Meeks Madness provides a first look at Evansville basketball, Purple Aces

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — About three weeks away from tipoff, the University of Evansville men's and women's basketball teams entertained a sizable crowd at Meeks Family Fieldhouse on Saturday evening during "Meeks Madness."

Formerly called Hoopfest, it was an opportunity for both teams to engage with the community and put on a show as they cement new eras for a pair of dormant programs.

"Both teams have been working extremely hard since we were able to start practicing," men's coach David Ragland said. "It's just an evening for them to have some fun, let our fans see it, appreciate what we've been doing and kind of who our roster is."

Only so much can be said about Meek Madness from an analysis perspective. The event was put on to bring fans out to see both teams as they enter Year 1 under Ragland and Year 2 with women's coach Robyn Scherr-Wells.

"This is the type of thing we haven't done in the last two years because of COVID, so really a good time to be able to get back out," Scherr-Wells said. "To see the community come out, do something with the men's basketball team — so it was really fun."

Men's scrimmage

While there's only so much that can be taken from a 15-minute inter-team scrimmage, there were some things to look at. Firstly, the starters for the two teams:

Purple:

• Blaise Beauchamp

• Gage Bobe

• Preston Phillips

• Chris Moncrief

• Yacine Toumi

Orange:

• Antoine Smith Jr.

• Kenny Strawbridge Jr.

• Marvin Coleman II

• Sekou Kalle

• Gabe Spinelli

Orange won 30-24, and while a game like this can't be too thoroughly dissected, there were plenty of things to see. In particular, Spinelli showed why he was one of the more hyped freshmen on the team. The opening possession, he immediately got up on an alley-oop lob to give his team the lead. He provided assists and showed he'll be valuable at the point and that he could also feature as a shooting guard.

Coleman will likely be UE's primary ball handler and should be. He's a multi-dimensional point guard who showed he can shoot from deep and find a good pass into the paint. The intriguing part was seeing both him and Spinelli take the ball up the court while on the floor together, which shows both of their versatility.

Both Kalle and Toumi showed they could play in the post. Toumi was more of a threat on the offensive end, showcasing his ability to step out and hit 3s while Kalle played well defensively. Both grabbed rebounds on both ends.

The Aces may have gotten more offensive rebounds at Meeks Madness than the entirety of last season. Of course, the numbers from a year ago were partially by the design of falling back on defense rather than going for second-chance points, but both teams were impressive on the glass. That has been one of Ragland's calling cards since getting hired.

"That's going to be an emphasis for us, just going and getting our misses," Ragland said. "If we can be gritty offensively in one area, it would be the offensive rebounds. We'll encourage going. We'll be strategic with in how we do that."

Both teams struggled from the 3-point line early in the scrummage but grew into it as the 15-minute mini-game progressed. Beauchamp had a nice step-back attempt that didn't fall, but the ability to create a shot for himself is something he and the Aces will need this season.

Ragland pointed to both teams scoring as a good sign of depth. He's spoken about having a deeper rotation at the beginning of the season and having it narrow as games progress, and the Aces showed they had multiple players who could deputize on the floor. Of course, doing it against the guys you see every day and playing in an official competition are two different things, but there was plenty to take away from those 15 minutes.

"Our group is a hard-working group," Ragland said. "We're gonna have fun and we're gonna get up and down. It's gonna be a fun brand of basketball."

Women's scrimmage

Like the men's scrimmage, there's only so much to take from 15 minutes of basketball. First, the starters in the women's game:

Purple:

• Abby Feit

• Myia Clark

• Anna Newman

• A'Niah Griffin

• Barbora Tormancova

Orange:

• Kynidi Mason-Striverson

• Celine DuPont

• Jossie Hudson

• Rayah Kincer

• Elly Morgan

Purple won 16-9, which is probably to be expected due to Orange's lineup comprising three underclassmen. Coach Robyn Scherr-Wells was quick to point out that no decisions on a starting five were set, but that Purple's five were all expected to be large contributors, regardless of their starting roles.

Mason-Striverson was the standout performer for Orange. The true freshman showed why she was an Indiana All-Star as a high school senior and accounted for most of her team's points, be that scoring, assisting or being the hockey assist. Mason-Striverson should see a lot of playing time for Scherr-Wells if that's the kind of performance she's consistently bringing in the practice gym.

Newman will likely be the starting point guard, which is to be expected. The fifth-year North grad struggled from the 3-point line but showed her ability to drive into the paint and score, something UE will need to compete in the Missouri Valley Conference this season.

Feit showed why she is an all-conference player. She's a multi-level scorer and someone who can drive into the paint or step back and shoot the 3.

As the game went on, the Aces were better at the rim. They struggled there early but improved as the game went on. Those struggles may have been down to defense, which looked good from both sides of the scrimmage.

"I hope people got a little bit of a preview of our style of play and how we can score and get up and down, and we're pretty balanced," Scherr-Wells said. "I think we saw some scoring from our guards but we saw what we can do inside, too."

Contest winners

Feit won the women's 3-point shooting contest, while Smith won the men's. When the two went head-to-head to determine the ultimate winner, Smith won by one point.

Spinelli won the dunk contest, beating out Logan McIntire, Zaveion Chism-Okoh and Toumi.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville basketball: Meeks Madness provides fans a first look