• OVC Men’s Basketball Report – December 6 (PDF)
This Week’s Schedule
Monday, December 6
Presbyterian
at Morehead State, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Tuesday, December 7
Belmont at Saint Louis, 7:00 p.m. (NBC Universal Digital)
Eastern Illinois at Missouri, 7:00 p.m. (SEC Network+)
Wednesday, December 8
Tennessee Tech at Western Carolina, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Evansville
at Southeast Missouri, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Purdue Fort Wayne
at SIUE, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Friday, December 10
IUPUI
at Tennessee State, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Murray State at Memphis, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, December 11
Southeast Missouri at Purdue Fort Wayne, 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Austin Peay at North Florida, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Troy
at Tennessee Tech, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Eastern Illinois at Butler, 3:00 p.m. (FS1)
Morehead State at ETSU, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Middle Tennessee
at UT Martin, 8:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sunday, December 12
Kansas City
at SIUE, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Tennessee State at Lipscomb, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
OVC Players of the Week
PLAYER
Johni Broome, F • 6-10, 235, Second Year • Plant City, Fla. • Morehead State
Broome helped Morehead State run its win streak to three games last week with a 59-51 win over Georgia Southern. The reigning OVC Freshman of the Year scored 10 consecutive points at one stretch of the second half as the Eagles went on a 14-2 run to pull out to a double-digit. In 29 minutes of court time Broome finished with 15 points (on 7-of-11 shooting), 11 rebounds and six blocks. It marked his fourth double-double of the season (16th-best nationally) while he ranks fourth in nationally in blocks (3.88/game) and 18th in rebounding (10.0/game).
Others Nominated: Tariq Silver, Austin Peay; Grayson Murphy, Belmont; Kashawn Charles, Eastern Illinois; Tevin Brown, Murray State; Eric Reed Jr., Southeast Missouri; Ray’Sean Taylor, SIUE; Jr. Clay, Tennessee Tech; KJ Simon, UT Martin.
NEWCOMER
DJ Burns, F • 6-7, 210, So. • New Orleans, La. • Murray State
Burns, a transfer from Southern, averaged 15.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks/game last week while hitting 72.2 percent (13-of-18) in a pair of Murray State home court victories. He opened the week with 19 points, five rebounds and three steals in a 98-61 win over Campbellsville. In 22 minutes of action he hit 9-of-11 field goals and blocked a shot. In Saturday’s 93-87 victory over Middle Tennessee, he tallied 12 points and pulled down a season-best 15 rebounds to go along with two assists and a block. The 15 rebounds are tied for the most by an OVC player this season. Burns ranks second in the OVC in field goal percentage (6.8/game) and fifth in rebounding (6.8/game).
Others Nominated: Tariq Silver, Austin Peay; Kejuan Clements, Eastern Illinois; Shaun Doss Jr., SIUE; KJ Simon, UT Martin.
FRESHMAN
Ray’Sean Taylor, G • 6-1, 175, R-Fr. • Collinsville, Ill. • SIUE
In two road games Taylor averaged 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 3.0 steals/game while hitting 37 percent (10-of-27) from the field, 33 percent (5-of-15) from 3-point range and 90.9 percent (10-of-11) from the free throw line. At Omaha he came close to recording the first triple-double in school history, tallying 13 points, 12 assists, nine rebounds, four steals and a block in 32 minutes. The 12 assists are tied for the most in the OVC this season, and the fifth-most nationally. He closed the week with 22 points, six rebounds and two steals at Bradley. That marked his third 20-point game of the season; he hit 8-of-8 free throws in the game. Among OVC players Taylor ranks second in the league in free throw percentage (84.4%), third in steals (2.1/game), fourth in scoring (17.0 points/game), sixth in 3-pointers made (2.2/game) and eighth in assists (3.6/game).
Others Nominated: Will Richard, Belmont; Rodolfo Bolis, Eastern Illinois.
