By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
GAME NOTES | ESPN+ | EAGLE SPORTS RADIO NETWORK | LIVE STATS
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- There is nothing like facing your rival for a chance to advance to the Ohio Valley Conference championship game. Morehead State men's basketball has that opportunity Friday night when the Eagles battle Eastern Kentucky in the semifinals at 10:30 p.m. ET from the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.
Both squads edged out close wins in the first round. The No. 2 Eagles (21-7) dispatched Southeast Missouri 61-54, while EKU (22-6) got a couple of last-second blocked shots to hold off Austin Peay 70-67.
The game will air live on ESPNU as well as MSUEagles.com (
WIVY Radio audio).
LAST TIME AGAINST EKU (Full Recap | Box Score)
Despite 20 turnovers, Morehead State's men's basketball team outscored visiting Eastern Kentucky 25-8 at the free throw line on Dec. 14, 2020 and evened the season series with a 75-62 dispatching of the Colonels at Johnson Arena. Junior guard
KJ Hunt, Jr., came off the bench to ignite the Eagles to the tune of a career-high 17 points. He was one of four Eagles to score in double figures.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Record vs. Eastern Kentucky: 86-110
First Meeting: Feb. 10, 1931 (EKU won 32-20)
Last Meeting: Dec. 14, 2020 (MOR won 75-62)
Record in Richmond: 33-60
Record in Morehead: 49-42
Last 5 Meetings
3/2/19 Richmond, Ky. W 78-77
2/13/20 MOREHEAD, KY. L 78-71
2/29/20 Richmond, Ky. L 80-76
12/7/20 Richmond, Ky. L 71-68
12/14/20 MOREHEAD, KY W 75-62
NOTABLE
• Morehead State has a 4-6 all-time record against Eastern Kentucky in OVC Tournament games but the teams haven't faced off in the postseason since 2009 in the first round in Morehead. The teams have only met in the semifinals twice and not since 1990.
• Morehead State has an all-time tournament record of 9-3 as the No. 2 seed. Morehead State is also appearing in the OVC Tournament semifinals for the first time since winning it all in 2010-11. That's also the last time MSU was a No. 2 seed.
• Morehead State set program records for OVC wins (17) and OVC road wins (8) in 2020-21. The Eagles also tied the program mark for longest winning streak with a 12-game success streak this year.
• Freshman
Johni Broome earned OVC Freshman of the Year honors, First-Team All-OVC and All-Newcomer. The 6-10 Plant City, Fla., product set a program record with nine OVC Freshman of the Week accolades (just two short of the league record). Broome leads all OVC freshmen in rebounds, offensive rebounds, blocked shots and field goal percentage. He is just the third Eagle frosh to earn the major accolade, joining Erik Brown (1998-99) and Ricky Minard (2000-01).
• Head Coach
Preston Spradlin is the 2020-21 OVC Coach of the Year, leading the Eagles from an eighth-place predicted OVC finish to second. Spradlin put high praise for the honor on his staff as well with assistants
Scott Combs,
Jonathan Mattox and
Dominic Lombardi as well as managers of operations
Adam Gage and player development
Brent Arrington. He is the fifth MSU bench boss to win the award and first since Donnie Tyndall (2007-08).
• Junior guards
DeVon Cooper and
Skyelar Potter also earned all-conference awards. Cooper, who leads MSU with 21 double-figure scoring games, was named to the second-team. Potter, who had three double-doubles and averaged nearly 12 points a game, earned an All-Newcomer honor.
•
Johni Broome needs just 5 more rebounds to surpass Kenneth Faried's MSU freshman record for rebounds, set in 2007-08 at 241. Faried went on to set the NCAA
• Morehead State's 21 wins this season are the fourth highest in program history, trailing just the 25 wins in 1983-84 and 2010-11, 24 in 2009-10 and 23 in 2015-16.
• Morehead State finished the regular season as the OVC's best defensive team, leading in scoring defense (61.8), FG pct. defense (.398), 3-pt defense (.291), rebound defense (31.0), rebound margin (+7.5), defensive rebounds (28.2) and blocked shots (5.6).
• Sophomore guard
Ta'lon Cooper tied his season high with 17 points in the first round win over Southeast Missouri.
• MSU has won 17 of its last 18 games. The Eagles can tie the 1983-84 team for the best winning percentage in a 19-game span (they won 18 of 19) with a win over EKU.
