OVC Men's Basketball Report - February 27

OVC Men's Basketball Report - February 27

• OVC Men's Basketball Report – February 27 (PDF)

This Week’s Schedule
 
2023 OVC Basketball Championships Presented by United Fidelity Bank
Ford Center - Evansville, Indiana

Wednesday, March 1
#5 Southeast Missouri vs. #8 Lindenwood, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
#6 SIUE vs. #7 Southern Indiana, 9:00 p.m. (ESPN+)

Thursday, March 2
#4 Tennessee State vs. Winner of Game 1, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
#3 UT Martin vs. Winner of Game 2, 9:00 p.m. (ESPN+)

Friday, March 3
#1 Morehead State vs. Winner of Game 3, 7:00 p.m. (ESPNU)
#2 Tennessee Tech vs. Winner of Game 4, 9:30 p.m. (ESPNU)

Saturday, March 4
Semifinal Winners, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN2/Westwood One)
 


OVC Players of the Week
 
PLAYER
Kevin Caldwell Jr., G • 5-11, 170, Sr. • Alton, Ill. • Lindenwood
Caldwell hit a buzzer-beating 3-poitner in overtime to lift Lindenwood to a one-point win over Little Rock and send the Lions to the No. 8 seed in the OVC Tournament (they would have missed the tournament had he missed). He finished the game with 26 points, hitting 6-of-10 3-pointers, while also adding five assists, three rebounds and a steal. Caldwell scored eight points in the final 6:27 to regulation, as Lindenwood overcame a 17-point deficit with 6:50 to play to force an extra period. He also hit a 3-pointer in overtime to tie the game at 94 with 1:25 to play. Caldwell opened the week with 18 points (on 3-of-6 3-pointers), five steals, three assists and two rebounds in a double overtime win over SEMO. For the week he averaged 22.0 points, 4.0 assists, 3.0 steals and 2.5 rebounds/game while hitting 50 percent (15-of-30) from the field and 56.3 percent (9-of-16) from 3-point range.
 
Others Nominated: DeAntoni Gordon, Little Rock; Alex Gross, Morehead State; Chris Harris, Southeast Missouri; Ray’Sean Taylor, SIUE; Isaiah Swope, Southern Indiana; Marcus Fitzgerald Jr., Tennessee State; Jaylen Sebree, Tennessee Tech; Jordan Sears, UT Martin.
 
CO-NEWCOMER
Chris Childs, G • 6-2, 180, Sr. • Bronx, N.Y. • Lindenwood
In a pair of overtime wins, Childs, a transfer from Bryant, averaged 22.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists/game while hitting 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from the field, 54.5 percent (6-of-11) from 3-point range and 94.4 percent (17-of-18) at the free throw line. He opened the week with 25 points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal in a double overtime win over SEMO. He hit 6-of-12 field goals and 11-of-12 free throws in the win. In regulation Childs made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 76, and then two free throws with 33 seconds left to force overtime. He was 4-of-4 from the free throw line in double overtime, including two with three seconds left to push the final margin to three points. In Saturday’s overtime win over Little Rock, Childs had 20 points (on 4-of-9 3-point shooting), four rebounds and an assist as the Lions won to qualify for the OVC Tournament.
 
CO-NEWCOMER
Alex Gross, C • 6-10, 245, Grad. • Hope, Ind. • Morehead State
Gross, a transfer from Olivet Nazarene, averaged 13.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.5 blocks and 1.0 steals/game while hitting 57.1 percent (12-of-21) from the field as Morehead State won twice to lock up its first OVC Regular Season Championship since 2003 (and first outright title since 1984). Gross had career-highs with 17 rebounds and seven blocked shots in Saturday’s win over UT Martin. The graduate added 16 points, on 7-of-11 shooting, against the Skyhawks. He opened the week with 10 points, five rebounds and a steal at Eastern Illinois.
 
