavier MCC tournament championship	L 78–85	24–5	UD Arena Dayton, Ohio
NCAA tournament
Mar 17, 1989*	(11 W)	vs. (6 W) Oregon State First Round	W 94–90 ^{OT^[1]}	25–5	McKale Center Tucson, Arizona
Mar 19, 1989*	(11 W)	vs. (3 W) No. 11 Seton Hall Second Round	L 73–87^[2]	25–6	McKale Center (13,391) Tucson, Arizona
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Standard Time.

^[3]

Rankings

NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
2	45	Scott Haffner	Miami Heat

^[4]

References

^ "NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : In Miller's Final Game, Oregon St. Loses in Overtime". Los Angeles Times. March 18, 1989. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
^ "WEST REGIONAL; Seton Hall Stops Evansville by 87-73". New York Times. March 20, 1989. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
^ "2019–20 Evansville Purple Aces Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). University of Evansville Athletics. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
^ "1989 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 17, 2020.

[1] "NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : In Miller's Final Game, Oregon St. Loses in Overtime". Los Angeles Times. March 18, 1989. Retrieved April 17, 2020.

[2] "WEST REGIONAL; Seton Hall Stops Evansville by 87-73". New York Times. March 20, 1989. Retrieved April 17, 2020.

[3] "2019–20 Evansville Purple Aces Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). University of Evansville Athletics. Retrieved April 17, 2020.

[4] "1989 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 17, 2020.

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Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball
Venues	Roberts Municipal Stadium (1956–2011) Ford Center (2011–present)
Culture & lore	1977 team plane crash
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
NCAA national championships in bold