The 2020–21 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team represented the

University of Evansville The University of Evansville (UE) is a private university in Evansville, Indiana. It was founded in 1854 as Carnegie Hall of Moores Hill College, Moores Hill College. The university operates a satellite center, Harlaxton Manor, Harlaxton College ...

in the

2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 25, 2020, and concluded on March 14, 2021. The 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament culminated the season and began on March 18 and concluded on April 5. Season ...

. The Purple Aces were led by head coach

Todd Lickliter Todd Arlan Lickliter (born April 17, 1955) is the former head coach of the Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). He was previously the head coach of Marian University, the University of Iowa, and ...

in his first full season at Evansville and played their home games at the Ford Center as members of the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

(MVC). In a season limited due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, they finished the season 9–16, 7–11 in MVC play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place. As the No. 5 seed in the MVC tournament, they lost to

Indiana State Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified ...

in the quarterfinals.

Previous season

The Purple Aces finished the 2019–20 season 9–23, 0–18 in MVC play to finish in last place. They lost in the first round of the MVC tournament to Valparaiso. They were coached by

Walter McCarty Walter Lee McCarty (born February 1, 1974) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who serves as the head coach of the Freseros de Irapuato in the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP). McCarty played for the NBA ...

until he was placed on administrative leave on December 27 for alleged Title IX violations and ultimately fired on January 21. Assistant coach Bennie Seltzer acted as interim coach until Todd Lickliter was hired as the new head coach.

Preseason

In the conference's preseason poll, Evansville was picked to finish last in the MVC.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Missouri Valley Conference regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, MVC tournament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball seasons

Evansville Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 census, it is Indiana's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the most populous city in S ...