By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
GAME NOTES | ESPNU | EAGLE SPORTS NETWORK | LIVE STATS
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- In a COVID-19 season, quirks of scheduling have become common. For the Morehead State men's basketball program that means back to back games with the same team. The Eagles will host the Southeast Missouri Redhawks Thursday at 7 p.m. ET in a contest to be aired live on ESPNU. The teams just faced off Saturday in Missouri in a game that was rescheduled from late February.
The game will air live on MSUEagles.com as well (WIVY-96.3 FM audio).
MSU (9-6/6-2 OVC) will look to extend its season-best winning streak to six games. Morehead State is in third place in the OVC and will face a SEMO team that picked up its first road win Tuesday at Tennessee State. The Redhawks are 4-8 overall under first-year head coach Brad Korn.
LAST TIME AGAINST SOUTHEAST MISSOURI (Box Score)
Another lock-down effort on defense, plus four double-figure scorers on the offensive end of the floor, propelled Morehead State men's basketball to its fifth consecutive win, a 64-50 triumph at Southeast Missouri, last Saturday night at the Show Me Center. After seeing the game tied 31-all at the half, Morehead State's league-leading defense turned up the intensity in the final 20 minutes. The home team made only six of 20 field goals and shot 30 percent while scoring just 19 points. That was the lowest opponent point total for one half this season.
James Baker, Jr., the Eagles' lone senior, led the way with 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Record vs. Southeast Missouri: 32-19
First Meeting: Jan. 18, 1992 (SEMO won 85-74)
Streak: MOR, 3 games
Record in Cape Girardeau: 13-12
Record in Morehead: 18-7
Last 5 Meetings
1/11/18 Cape Girardeau, Mo. L 78-75
2/8/18 MOREHEAD, KY. L 78-62
1/17/19 MOREHEAD, KY. W 73-69
1/30/20 MOREHEAD, KY. W 90-74
1/16/21 Cape Girardeau, Mo. W 64-50
NOTABLE
• Since 2007-08, Morehead State is now 17-3 against Southeast Missouri. MSU has also won 13 of the last 15 in the series in games played in Morehead. This will mark the first time an MSU team has played the same opponent in back to back regular-season games since playing EKU twice in a row at the end of the 1960-61 season. MSU did play Nevada three consecutive times in the 2015-16 CBI Championship series.
• Freshman forward Johni Broome was named OVC Freshman of the Week for the fourth time in his young career Monday. He is the first Eagle since Ricky Minard in 2000-01 (MSU's all-time leading scorer) to earn at least four OVC Freshman awards.
• Morehead State's current five-game winning streak is the longest success streak since winning seven straight from Feb. 11-March 3, 2016. That season, Morehead State went on to finish 23-14 and advanced to the final series of the College Basketball Invitational. Three of the Eagles' five wins in this streak have been on the road, also the longest road winning streak since 2015-16.
• The Eagles' 6-2 start in Ohio Valley Conference games is the best eight-game record since being 7-1 in 2009-10.
• For the first time in program history, Morehead State has held five consecutive conference opponents to 61 points or less. The magic number for defense has been 60 in the last two years. MSU is 12-0 in the last two seasons when any opponent scores 60 or fewer.
• James Baker, Jr., the lone senior on the roster, is 12-of-14 from the floor in the last two games, including 5-of-5 from three point range. In the past three games, Baker is 15-of-20 (.750).
• Morehead State's 26-point win at Eastern Illinois tied for the largest margin of victory in a league game in head coach Preston Spradlin's tenure. The combined victory margin of 40 points at EIU and SEMO was the largest two-game OVC road trip margin since winning by a combined 53 at Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State on Jan. 2-4, 2003. Morehead State also swept the EIU-SEMO road trip for the first time in program history.
• Leading scorer DeVon Cooper (11.0) has been the picture of consistency. He has topped out at 14 points in three of his games and 11 points in five other games. In all, he leads MSU with 12 double-figure scoring effort.
• James Baker, Jr. (Meade County), Jaylen Sebree (Christian County), Jacob Rice (Johnson Central) and Skyelar Potter (Bowling Green Central) all played in the KHSAA Sweet 16 in Lexington during their prep careers. That's four of the five in-state student-athletes.
