GAME NOTES | SCHEDULE PAGE (LINKS TO LIVE VIDEO, LIVE AUDIO AND LIVE STATS)
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Morehead State men's basketball will look to get back on the winning side of things with a Tuesday OVC game at home versus Southern Indiana. Tip off time is 7:30 p.m. ET.
Morehead State finds itself in a bit of unfamiliar territory for this season. The Eagles have dropped two straight games for just the first time all year. MSU will look to right the ship against USI, a team it beat 81-70 in Evansville, Ind., earlier in January and is 3-0 against in the past two seasons.
The game can also be heard on the Eagle Sports Radio Network (WIVY-96.3 FM flagship station as well as WGOH in Grayson, Ky.) with Chuck Mraz and Drew Barnette. It is also available on MSUEagles.com. ESPN+ has the game as well with Jared Stacy and Dean Hardin.
2023-24 RECORDS
MSU: 20-7, 11-3 OVC | USI: 7-20, 4-10 OVC
THE SERIES IN DEPTH
Record vs. USI: 3-0
First Meeting: 1/5/23 MSU won 84-80 at MSU
Last Meeting: 1/20/24 MSU won 81-70 at USI
Streak: MSU, 3 games
Record vs. USI in Evansville, Ind.: 2-0
Record vs. USI in Morehead: 1-0
Neutral Record: 0-0
NOTABLE
• Morehead State, the OVC's only remaining team in Kentucky, is easily the winningest Division I MBB program in the state in the past four seasons with 88 wins. In that span, MSU has 11 more wins than the next closest, University of Kentucky (see chart page 2).
• Morehead State enters the game owning the nation's second-longest current home winning streak at 18 games, tied with traditional powerhouse programs Kansas and UCONN.
• The Eagle program now has nine 20+ win seasons in the last 15 seasons.
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Drew Thelwell became the winningest individual player in program history Feb. 10 vs. Eastern Illinois with 88. He broke Terrence Hill's record of 87 from 2008-09 to 2011-12.
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Drew Thelwell has 94 assists against OVC opponents. Only 4 other league players have 94+ for the whole season. Thelwell has 173 total assists this year, easily leading the league and ranking sixth nationally. Thelwell needs just 32 more assists to set the MSU single-season record of 204 (Nik Stojokovic 2007-08).
• MSU now has four straight 20+ win seasons, which has never happened before in MSU history.
• MSU has also now won double digit OVC games in four consecutive seasons, marking just the second time in program history for 4 straight 10+ win OVC seasons (2007-08 through 2011-12).
• MSU is the only OVC team to boast a positive double-digit scoring margin in all games this year.
• The Eagles are the only OVC team to rank in the top two in the league in offensive and defensive rebounds per game.
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Riley Minix has won five OVC Player of the Week and six Newcomer of the Week honors. He has been bestowed both awards in the same week five times. Minix is the conference's leading scorer on average, putting in 20.2 per outing.
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Riley Minix averaged 25.0 points per game in the last 10 games. In that span, he had six 25+ point efforts.
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Riley Minix is now only the third MSU player in the last 10 seasons (Jordan Walker 2018-19, Johni Broome 2021-22) to score 500+ in a season. He is shooting to become the first Eagle since Ricky Minard in 2003-04 to average 20.0+ in a season. Minix's 546 points is tied for 19th best single-season total in program history.
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Riley Minix has 13 20+ point efforts this season, including eight of the last nine games, and has now scored 2,594 career collegiate points to go along with 1,306 career rebounds. He has also scored 30+ twice this year.
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Riley Minix has recorded 72 career double-doubles in his time at MSU (OVC-best 14) and Southeastern (Fla.) (58). An NAIA All-American, Minix was also the 2022-23 NAIA Academic All-American of the Year.
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Kalil Thomas has made 141 career three-pointers in just his two seasons at MSU, which ranks 11th on the program career list. In his career, Thomas has drained 235 triples.
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Kalil Thomas' 77 three-pointers ranks first in the OVC. It also ranks as the sixth best single-season total in program history. Thomas needs just 19 more triples to set the MSU single-season record.
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Eddie Ricks III is coming off his best Eagle game, a career-high 21 points at UT Martin. He was one of three Eagles with 20+ points, something that's now happened twice this season.
