• OVC Men's Basketball Report - December 27 (PDF)
This Week’s Schedule
Thursday, December 28
*UT Martin at Tennessee State, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Little Rock at Tennessee Tech, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Friday, December 29
*Eastern Illinois at SIUE, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Southern Indiana at Southeast Missouri, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, December 30
*UT Martin at Tennessee Tech, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Little Rock at Tennessee State, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sunday, December 31
*Southern Indiana at Lindenwood, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Morehead State at Southeast Missouri, 3:15 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Western Illinois at SIUE, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
OVC Players of the Week
PLAYER
Jordan Lathon, G • 6-5, 195, Grad. • Grandview, Mo. • Morehead State
Lathon erupted for a career-high 30 points as Morehead State nearly upset Big Ten for Indiana, falling 69-68. The grad student hit 11-of-21 field goals, including 6-of-10 3-pointers in 31 minutes of action. Lathon helped the Eagles lead the Hoosiers by as many as 15 points in the second half. He also added six rebounds and two assists in the game. Lathon concluded the week with 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists in a blowout win over Alice Lloyd. The guard added a trio of 3-pointers in the game. Among OVC players, Lathon ranks seventh (47.1%) in field goal percentage and eighth in 3-pointers made (28).
Others Nominated: Keenon Cole, Lindenwood; AJ Smith, Southern Indiana; Jordan Sears, UT Martin; Drew Cisse, Western Illinois.
NEWCOMER
Drew Cisse, C • 6-11, 230, Sr. • San Diego, Calif. • Western Illinois
Cisse, a transfer from UMSL, averaged a double-double as Western Illinois won two games to extend its winning streak to four games. The senior tallied 14.0 points and 14.0 rebounds/game and adding 1.5 blocks and 1.5 assists/game and hitting 81.3 percent (13-of-16) from the field. Cisse had 14 points and 11 rebounds in just 19 minutes in a blowout win over Eureka. In that game he hit 7-of-8 field goals and had a pair of blocks. He concluded the week with 14 points and 17 rebounds in a road victory over Central Arkansas. In that contest Cisse connected on 6-of-8 field goals and added two assists and a block. Cisse has three of the top six rebounding games in the OVC this season (20, 18, 17) and leads all Division I players with 159 total rebounds. Overall he is fourth nationally in rebounding/game (12.2) and 25th in blocks (2.23/game).
Others Nominated: Riley Minix, Morehead State; Jacob Crews, UT Martin.
FRESHMAN
Jaylen Jones, G • 6-1, 160, Fr. • Nashville, Tenn. • Tennessee State
Against Indiana State, Jones tallied 16 points, two rebounds an assist and steal in 31 minutes of action. Jones hit 5-of-10 field goals and 4-of-4 free throws. The 16 points was his second-highest outing of the season. Jones has scored in double figures in 10-straight games. It marks the third time this season he has earned the award.
Others Nominated: Eddie Ricks III, Morehead State.
Other Notable Performances
Below are other notable performances from the past week.
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Jordan Sears (G, Jr.), UT Martin. Sears averaged 26.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals/game in a pair of contests. The junior tallied 26 points against each Evansville and William Woods. In his final game of the week he scored five points in the final 3:33, including the game-tying free throws with 57 seconds remaining.
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AJ Smith (G/F, So.), Southern Indiana. Smith tallied his fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds at Southern Illinois. He added 16 points against Saint Francis (IL) to average 15.0 for the week.
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Riley Minix (F, Grad.), Morehead State. Minix averaged 15.0 points and 12.0 rebounds/game. He had 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds at Indiana and followed that with 20 points and a game-best 13 rebounds against Alice Lloyd. Minix scored in double figures in 12 of MSU’s 13 non-conference games.
Notes From Around the League
OVC Overview/This Week’s Highlights: Conference play begins this week; OVC teams will play an 18-game League schedule this year ... There are games on each Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday due to the holiday break ...The first two Wild Card matchups for the league’s ESPNU schedule have been announced; the selections included Eastern Illinois at UT Martin (Jan. 4) and Morehead State at SIUE (Jan. 13) ... Morehead State’s Drew Thelwell had 19 assists in the team’s win over Alice Lloyd (Dec. 21); it set a new MSU single-game record, was one off the OVC record (set in 1985-86) and is the most by a NCAA player (any level) this season ... Lindenwood’s Keenon Cole scored his 1,000th career point last Tuesday against Missouri State ... Western Illinois has won four in a row and five of its last six games ... UT Martin’s win over William Woods last week clinched the program’s second-straight non-conference winning season and fifth time in the last decade (also occurring in three straight seasons from 2014-15 through 2016-17).
Recent Postseason Success: Following the 2022-23 season, OVC teams have won at least one national postseason game in 13 of the past 14 postseasons. 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. A streak of 11-straight years ended in 2021 (when only one team made the reduced postseason), and the OVC began a new streak with Murray State winning in the NCAA Tournament in 2022, while Morehead State added to that with a NIT win in 2023.
OVC Basketball Championships To Be Held at Ford Center in Evansville For Seventh Consecutive Year: The OVC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships will be held March 6-9 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. It marks the seventh-straight season the event will be held in the building after a long run in Nashville. 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, the OVC signed a three-year extension to keep the event at the venue through 2023, with an option for a fourth-year (2024), which was exercised in fall 2022. It was announced in March 2023 the event was extended through 2026 with an option for 2027.