Notes From Around the League
OVC Overview/This Week’s Highlights: The first NET rankings for the season were released on Monday and three OVC teams were in the Top 100: Belmont (43), Murray State (64), Morehead State (79) ... Belmont’s Grayson Murphy ranks first nationally in steals/game (3.20) ... Murphy now ranks fifth in OVC history for career steals (236) and assists (635) ... Belmont’s Nick Muszynski moved to 10th in OVC history in blocks (184) while Murray State’s Tevin Brown is now seventh in career 3-pointers made (273) ... Morehead State’s Johni Broom is fourth nationally in blocked (3.88/game) and has three games with six blocks this season; as a team MSU has won 11 consecutive home games dating back to December 2020 ... Three OVC players rank in the Top 35 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio: Justice Hill (18th), Ta’lon Cooper (25th) and Jr. Clay (35th) ... Murray State ranks seventh nationally in field goal percentage (51.3%), 19th in scoring margin (+18.4 points/game) and 22nd in scoring offense (83.4 points/game) ... Tennessee Tech is 13th nationally in fewest fouls per game (13.4) ... SIUE’s Ray’Sean Taylor had 12 assists at Omaha, tied for Morehead State’s Ta’lon Cooper for the most in the OVC this season and fifth-most nationally in 2021-22.
The 2021-22 Season: The 2021-22 season marks the 74th of competition in the OVC. Over the previous 73 years, 13 different teams have claimed an OVC regular season championship.
CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll: In the latest (Nov. 29) CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll, Belmont was ranked No. 6 while Murray State was among the others receiving votes. Now in its 23rd season, the Mid-Major poll is made up of teams from the following conferences: America East, ASUN, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon, Independents, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Summit, Sun Belt, WAC and West Coast.
Muszynski on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Watch List: Belmont graduate student
Nick Muszynski has been named to the 2022 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award Watch List by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Named after Class of 1995 Hall of Famer and three-time NCAA Champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the annual honor in its eighth year recognizes the top centers in men’s college basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the 2022 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award will be narrowed to 10 and then in late February to just 5. In March the five finalists will be presented to Mr. Abdul-Jabbar and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee where a winner will be selected.
Four OVC Players on Lou Henson Award Watch List: Four OVC players have been named to the Lou Henson Award Watch List by CollegeInsider.com. The four players were Morehead State forward
Johni Broome, Murray State guard
Tevin Brown, Belmont guard
Grayson Murphy and Belmont center
Nick Muszynski. The award, which is presented annually to the top mid-major player in division I college basketball, honors the former Illinois and New Mexico State head coach who won 775 games in 41 seasons. The award will be given out in April.
OVC Players in the NBA: Four former OVC players were on NBA rosters to begin the 2021-22 season. The four players ranks the OVC 12th among all Division I conferences. Included in that is former Murray State All-American Ja Morant, the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Morant would go on to become the first OVC player to be named the 2019-20 NBA Rookie of the Year after averaging 17.8 points, 7.3 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 0.9 steals per game in 67 contests. Dating back to 1983-84, he is one of just three players to attend a non-Power 5 college to win the award, joining Damian Lilliard of Weber State (2012-13) and Larry Johnson of UNLV (1991-92). Another former Racer, Cameron Payne, helped Phoenix advance to the NBA Finals a year ago. It marked the fourth time in the past six years an OVC player had competed in the NBA Finals; Payne was the third all-time Murray State player to accomplish the feat. Here is a look at the four (4) former OVC players who are on NBA teams entering the 2021-22 season.
• Robert Covington, Portland Trailblazers (Tennessee State)
• Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies (Murray State)
• Cameron Payne, Phoenix Suns (Murray State)
• Dylan Windler, Cleveland Cavaliers (Belmont)
OVC to Produce 10-Game Linear Television Package: The OVC will produce a national television package in 2021-22 that will include nine men’s basketball games and one women’s basketball contest that will air on the ESPN Family of Networks. Five of the seven regular season games will air on ESPNU, as will the OVC Men’s Tournament semifinals, with two games airing on ESPNews. The Men’s Championship game will air on ESPN2.
