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Men's Basketball Opens 2024 Calendar Year With Home Tilt Versus Tennessee Tech Thursday

1/2/2024 11:30:00 AM

GAME NOTES | SCHEDULE PAGE (LINKS TO LIVE VIDEO, LIVE AUDIO AND LIVE STATS)

MOREHEAD, Ky. --  With a solid OVC start under their belt, the Morehead State men's basketball team returns home this week for a pair of league battles. First up, Tennessee Tech visits Thursday. The game tips off at 7 p.m. ET following the women's game.

MSU has won nine straight at home versus Tennessee Tech and 16 of the past 17 games in Johnson Arena against the Golden Eagles since 2006. Tech is coached by former Kentucky star and Paintsville, Ky., native John Pelphrey. Also, former MSU head coach Sean Woods' son, DeSean, is on the roster for TTU this season.

As the calendar turns to 2024, MSU will look for the same success in January it's been having. MSU is 24-3 in January games in the past four seasons.

The game can be heard on the Eagle Sports Radio Network (WIVY-96.3 FM) with Chuck Mraz and Drew Barnette. It is also available on MSUEagles.com. The game will air live on ESPN+ as Jared Stacy and Dean Hardin provide the commentary.

2023-24 RECORDS
MSU: 10-4, 1-0 OVC | TTU: 5-10, 0-2 OVC

SERIES RECORD
Record vs. TTU: 93-68
First Meeting: 1/7/50 MSU won 59-57 at TTU
Last Meeting: 2/2/23 MSU won 64-45 at MSU
Streak: MSU, 1 game
Record in Cookeville, Tenn.: 27-48
Record in Morehead: 57-17
Neutral Record: 9-3

NOTABLE
• Morehead State's 10-4 start is the best record after 14 games in 40 seasons. The 1983-84 team also sat at 10-4 following 13 games and went on to be 19-4 at one point.

• The Eagles are 10-0 against non-power 5 conference opponents this season.

• Morehead State currently ranks in the top 50 in the NCAA in 12 different stats categories, while MSU has at least one player ranked among the top 50 in 13 stats categories.

• The Eagles lead the OVC in 12 stats categories.

• Morehead State's home stats are astonishing this season. The Eagles boast a +40.5 scoring margin and a +26.3 rebound margin in games at home. The Eagles hit 52 percent from the floor at home. Heading into this week, MSU sports a 44-5 home record over the past four seasons at Johnson Arena.

• Morehead State is 45-12 in OVC games over the past three seasons, winning 79 percent within the conference.

• MSU has won 26 straight games when it shoots 50 percent or better.

• In the past four seasons, MSU is now 73-2 when it leads with a minute to go in regulation.

Riley Minix's 34-point outburst at Southeast Missouri was the most points scored by an Eagle individual since Drew Kelly's 40-point effort against South Dakota on Dec. 19, 2013. Minix has scored in double figures in 13 of the Eagles' 14 games, leads the team with 18.3 points per game (2nd in OVC), and has scored 20+ in four of the last six contests.

Drew Thelwell had the most masterful passing game in program history against Alice Lloyd (Ky.) on Dec. 21. He handed out a school-record 19 assists, which is the most for any Division I player this season and just one short of the OVC single-game record. In the past four games, Thelwell averaged 11.0 assists per game!

Drew Thelwell leads the conference in assists (86) and assists per game (6.1). Thelwell will attempt to become just the fourth Eagle to lead the OVC in assists in the past 20 seasons, joining Nikola Stojakovic (2007-08), Brandon Shingles (2009-10) and Ta'Lon Cooper (2021-22).

Jordan Lathon ranks eighth in the OVC in scoring at 14.7 per game. He joins Riley Minix to form one of just two duos in the OVC (UT Martin being the other team) to have two top-10 scorers. Lathon has eight consecutive double-digit scoring efforts and averaged a team-high 20.5 points in the last eight.

• Morehead State, the OVC's only remaining team in Kentucky, is easily the winningest Division I MBB program in the state in the past three seasons with 77 wins.
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