Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball
| Evansville Purple Aces | ||||
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| University | University of Evansville | |||
| Conference | Missouri Valley | |||
| Location | Evansville, IN | |||
| Head coach | Marty Simmons (10th year) | |||
| Arena |
Ford Center (Capacity: 10,000) |
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| Nickname | Purple Aces | |||
| Colors | Purple, White, and Orange |
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| Uniforms | ||||
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| NCAA Tournament Round of 32 | ||||
| 1989 | ||||
| NCAA Tournament appearances | ||||
| 1982, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1999 | ||||
| Conference tournament champions | ||||
| 1982, 1992, 1993 | ||||
| Conference regular season champions | ||||
| 1982, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1999 | ||||
The Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team represents the Purple Aces of the University of Evansville, located in Evansville, Indiana, in NCAA Division I basketball competition. They are currently led by head coach Marty Simmons and play their home games at the Ford Center. Evansville's athletics teams were originally known as the Pioneers in the early part of the 1900s. In the 1920s, the name Aces arose after a local sports writer wrote in a game story of the men's basketball team, "They played like Aces." The team has been known as the Aces and/or Purple Aces ever since. Evansville has won five Division II national championships (1959, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1971).
In the early years of the men's basketball program the Purple Aces appeared in the NAIA national tournament. The Purple Aces appeared 4 times in the NAIA Tournament (1941, 1942, 1951, and 1955). The Purple Aces had a NAIA tournament record of 3-4. The furthest Evansville got in the NAIA tournaments was in third round (NAIA Quarterfinals) in 1951, only to lose to Regis University (Colo.) 70-68.
Shortly after the 1955 season the Purple Aces would move up to the NCAA College Division, now called NCAA Division II. The Evansville Purple Aces rank second all-time in NCAA College Division national championships with five: 1959, 1960, 1964, 1965 (29-0 record) and 1971. The 1964 and 1965 teams starred NBA Legend Jerry Sloan, the 1971 team featured future NBA star Don Buse and future NCAA referee Steve Welmer.
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