OVC Basketball Championships Set For Ford Center in Evansville For Fifth Consecutive Year: The OVC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships will be held March 2-5 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. It marks the fifth-straight season the event will be held in the building. The Ford Center, which opened in 2011, is an 11,000-seat arena located in the core of Evansville’s downtown district. The 290,000-square foot facility serves as home of the University of Evansville’s men’s basketball team and the Evansville Thunderbolts of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The Ford Center also serves as host to numerous sporting events and concerts on an annual basis. In September 2019 it was announced the tournament would remain at the Ford Center at least through the 2023 Championship with an option for 2024. The 2019 Championships saw record-breaking attendance at the venue, as the men’s semifinals drew an OVC neutral site record 8,294 fans, a mark that was broken the next night with an attendance of 10,525.
Recent Postseason Success: With only one team in the postseason in 2021, the OVC saw a streak of at least one win in 11-straight postseasons come to an end. It had been the longest stretch in league history. Morehead State won a NCAA game in 2009, Murray State won in the NCAA Tournament in 2010, Morehead State won in the NCAA’s in 2011, Murray State won in the NCAA’s in 2012, Eastern Kentucky won in the CIT in 2013, Belmont (NIT) and Murray State (CIT) won games in 2014, Eastern Illinois (CIT), Eastern Kentucky (CIT), Murray State (NIT) and UT Martin (CIT) scored victories in 2015 (the four different teams to record a victory in the single postseason was an OVC record), Morehead State (CBI) and UT Martin (CIT) won in 2016, Belmont (NIT) and UT Martin (CIT) scored wins in 2017, Austin Peay (CIT) and Jacksonville State (CBI) won in 2018 and Belmont and Murray State in 2019 (NCAA) before no postseason was held in 2020.
Broom and Murphy Tabbed as Preseason Co-Players of the Year: The 2021-22 OVC Preseason Men’s Basketball Team is headlined by Co-Players of the Year, Morehead State second-year forward
Johni Broome and Belmont graduate student guard
Grayson Murphy. Murphy is the fourth Belmont player to pick up the award (joining Craig Bradshaw, Evan Bradds and Dylan Windler) while Broome is the first Morehead State player to earn the honor since Kenneth Faried was tabbed with the honor in 2009-10 and 2010-11. Overall, five different schools were represented on the team with Belmont leading the way with three selections, Morehead State and Murray State having two picks apiece and Southeast Missouri, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech having one pick apiece. Six of the 10 picks earned All-OVC first or second-team honors last year. Other returning first-team All-OVC selections from 2020-21 include Murray State redshirt junior guard
Tevin Brown redshirt junior forward
KJ Williams and Belmont senior center
Nick Muszynski while Tennessee Tech redshirt junior guard
Jr. Clay was a returning second-team pick. Additionally, Tennessee State senior guard
Carlos Marshall Jr. earned second-team All-OVC honors in 2019-20, but missed all last year due to injury. The team was rounded out by Southeast Missouri redshirt junior guard
Chris Harris, Morehead State redshirt junior guard
Skyelar Potter and Belmont senior guard
Luke Smith.
Belmont Picked as OVC Preseason Favorites: In a vote of OVC head men’s basketball coaches and communication directors, Belmont has been picked the preseason favorites for the 2021-22 season. It marks the fifth time in the past six seasons the Bruins have been tabbed preseason favorites. Belmont picked up 17 of a possible 20 first-place votes to tally 161 total points in being picked first. Morehead State picked up the other three first-place votes and 141 points in being ranked second, just ahead of Murray State (136 points). Southeast Missouri was tabbed fourth (101) and followed by Tennessee State (84), Austin Peay (76), SIUE (65), Tennessee Tech (62), Eastern Illinois (43) and UT Martin (34).
ESPN+: This year marks the fourth of the OVC’s media rights deal with ESPN to air games on ESPN+, the multi-sport, direct-to-consumer video service from The Walt Disney Company Direct-to-Consumer & International segment. This season over 200 men’s and women’s basketball regular season Conference games and non-conference games will be streamed on ESPN+. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for $6.99 a month (or $69.99 per year) or as part of a bundle with Disney+ and ad-supported Hulu ($13.99/month). ESPN+ is an integrated part of the ESPN App (on mobile and connected devices). More information can be found at
www.OVCSports.com/ESPN.