# 2020–21 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team

The 2020–21 Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball team represented the University of Evansville in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Purple Aces were led by head coach Todd Lickliter in his first full season at Evansville and played their home games at the Ford Center as members of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). In a season limited due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, 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 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 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.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 25, 2020* 3:00 pm, ACCN | | Louisville Wade Houston Tipoff Classic | L 44–79 | 0–1 | KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY |
| Nov 27, 2020* 12:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Prairie View A&M Wade Houston Tipoff Classic | L 61–64 | 0–2 | KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY |
| Dec 2, 2020* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at UT Martin | L 87–93 $^{2OT}$ | 0–3 | Skyhawk Arena Martin, TN |
| Dec 6, 2020* TBA | | IUPUI | Canceled due to COVID-19 | Canceled due to COVID-19 | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| Dec 9, 2020* 6:00 pm | | Eastern Illinois | W 68–65 | 1–3 | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| Dec 12, 2020* 2:00 pm | | Saint Louis | Canceled due to COVID-19 | Canceled due to COVID-19 | Chaifetz Arena Saint Louis, MO |
| Dec 15, 2020* 6:00 pm | | Southeast Missouri State | W 63–61 $^{OT}$ | 2–3 | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| Dec 21, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Belmont | L 63–72 | 2–4 | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| Missouri Valley Conference regular season ||||||
| Dec 27, 2020 3:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Southern Illinois | L 57–63 | 2–5 (0–1) | SIU Arena Carbondale, IL |
| Dec 28, 2020 5:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Southern Illinois | W 84–72 | 3–5 (1–1) | SIU Arena Carbondale, IL |
| Jan 2, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Northern Iowa | W 65–61 | 4–5 (2–1) | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| Jan 3, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Northern Iowa | W 70–64 | 5–5 (3–1) | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| Jan 9, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Illinois State | W 57–48 | 6–5 (4–1) | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| Jan 10, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Illinois State | L 68–73 | 6–6 (4–2) | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| Jan 16, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Bradley | L 60–69 | 6–7 (4–3) | Carver Arena Peoria, IL |
| Jan 17, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Bradley | L 55–86 | 6–8 (4–4) | Peoria Civic Center Peoria, IL |
| Jan 31, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Valparaiso | W 70–52 | 7–8 (5–4) | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| Feb 1, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Valparaiso | W 58–51 | 8–8 (6–4) | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| Feb 6, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Loyola | L 55–68 | 8–9 (6–5) | Joseph J. Gentile Arena Chicago, IL |
| Feb 7, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Loyola | L 58–69 | 8–10 (6–6) | Joseph J. Gentile Arena Chicago, IL |
| Feb 14, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Indiana State | L 70–76 | 8–11 (6–7) | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| Feb 17, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Indiana State | L 73–98 | 8–12 (6–8) | Hulman Center Terre Haute, IN |
| Feb 21, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Drake | L 71–85 | 8–13 (6–9) | Knapp Center Des Moines, IA |
| Feb 22, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Drake | L 63–74 | 8–14 (6–10) | Knapp Center Des Moines, IA |
| Feb 26, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Missouri State | L 81–90 | 8–15 (6–11) | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| Feb 27, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Missouri State | W 72–63 | 9–15 (7–11) | Ford Center Evansville, IN |
| MVC tournament ||||||
| March 5, 2021 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | (5) | vs. (4) Indiana State Quarterfinals | L 43–53 | 9–16 | Enterprise Center St. Louis, MO |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||