Others Nominated: Kinyon Hodges, Eastern Illinois; Damarco Minor, SIUE; Trevor Lakes, Southern Indiana; Adong Makuoi, Tennessee State; Jayvis Harvey, Tennessee Tech; Jordan Sears, UT Martin.
 
FRESHMAN
Sincere Malone, F • 6-8, 210, Fr. • Chicago, Ill. • Eastern Illinois
Malone averaged 13.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals/game while hitting 50 percent (11-of-22) from the field in two games. He scored a season-high 14 points on Thursday against league champion Morehead State, hitting 6-of-11 field goals. Malone also had eight rebounds and four assists in the contest. He followed that with the first double-double of the season by an EIU player, tallying 12 points and 10 rebounds against Tennessee Tech. Malone added four steals in the game, increasing his OVC-leading total to 62, the third-most in school single-season history. This marked the 10th week this season an EIU player was named OVC Freshman of the Week.
 
Others Nominated: Grant Strong, Tennessee Tech.
 
 
Other Notable Performances
Below are other notable performances from the past week.
 
• Chris Harris (G, R-Sr.), Southeast Missouri. Harris had a career-high 36 points at Lindenwood, hitting 11-of-13 shots and adding four rebounds. He averaged 28.0 points/game and hit 60.7 percent from the field for the week.
 
• DeAntoni Gordon (F, Sr.), Little Rock. Gordon had a season-high 35 points, hitting 14-of-18 shots against Lindenwood. He added nine rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block. He hit 67.9 percent (19-of-28) from the field for the week.
 
• Ray’Sean Taylor (G, Sr.), SIUE. Averaged 18.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists/game while knocking down 7-of-9 3-pointers (77.8%). He had 21 points against Little Rock.
 
• Jaylen Sebree (F, Grad.), Tennessee Tech. Sebree helped Tennessee Tech to a pair of wins by averaging 15.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists/game and hitting 4-of-8 from 3-point range. He had double-doubles in both games.
 
• Isaiah Swope (G, So.), Southern Indiana. Swope tallied 26 points against Tennessee Tech and 25 points versus Tennessee State. He added a career-high five steals vs. TTU.
 


Notes From Around the League
 
OVC Overview/This Week’s Highlights: Morehead State finished league play 14-4 to win the OVC regular season championship and will be the No. 1 seed for the OVC Tournament ... It marked the 10th title for the Eagles, first since 2003 and first outright crown since 1984 ... MSU has reached the 20-win plateau for the third-straight season, a feat that has only happened one other time in program history ... Tennessee Tech finished No. 2 and earned the double bye for the first time (the merit-based bracket has been used since 2011) ... First-year OVC members Lindenwood and Southern Indiana are in the tournament field; since they are reclassifying to Division I, if either one would win the tournament, the runner-up would receive the AQ to the NCAA Tournament...USI has clinched at least a .500 record this season; one more win would guaranteed the Screaming Eagles its 31st-straight winning season...USI’s Jacob Polakovich has tallied 20-plus rebounds five times overall this season (26, 24, 23, 20, 20); only one other player nationally has more than one 20-rebound game in 2022-23 (IU’s Trayce Jackson-Davis who has three) ... Polakovich also has a pair of 20/20 games this season ... Polakovich is averaging 12.8 rebounds/game which ranked third nationally behind only Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe (13.0/game) and Purdue’s Zach Edley (12.7/game) ... Little Rock’s Myron Gardner recorded his OVC-best 15th double-double last week, which is tied for sixth nationally; Little Rock finished the year with a combined 22 double-doubles, the most of any OVC school.
 
2023 All-OVC Teams and Awards Announced on Tuesday: The announcement of the 2023 All-OVC Basketball Teams with the Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year awards will be announced on Tuesday, February 28 between Noon and 1 p.m. CT on Twitter (@OVCSports).
 
