• OVC Men’s Basketball Report – March 13 (PDF)
This Week’s Schedule
2023 NCAA Division I Championship
Tuesday, March 14 - First Four (South Region - Dayton, Ohio)
#16 Southeast Missouri (19-16) vs. #16 Tx. A&M-Corpus Christi (23-10), 5:40 p.m. CT (TruTV)
Thursday, March 16 - First Round (South Region - Birmingham, Ala.)
SEMO/TAMUCC vs. #1 Alabama (29-5), 1:45 p.m. (CBS)
2023 National Invitation Tournament (NIT)
Wednesday, March 15 - First Round
Morehead State (21-11) at #1 Clemson (23-10), 6:00 p.m. CT (ESPN+)
Saturday, March 18/Saturday, March 19 - Second Round
Morehead State/Clemson vs. UAB/Southern Miss, TBD
2023 College Basketball Invitational (CBI)
Saturday, March 18 - First Round (Daytona Beach, Fla.)
#15 Southern Indiana (16-16) vs. #2 San Jose St. (20-13), 2:30 p.m. CT (FloHoops)
Monday, March 20 - Second Round (Daytona Beach, Fla.)
USI/San Jose State vs. Tarleton/Radford, 3:30 p.m. CT (FloHoops)
Notes From Around the League
OVC Overview/This Week’s Highlights: Southeast Missouri entered the OVC Tournament as a No. 5 seed and became only the second OVC team to win four games in four days (matching 2016 Austin Peay) in claiming the OVC Tournament Championship ... It was the second Tournament crown and first since 2000 for the Redhawks ... SEMO will play in the First Four in Dayton; OVC teams are 2-0 all-time in the event, with Morehead State winning as a No. 16 seed (2009) and Belmont winning as a No. 11 seed (2019) ... OVC teams have won three NCAA Tournament games over the past three NCAA Tournaments (two in 2019, one in 2022) ... Morehead State finished OVC play 14-4 to win its 10th OVC Regular Season Title, first since 2003 and first outright crown since 1984 ... MSU, who reached the 20-win plateau for the third-straight season (a feat that has only happened one other time in program history) will participate in the NIT for the first-time ever this year ... Southern Indiana, in its first year in the OVC and Division I, will compete in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) in Daytona Beach ... OVC teams have won at least one national postseason tournament game in 12 of the past 13 postseasons ... USI’s
Jacob Polakovich has tallied 20-plus rebounds six times overall this season (26, 24, 23, 20, 20, 20); only equaled by Morehead State’s Kenneth Faried in OVC single-season history over the past 25 years; his 26 rebounds in a game this season is the most nationally and his 13.0 rebounds/game ranks second nationally (by 0.1)... Tennessee State’s
Jr. Clay became the first five-time All-OVC selection this season, earning first-team honors (after earning a quartet of second-team honors while playing at Tennessee Tech ... Clay finished his career with 2,241 points, ninth-most in OVC history.
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 Teams in the NCAA Tournament: OVC teams are 27-73 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, having won at least one game in two of the past three tournaments. After going 20 years (1990-2008) without a win, OVC teams won games in four-straight years from 2009-12 (the longest stretch in league history) and in 2019 the OVC not only put two teams in the field (for the second time ever) but also won two games (the first time two diff erent teams had won NCAA games in the same postseason). Last season Murray State topped San Francisco in the First Round. Southeast Missouri is making its second NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2000. The Redhawks lost to LSU (64-61) in its only other appearance.
OVC Teams in Opening Round/First Four: This marks the third time an OVC team has played in the Opening Round or First Four of the NCAA Tournament in Dayton, Ohio. In 2009, Morehead State played in the Opening Round Game, knocking off Alabama State. In 2019, Belmont got an at-large bid and topped Temple as a No. 11 seed in Dayton.
OVC Teams in the NIT: OVC teams are 16-26 all-time in the NIT and have had teams advance to the Quarterfinals most recently in 2014 (Belmont) and 2015 (Murray State). Morehead State earned the automatic bid this year after winning the OVC regular season title; this marks the Eagles first-ever NIT appearance.
OVC Teams in the CBI: Southern Indiana, in its first year of Division I basketball, accepted an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). OVC team are 7-7 all-time in the CBI, with the last OVC appearance coming in 2018. Morehead State advanced to the best-of-three Championship Series in 2016.
Southeast Missouri Wins OVC Tournament Championship: Southeast Missouri won four games in four days to claim the 2023 OVC Basketball Tournament. The Redhawks were only the second team in the current double bye format (since 2011) to even advance to the finals from the first day, joining Austin Peay (who also won the event in 2016). It marked the second tournament title for Southeast Missouri and first since 2000.
Morehead State Wins OVC Regular Season Championship: Morehead State 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 Award Winners: Morehead State won three of the four major OVC awards this season with
Mark Freeman being named Player of the Year,
Alex Gross being named Defensive Player of the Year and
Preston Spradlin being named OVC Coach of the Year. Eastern Illinois guard
Cameron Haffner was named OVC Freshman of the Year. This year’s first and second-team All-OVC squads included 15 players from nine different OVC schools. UT Martin led the way with three total selections, with Little Rock, Morehead State and Southern Indiana had two picks apiece. The first and second-teams included four graduate students, six seniors, one junior and four sophomores.
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; Becomes First Five-Time All-OVC Selection: Tennessee State’s
Jr. Clay became the 20th member of the OVC’s 2,000-Point Club during the season and finished his five-year career (due to a COVID year) with 2,241 points, which was ninth in OVC history. He also finished third in OVC history for career 3-pointers attempted (781), fifth in career steals (248), eighth in career assists (615) and ninth in career 3-pointers made (248). Clay, who played his first four seasons at Tennessee Tech, earned second-team All-OVC honors in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, finished his career by being named a first-team All-OVC pick in 2023. He was the first player in OVC history to earn five All-OVC selections in a career.
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 11 Division I players with a 20/20 game this season and one of only two with more than one (Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe has two as well).
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 six overall 20-plus rebound games this season (26, 24, 23, 20, 20, 20), making him the only Division I player to achieve that feat (there are three other Division I players with multiple 20+ rebound games, led by Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis with three). Morehead State’s Kenneth Faried also 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.
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 s
elections 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.