All Teams Eligible for OVC Tournament: Both reclassifying teams, Lindenwood and Southern Indiana, were eligible to compete and win the OVC Tournament Championship this season. Should a transitioning school win an OVC Tournament Championship, the AQ shall be awarded to the tournament runner-up. Should the tournament runner-up also be a transitioning school, the AQ representative shall be semifinalist that had the highest remaining seed going into the tournament.
OVC Tournament Championship Format: Once again the OVC Tournament will include a merit-based format. The format, which began in 2011, has the top eight men’s and women’s teams qualifying for the tournament. The No. 1 and 2 seeds will receive two byes to the semifinals while the No. 3 and 4 seeds will receive one bye into the quarterfinals. The first round will include the No. 5 seed against the No. 8 seed and the No. 6 seed against the No. 7 seed. The women’s bracket also uses a merit-based bracket. This marks the 13th year the format has been used (it was not used in 2021), and teams with a double bye (e.g. No. 1 or 2 seed) have won the tournament seven times. The No. 1 seed has won five times, the No. 2 seed twice, the No. 3 seed twice, the No. 4 seed once, the No. 5 seed once (SEMO last year) and the No. 8 seed once (Austin Peay in 2016).
New Team: After welcoming three new teams last year, the OVC welcomes another new program in 2023-23. Western Illinois joined the OVC on July 1 after previously being in the Summit League. They are just the 25th full-time member in the 76-year history of the OVC.
OVC Players in the NBA: Six former OVC men’s basketball players were on National Basketball Association (NBA) Opening Night rosters for 2023-24. In 2021, Cameron Payne helped Phoenix advance to the NBA Finals. In 2020 Ja Morant was named the NBA Rookie of the Year, making him one of three players from a non-Power 5 Conference to win the award since 1983-84 (joining Damian Lilliard of Weber State in 2012-13 and Larry Johnson of UNLV in 1991-92).
• Robert Covington, Philadelphia 76ers (Tennessee State)
• Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies (Murray State)
• Cameron Payne, Milwaukee Bucks (Murray State)
• Ben Sheppard, Indiana Pacers (Belmont)
• Terry Taylor, Chicago Bulls (Austin Peay)
• Dylan Windler, Cleveland Cavaliers (Belmont)
OVC to Produce 10-Game Linear Television Package and Use “Wild Card” Selections: The OVC will once again produce a national television package in 2023-24 that will include nine men’s basketball games and one women’s basketball contest that will air on the ESPN Family of Networks. The regular season games will all air on ESPNU, as will the OVC Tournament semifinals. The Men’s Championship game will air on ESPN2. Each of the regular season games will be “wild card selections” with the matchup picked approximately two weeks ahead of the game.
Freeman Named Preseason Player of the Year: The 2023-24 OVC Preseason Men’s Basketball Team was headlined by Morehead State senior guard
Mark Freeman, who was the 2022-23 OVC Player of the Year. Last year he averaged 15.0 points and 3.7 assists/game in leading the Eagles to the OVC Regular Season Championship and a NIT victory over Clemson. Overall seven different schools were represented on the Preseason All-OVC Team which included 12 individuals. The others included Lindenwood’s
Keenon Cole, Little Rock’s
DeAntoni Gordon, Morehead State’s
Drew Thelwell, SIUE’s
Damarco Minor,
Ray’Sean Taylor and
Shamar Wright, Tennessee State’s
Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. and
Kinyon Hodges, Tennessee Tech’s
Jayvis Harvey and UT Martin’s
Jordan Sears and
KK Curry.
Morehead State Picked as OVC Preseason Favorites: In a vote of Ohio Valley Conference head men’s basketball coaches and communication directors, Morehead State has been picked the preseason favorites for the 2023-24 season. It marks the second-straight year the Eagles have been tabbed the favorites. The Eagles picked up 20 of 22 first-place votes (teams could not vote for themselves); Tennessee State picked up the other votes. MSU tallied 200 points and was followed by SIUE (162), who was picked second. Tennessee State (153) was picked third and followed by UT Martin (149), Southeast Missouri (124), Tennessee Tech (120), Little Rock (85), Western Illinois (80), Southern Indiana (63), Lindenwood (40) and Eastern Illinois (34).
Men’s Basketball Experimental Rules for Second Half Media Timeouts in Conference Play: For the second-straight year in Conference men’s basketball games, the OVC will participate with a NCAA Experimental Rule which establishes a standard media timeout format for the second half of all OVC men’s basketball regular season and conference tournament games (the experimental rule does not pertain to non-conference games). The rule establishes the standard media timeout format for all OVC games which requires electronic media timeout marks that occur after the first stoppage of play following the 17-, 14-. 11-, 8- and 4- minute marks in the second half. The experimental rule, which was approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, is designed to help standardize the traditional “floater” media mark in the second half. The Experimental Rule will also be used in the NIT this season.
The 2023-24 Season: The 2023-24 season marks the 76th year of competition in the OVC. Over the previous 75 years, 13 different teams have claimed an OVC regular season championship.
ESPN+: This year marks the sixth 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 $10.99 a month (or $109.99 per year) or as part of a bundle with Disney+ and ad-supported Hulu ($15.99/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.