• Morehead State is in the Sweet 16 of the NIT thanks to a come-from-behind 68-64 win Wednesday to knock out No. 1 seed Clemson. It was the Eagles' first-ever NIT win in the program's first-ever NIT game. It also marked the program's first postseason national tournament win since 2016.
• Morehead State and UAB meet for the second time in as many seasons. Last year, on Nov. 12, the Eagles fell 85-71 at UAB in the team's second game of the 2021-22 season.
• Morehead State won the 2022-23 Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title, the program's first outright title since 1983-84 (2002-03 was a co-title). MSU earned the OVC's automatic berth into the NIT.
• Morehead State has won 10 OVC regular-season titles in its history: 1955-56, 1956-57, 1960-61, 1962-63, 1968-69, 1971-72, 1973-74, 1983-84, 2002-03 and now 2022-23.
• Morehead State has registered its third consecutive 20-win campaign. It's only happened one other time in program history, from 2008-09 through 2010-11.
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Drew Thelwell and
LJ Bryan have been a part of 68 wins in the last three seasons. That ranks second in program history for most wins in a three-year span, trailing only the 69 that Kenneth Faried and Demonte Harper were a part of from 2008-09 to 2010-11.
• Senior guard
Mark Freeman is the OVC Player of the Year, graduate center
Alex Gross is the OVC Defensive Player of the Year and head coach
Preston Spradlin was honored as the OVC Coach of the Year. It's the second COTY for Spradlin and his staff in the last two seasons. Freeman is the first Eagle since Kenneth Faried in 2010-11 to be named POTY and sixth Eagle all-time. Gross is the second straight Eagle to earn DPOTY and third overall. Both Gross and Freeman were First-Team All-OVC and Gross was also All-Newcomer.
• Morehead State lost four of its five starters from 2021-22 and only returned players who combined to average 13.1 points, but the Eagles still managed to clinch the OVC regular-season title.
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Mark Freeman has scored at least 18+ points in 12 games this season. He has 1,270 career collegiate points at Tennessee State, Illinois State and Morehead State - the 36th all-time Eagle to score 1,000+ while in an MSU uniform.
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Alex Gross is one of just 25 current players on Division I teams to score 2,000+ career points in college. He is the ONLY current player in Division I to record 2,000+ points AND 1,400+ career rebounds in college (Gross' first four seasons were in NAIA). He is one of only 6 current Division I players with 2,400+ career college points. His career college totals stand at 2,417 points and 1,471 career rebounds.
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Alex Gross' 68 blocked shots is the eighth best single-season total in program history. He's has at least one block in all but three games this year.
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Drew Thelwell scored in double figures in 21 games this season, including 14 OVC games. Prior to this season he a grand total of two double-figure scoing outputs.
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Branden Maughmer needs just 40 points to reach 2,000 in his college career, after scoring 1,709 in four years at D2 Cedarville (Ohio).
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Preston Spradlin ranks first among the 10 current OVC head coaches in wins at their current school (114), winning percentage at their current school (.541), conference wins at the school (73) and conference winning percentage (.580).
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Jake Wolfe has NIT experience. As a member of the 2018-19 team at Lipscomb, Wolfe helped the Bison advance to the finals in New York City and won 29 games. Wolfe scored only four points at Clemson but had a career-high seven assists.
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Kalil Thomas has 157 career three-pointers and is a career 37 percent shooter from distance.
