Men's Hoops Concludes Regular Season and Honors Seniors Saturday vs. Belmont

By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations

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MOREHEAD, Ky. -- The regular season comes to a close for the Morehead State men's basketball team on Saturday as the Eagles host Belmont at 4 p.m. ET.

The game will serve as Senior Day, with MSU honoring senior forward James Baker as well as senior managers Jack Hancock and Andrew Bowling.

Morehead State (19-7/16-3 OVC) has already locked in the No. 2 seed for the OVC Tournament while Belmont (24-2/18-1 OVC) is already the No. 1 seed. The Bruins' 21-game winning streak was snapped in a loss at Eastern Kentucky Thursday.

The game will mark the first time since 2015-16 that the teams who locked in the top two tournament seeds will face each other in the final regular season game.

The game will air live on ESPN+ as well as MSUEagles.com (WIVY Radio audio).

LAST TIME AGAINST BELMONT (Full Recap | Box Score)
Morehead State's men's basketball team had its chances on Feb. 13 at the OVC's top-ranked team, Belmont, but unfortunately the Bruins put together too many scoring runs and held the Eagles to just 33 percent shooting as Belmont defeated the Eagles 73-58 at the Curb Event Center. The setback was the first in 2021 for MSU after reeling off a program record 12 straight wins.

INSIDE THE SERIES

Record vs. Belmont: 2-16

First Meeting: Jan. 24, 2013 (BEL won 64-63)

Streak: BEL, 9 games

Record in Nashville: 0-9

Record in Morehead: 2-6

Last 5 Meetings

1/10/19 Nashville, Tenn. L 77-60

2/9/19 MOREHEAD, KY. L 96-86

1/18/20 Nashville, Tenn. L 77-59

2/20/20 MOREHEAD, KY. L 80-67

2/13/21 Nashville, Tenn. L, 73-58

NOTABLE

• The Eagles will be No. 2 seed for the first time since winning the tournament in 2020-11.

• Morehead State has set its program record for conference victories this year with 16. The Eagles topped the previous mark of 15 set by the 2009-10 squad.

• Morehead State owns an 11-1 home record this year and enters this game with a seven-game home winning streak. The Eagles' home record is the best since finishing 14-1 in 2010-11, and Morehead State has now had 15 consecutive seasons with a .500 or above home record.

• Johni Broome has earned eight OVC Freshman of the Week honors. That is the program record for those honors, besting Ricky Minard (2000-01) and Erik Brown (1998-99), both of whom who went on to win OVC Freshman of the Year. It's also the fourth highest number of awards earned by one player in OVC history.

• Johni Broome has established Morehead State's freshman record for blocked shots with 46, and he leads the OVC in blocks as well. Broome also needs just 28 more rebounds to surpass Kenneth Faried's MSU freshman record for rebounds, set in 2007-08 at 241.

• Since 1929-30, there are only seven Morehead State teams that won 20 or more games. (1983-84, 2002-03, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2013-14, 2015-16).

• Morehead State recorded a season-high 12 blocked shots against Tennessee State, the 13th time the Eagles have swatted five or more shots in 2020-21. MSU is tied with Kentucky for third in DI in blocks. MSU is 15th nationally with 5.0 blocks per game.

• The Eagles have out-rebounded 19 opponents this season, including 11 by double digits. MSU has led the OVC in rebounding margin and rebounding defense the entire league ledger.

• Junior guard DeVon Cooper has scored in double figures in 20 games this season. Interestingly enough, Cooper has also hit at least one three-pointer in 22 of the Eagles' 26 games. He has 772 career points.

• Junior guard KJ Hunt, Jr. and sophomore guard Ta'lon Cooper have combined for 175 of the Eagles' 332 assists. Cooper has 95, above 90 for the second straight season. The pair have combined for 24 efforts of four or more assists in a game.

• Morehead State ranks first in the OVC (league games only) in: scoring defense (60.7), FG pct. defense (.390), 3-pt defense (.292), rebound margin (+7.3), rebound defense (30.7) and blocks (101, 5.3).

• While the Eagles ranks as the OVC's best defensive team, they've done so without a multitude of fouls against them. MSU ranks 19th in DI and second in the OVC in fewest fouls per game (14.8).

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