By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
GAME NOTES (PDF) | WATCH | LISTEN | STATS
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Ready to entertain thousands of elementary and middle school children, the Morehead State men's basketball team gets back to action Friday morning against Ohio-Chillicothe. Tip-off for the Education Day game is at 11:05 a.m. ET.
Morehead State faculty and staff are also invited too with free admission and $1 hot dogs and popcorn. The game will air live on ESPN+ and can be heard on WIVY-96.3 FM.
Morehead State will look to halt a three-game losing streak as the Eagles have slipped to 2-5. The Hilltoppers are 2-7 on the season.
GAME NOTES
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Today marks the first-ever meeting with the Ohio-Chillicothe Hilltoppers. OU-Chillicothe plays in the Ohio Regional Campus Conference.
SWIPE OR NO SWIPE
Senior guard
A.J. Hicks certainly did swipe often on Tuesday against Northern Kentucky. He came up with a school-record tying nine steals, tying his own mark he set last year against UT Martin. Hicks now leads the entire Ohio Valley Conference with 2.6 steals per game. He also has 69 career takeaways now, averaging 2.0 in the 36 career contests for the Eagles.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE? NO TROUBLESenior forward
Lamontray Harris enters the game with three double-doubles in the last four games after a 15-point, 11-rebound effort Sunday versus Lipscomb and now has four for the season. He has 12 career double-doubles, including a stretch of four straight from Jan. 11-20 last season.
MARCH TOWARD 1,000Lamontray Harris has a legitimate chance to reach 1,000 career points if he can keep up his average this season. He has piled up 781 career points in 96 career games.
EFFICIENCY IN HIS CAREER
Lamontray Harris also has 454 career rebounds. He has done all that despite averaging just 17.5 minutes per game in the 97 career contests he's appeared in.Â
3-POINT STREAK KEEPS MOVING AHEAD
Morehead State has hit at least one three-pointer in 379 consecutive games, dating back to 2007 when the Eagles were held without a made one from beyond the arc against Jacksonville State.
DISHING DIMES
Senior guard
A.J. Hicks ranks second in the OVC with 5.7 assists per game. Hicks has at least five assists in five of the seven games this season and has 18 career games with five or more assists. To put it in perspective, Hicks' assists have been responsible for 32 percent of Morehead State's points in 2018-19.
CLEANING UP THE GLASSMorehead State ranks first in the Ohio Valley Conference in offensive rebounds. The Eagles pull down 14.6 boards off the offensive glass. The rebounds lead to an average of 13.1 second-chance points per outing.
KNOCKING DOWN THE LONG RANGERS
Not only is
Jordan Walker accurate from the free throw line, he's the Eagles' best three-point shooter too. In his career, Walker has drilled 39 percent (97-of-249). That includes leading the entire OVC as a freshman in 2016-17, hitting 49 percent (38-of-77).
START ME UPMorehead State has used the same starting five (
A.J. Hicks, De'von Cooper,
Jordan Walker,
Lamontray Harris and
Malek Green) in all seven games this season. Last season, that combo started two games with both being losses. In 2017-18, MSU used 10 different starting fives with the the most used lineup only starting nine games together.
BENCH BOYS CONTRIBUTING NICELYIn the first seven games, Morehead State's bench players have contributed 18 points per game.
HOLDING THAT LEAD
In the last two seasons now, Morehead State is 9-2 when holding a lead with five minutes remaining. That includes both wins this season.
HANGING WITH MR. COOPER
Sophomore guard De'von Cooper is averaging 7.7 points per game following a 14-point effort against Northern Kentucky.Â
