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MOREHEAD, Ky. -- The quest for the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title begins Wednesday for the Morehead State Eagle men's basketball program. The fifth-seeded Eagles face off with the eighth-seeded SIU Edwardsville Cougars at 7:30 p.m. ET from the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

It will mark the first men's contest in the event and will air live on ESPN+. WIVY-96.3 FM will also have the radio call with Chuck Mraz and Dean Hardin.

Morehead State earned the fifth seed by posting an 8-10 conference mark, while MSU sits at 12-19 overall. The Cougars are 10-20 overall and finished 6-12 in league contests.

GAME NOTES

THE SERIES WITH THE COUGARS

Morehead State leads the all-time series with SIUE 7-3, but the Cougars have claimed two straight wins in the last two regular season games. The teams have met just once a year since 2011-12 and have never met in an OVC Tournament game.

PICKED 10th, FINISHED 5TH

Morehead State debunked the preseason polls this season. The Eagles were selected 10th in the official preseason vote by the coaches and media relations' personnel but ended up five spots up in fifth. MSU made great strides from last season when it finished 11th.

OVC TOURNEY HISTORY

Morehead State owns a 32-43 all-time program record in OVC Tournament games. The Eagles have won four tournament titles (1982-83, '83-84, '08-09 and '10-11)

RECENT RESULTS

2017 - No. 7 Murray State 75, No. 3 MSU 69 (QF)

2016 - No. 3 MSU 75, No. 6 Murray State 66 (QF); No. 2 UT Martin 83, MSU 70 (SF)

2015 - No. 5 MSU 79, No. 8 SEMO 74 (1st); MSU 76, No. 4 UTM 65 (QF); No. 1 Murray 80, MSU 70 (SF)

2014 - No. 4 MSU 76, No. 5 Tech 61 (QF);  No. 1 Belmont 86, MSU 63 (SF)

2013 - No. 5 MSU 73, No. 8 UTM 66 (1st); No. 4 TSU 88, MSU 75 (QF)

3-POINT STREAK OVER 400

Morehead State has hit at least one three-pointer in 403 consecutive games, dating back to 2007 when the Eagles were held without a made one from beyond the arc against Jacksonville State.

NO SLOUCHING ON THE OFFENSIVE GLASS
Only eight times in the 31 games have the Eagles not secured double-digit offensive rebounds in a game.

AIR JORDAN
Junior guard Jordan Walker scored 20 points or more 11 times in the regular season. That's the second most since Kenneth Faried (current NBA standout with Houston) had 15 in 2010-11.

HELPING HANDS
Senior guard A.J. Hicks has dished out at least one assist in all 60 games of his two-year career. Hicks ranks third in the OVC with 172 total assists (5.6 per game). His season total is now the fourth highest for a single season in program history.

IN GOOD COMPANY
A. J. Hicks has the third highest career assist total for players who played two or fewer years in the program. His 294 career helpers is just eight behind second-place Kareem Storey. He is now 10th in overall career assists at Morehead State.

BLOCK IT BAKER
Sophomore James Baker finished the regular season with the highest block total (36) and average per game (2.1) among all league players in conference games. Overall he is just one of five OVC players with at least 50 blocked shots this season. 

JAMES' GAME
Blocking shots has been a staple of James Bakers' game recently, In fact, he has at least one rejection in 15 straight games, and 10 of those contests resulted in two or more blocks for Baker. His career high was six swats against Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 14.

WALK THIS WAY
Jordan Walker was only held below double digits in the scoring column six times in the Eagles' 31 games. He held a streak of 13 consecutive double-figure outputs from Jan. 12 to Feb. 23.