By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
GAME NOTES | ESPN+ | EAGLE SPORTS RADIO NETWORK | LIVE STATS
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Morehead State men's basketball continues a season-long four-game road trip at UT Martin Saturday, with the Eagles and Skyhawks set to tip off at 5 p.m. ET in Martin, Tenn.
Morehead State will look to rebound at UT Martin after having its 12-game winning streak snapped at Belmont last weekend. The Eagles' 12-game success streak tied the program record set in 1983-84. Morehead State (16-7/13-3 OVC) still sits in second place in the conference with four regular season games to play.
UT Martin (7-14/5-12 OVC) has just three games left in the season but is still fighting for an OVC Tournament berth.
The game will air live on ESPN+ as well as MSUEagles.com (WIVY Radio audio).
LAST TIME AGAINST UT MARTIN (Full Recap | Box Score)
The Morehead State men's basketball team outscored visiting UT Martin 44-22 in the second half on Jan. 23 and pulled away for a 76-44 victory at Johnson Arena, marking MSU's seventh consecutive Ohio Valley Conference triumph. Junior guard
DeVon Cooper and freshman forward
Johni Broome each scored 13 points to pace MSU's offensive effort, which shot 61 percent (16-of-26) just in the second half.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Record vs. UT Martin: 39-16
First Meeting: Dec. 16, 1991 (MOR won 90-76)
Streak: MOR, 5 games
Record in Martin: 12-11
Record in Morehead: 23-4
Last 5 Meetings
1/13/18 Martin, Tenn. W 71-67
2/22/18 MOREHEAD, KY. W 70-53
1/19/19 MOREHEAD, KY. W 85-77
2/1/20 MOREHEAD, KY. W 85-77
1/23/21 MOREHEAD, KY. W 76-44
NOTABLE
• Morehead State has won five consecutive games over UT Martin and has scored 70 or more points against the Skyhawks in seven straight head to head matchups.
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Johni Broome has earned seven OVC Freshman of the Week honors. Broome's seven awards is tied with Ricky Minard (2000-01) and Erik Brown (1998-99) for the program record for Freshman of the Week Awards and is the fourth highest number of awards earned by one player in OVC history.
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Johni Broome is one of just three freshman in Division I to lead his team in scoring average, rebounding average and blocked shots. The other two are from USC (Evan Mobley) and Michigan (Hunter Dickinson).
• Morehead State remained in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top 25 poll this week, the third straight week the Eagles have been included. MSU sits at No. 19 this week.
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Johni Broome has scored in double figures in 11 consecutive games and averaged 17.6 points and 11.2 rebounds just in the last five contests.
• The Eagles have held four opponents - Murray State (23), UT Martin (22), Southeast Missouri (19) and Jacksonville State (26) - to their lowest point totals for a half in a game. And MSU has limited five foes - Eastern Kentucky (62), Tennessee Tech (54), SEMO (50), JSU (55) and UTM (44) - to their lowest overall point totals in a league game.
• Junior guard
Skyelar Potter has scored in double figures in six straight games. Also in the last three games Potter is 14-of-16 at the free throw line.
• Morehead State is 6-1 in OVC road games, the most league road triumphs since the 2013-14 season.
• Morehead State ranks first in the OVC (league games only) in: scoring defense (61.1), FG pct. defense (.395), 3-pt defense (.290), rebound margin (+7.8), rebound defense (30.3) and blocks (4.9).
• Sophomore guard
Ta'lon Cooper started both games on last weekend's road trip to Tennessee State and Belmont and responded by averaging 16.5 points and 6.0 assists. His 17 points and seven assists at TSU were both season highs.
• Junior guard
DeVon Cooper has only been held to single digit points in five of the 23 games. He is also the only Eagle to average more than 30 minutes of playing time per game.
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Johni Broome leads the OVC with 1.8 blocked shots per game. He is seeking to become just the third freshman to lead the OVC in blocked shots in the past 15 seasons (Nick Muszynski, Belmont and Chris Horton, Austin Peay).