Morehead State Wins OVC Regular Season Championship: Morehead State has won the OVC Regular Season Championship (14-4). It is the 10th overall title, first title since 2003 and first outright title since 1984. MSU has now won titles in 1956, 1957, 1961, 1963, 1969, 1972, 1974, 1984, 2003 and 2023.
 
OVC Basketball Championships Held at Ford Center in Evansville For Sixth Consecutive Year: The OVC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships will be held March 1-4 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. It marks the sixth-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.
 
All Teams Eligible for OVC Tournament: Both reclassifying teams, Lindenwood and Southern Indiana, are 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 12th 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 and the No. 8 seed once (Austin Peay in 2016).
 
Clay Joins OVC 2,000-Point Club and Career Top 10 Lists: Tennessee State’s Jr. Clay became the 20th member of the OVC’s 2,000-Point Club earlier this season and now has 2,207 points (11th all time, 29 points out of 10th place). Also this season, Clay has also moved into the OVC career top 10 in assists, steals and 3-pointers made.
 
20/20 Games: Southern Indiana’s Jacob Polakovich had 27 points and 26 rebounds in the Screaming Eagles win over Southeast Missouri on December 29. He followed that up with 20 points and 24 rebounds in a win over Eastern Illinois on January 26. It marked the first 20/20 games by an OVC player since the 2019-20 season (when Austin Peay’s Terry Taylor and UT Martin’s Quintin Dove each had one in the month of February). Overall it was just the 11th and 12th 20/20 game by an OVC player over the past 13 seasons. He is one of seven Division I players with a 20/20 game this season and the ONLY one with more than one.
 
20-Rebound Games: Southern Indiana’s Jacob Polakovich’s 26 rebounds against Southeast Missouri on December 29 were the most by an OVC player dating back to at least the 2002-03 season (the single-game record was 38 set in 1956-57). The 26 rebounds are also the most by a NCAA Division I player this season. Polakovich now has five overall 20-plus rebound games this season (26, 24, 23, 20, 20), making him the only Division I player to achieve that feat (the only other player nationally with more than one such games is Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis who has three). Morehead State’s Kenneth Faried had six (6) 20-rebound games in the 2010-11 season, but since that time, no other OVC player has had more than one in a single-season.
 
Minor Sets Consecutive Free Throws Made Record: SIUE sophomore guard Damarco Minor set a new OVC record for consecutive made free throws with his 47th straight against Eastern Illinois on January 12 (the streak came to an end on the next attempt). The 47-straight free throws broke the previous record of 46 held by Morehead State’s Glen Napier (set during the 1981-82 season).
 
Lakes Ties OVC Single-Game 3-Point Record: Southern Indiana graduate student Trevor Lakes tied the OVC single-game 3-pointers record when he made 10 (of 16) in a victory over IUPUI. He is the fifth player in OVC history to achieve the feat and first since the 2018-19 season.
            Marc Polite, Eastern Illinois (vs. Arkansas State), 1999-2000
            Glenn Cosey, Eastern Kentucky (vs. EIU), 2013-14
            Nick Smith, Belmont (vs. UT Martin), 2016-17
            Corey Tillery, Tennessee Tech (vs. Warren Wilson College), 2018-19
            Trevor Lakes, Southern Indiana (vs. IUPUI), 2022-23
 
Eastern Illinois Pulls Off B1G Upset: Eastern Illinois entered the December 21 game at Iowa as a 31.5-point underdog but shot 72 percent from the floor in the second half on its way to a 92-83 victory It was the largest upset (by point spread) in the past 30 seasons. Over the past 30 years, teams that were 30 or more point underdogs had been 0-558 in such games. It also snapped Iowa’s 24-game home non-conference win streak and was the fourth win over a Power Five school in EIU’s history.
 
Triple-Doubles: Lindenwood senior guard Chris Childs registered the 23rd all-time triple-double in OVC history on November 30 in a win over East-West University. He had 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes of action. There has been at least one triple-double in the OVC in six of the past seven seasons (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23).
 
