Upward Trending Men's Basketball Eagles Venture South This Week; At JSU on Thursday

By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations

GAME NOTES | ESPN+ | EAGLE SPORTS RADIO NETWORK | LIVE STATS

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- It's back on the road this week for the upward trending Morehead State men's basketball team as the Eagles will open a two-game OVC southern road swing at Jacksonville State Thursday night. Game time is 8:30 p.m. ET.

Morehead State (11-6/8-2 OVC) enters the contest on its longest winning streak (7 games) since 2015-16 and its best conference winning streak (7) since the 2010-11 OVC Tournament Championship season. The program's longest win streak ever was 12 in 1983-84.

The Gamecocks are 10-5 overall and 6-3 in the OVC and are coming off a rare road trip sweep at Murray State and Austin Peay last week.

The game is slated to air live on ESPN+. Chuck Mraz and Dean Hardin will bring fans the radio call on MSUEagles.com and WIVY-96.3 FM.

LAST TIME AGAINST JACKSONVILLE STATE (Box Score)
Freshman Johni Broome missed a game and played sparingly in the previous contest against Tennessee Tech. But the 6-10 Florida native showed little rust on Jan. 9 as the three-time OVC Freshman of the Week produced 14 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks to pace the Morehead State men's basketball team to a 56-55 edging of Jacksonville State at Johnson Arena. The Eagles (7-6/4-2 OVC) survived a late charge from the Gamecocks after leading by double digits (7-4/3-2 OVC) as they won over JSU at home for the first time in five tries. The victory also halted an overall seven-game unsuccessful streak against JSU.

INSIDE THE SERIES

Record vs. Jacksonville State: 24-17

First Meeting: March 4, 1939 (JSU won 53-40)

Streak: MOR, 1 game

Record in Jacksonville: 10-8

Record in Morehead: 13-8

Last 5 Meetings

1/26/19 MOREHEAD, KY. L 77-71

2/21/19 Jacksonville, Ala. L 65-64

1/2/20 MOREHEAD, KY. L 76-72

1/25/20 Jacksonville, Ala. L 72-51

1/9/21 MOREHEAD, KY. W 56-55

NOTABLE

• During Morehead State's current winning streak the Eagles ...

- Own a +13.1 scoring margin

- Own a +5.1 rebound margin

- Have allowed only an average of 55 points per game

- Have held opponents to a combined .356 FG percentage

- Have held opponents to a combined .269 3-pt FG percentage

• After winning the first three games in this current OVC streak by an average of three points, the Eagles have won the last four by double-digits (+83) and an average of 20.7 per game. It's the first four-game OVC stretch winning by double digits in all four since 2010-11.

• Morehead State's 8-2 start after 10 OVC games is the best since the 2009-10 was 9-1. The Eagles have also won three straight OVC road games. The last time MSU won four consecutive league road contests was 2013-14.

• The Eagles received votes in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll this week, the first time since 2010-11 the Eagles have received votes or been in the Mid-Major top 25 rankings.

• In OVC games only, at the mid-way part of the league schedule, Morehead State ranks FIRST in the OVC in scoring defense (58.7), FG pct. defense (.380), 3-pt pct. defense (.277), rebounds/game (38.1), defensive rebounds per game (28.0) and blocked shots (52).

• Freshman forward Johni Broome has four double-doubles in his first season to rank second in the OVC. The 6-10 Plant City, Fla., product is the first Eagle since Ricky Minard in 2000-01 to earn four OVC Freshman of the Week honors. Broome leads all OVC freshmen in FG pct. (.592) and rebounding (7.3).

• Leading scorer DeVon Cooper (11.5) has reached double-digit scoring in all seven of the Eagles' wins in this current streak. He has averaged 13.5 points in that stretch.

• Morehead State's defense has limited seven straight opponents to 40 percent field goal accuracy or worse. The Eagles forced UT Martin into just 29 percent Saturday and held them to a season-low 44 points.

• Senior forward James Baker has scored in double figures in four consecutive games and averaged 13 points in that duration. He also shot 66 percent (21-of-32) in that quartet of contests.

• Incredibly, during Morehead State's six-game winning streak, the Eagles have held a lead for 227 of the possible 280 minutes of action. With the exception of the Tennessee Tech game (a lead for 20:21), MSU has held the cushion for more than 30 minutes of those other six wins.

• MSU is 23-0 in the past two seasons when leading with one minute left in regulation.

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