Taylor and Stewart Named to Lou Henson Award Watch List: SIUE guard Ray’Sean Taylor and UT Martin guard Parker Stewart have been named to the 2022-23 Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award Watch List by CollegeInsider.com. 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.
 
New Teams: The OVC welcomes three new teams this year in Lindenwood, Little Rock and Southern Indiana. Little Rock moves over from the Sun Belt while Lindenwood and USI are reclassifying from Division II and the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). The trio marks just the 22nd, 23rd and 24th full-time members in the 75-year history of the OVC.
 
Recent Postseason Success: OVC teams have won at least one national postseason game in 12 of the past 13 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.
 
OVC Players in the NBA: Five former OVC men’s basketball players made National Basketball Association (NBA) rosters for 2022-23. In 2021, Cameron Payne helped Phoenix advance to the NBA Finals. It marked the fourth time in the past six years an OVC player had competed in 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, Los Angeles Clippers(Tennessee State)
            • Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies (Murray State)
            • Cameron Payne, Phoenix Suns (Murray State)
            • Terry Taylor, Indianapolis Pacers (Austin Peay)
            • Dylan Windler, Cleveland Cavaliers (Belmont)
 
OVC to Produce 10-Game Linear Television Package and Use “Wild Card” Selections: The OVC will produce a national television package in 2022-23 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 and the men’s tournament semifinals will air on ESPNU with two regular season games airing on ESPNews. 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.
 
Simon Named Preseason Player of the Year: The 2022-23 OVC Preseason Men’s Basketball Team was headlined by UT Martin senior guard KJ Simon. He is the first Skyhawk to be named OVC Preseason Player of the Year since 2008-09, when All-American and future NBA player Lester Hudson earned the honor. Overall, seven different schools were represented on the team with Tennessee State leading the way with four picks. Southeast Missouri, SIUE and UT Martin had two selections apiece while Morehead State, Southern Indiana and Tennessee Tech each had one pick. Other returning All-OVC selections from last year who made the preseason team were Southeast Missouri sophomore guard Phillip Russell and Tennessee State graduate guard Jr. Clay while SIUE sophomore Ray’Sean Taylor earned All-Newcomer honors. Two other players previously earned All-OVC accolades before transferring away from the league and then back this season. Those players are Morehead State senior guard Mark Freeman and UT Martin graduate guard Parker Stewart. The team was rounded out by Southeast Missouri senior guard Chris Harris, SIUE sophomore forward DeeJuan Pruitt, Southern Indiana senior guard Jelani Simmons, Tennessee Tech graduate guard Ty Perry and a trio of Tennessee State players in sophomore guard Marcus Fitzgerald Jr., senior guard Dedric Boyd and graduate forward Zion Griffin.
 
Morehead State Picked as OVC Preseason Favorites: In a vote of OVC head men’s basketball coaches and communication directors, Morehead State has been picked the preseason favorites for the 2022-23 season. It marks the first time since 2009-10 that the Eagles have been tabbed the preseason favorites. The Eagles were one of five different teams to pick up first-place votes, tallying seven top picks to finish with 138 points. They finished ahead of Tennessee State who had two first-place votes (130 points), UT Martin who had seven first-place votes (120 points), Southeast Missouri who had two first-place votes (115) and SIUE who picked up two first-place votes (111 points). The poll was rounded out by Little Rock (102), Southern Indiana (68), Tennessee Tech (62), Eastern Illinois (31) and Lindenwood (23).
 
Men’s Basketball Experimental Rules for Second Half Media Timeouts in Conference Play: This season in Conference men’s basketball games, the league 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 2022-23 Season: The 2022-23 season marks the 75th of competition in the OVC. Over the previous 74 years, 13 different teams have claimed an OVC regular season championship.
 
ESPN+: This year marks the fifth 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 $9.99 a month (or $99.99 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.