Redhawks MBB begins three-game road trip, facing off with two high-profile contenders

It’s the second-to-last road trip of the Ohio Valley Conference season for the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks men’s basketball team, and there’s some serious firepower coming up on the schedule as we enter the home stretch.

Perhaps most notable, for the moment, is a Thursday rematch with first-ranked Morehead State, plus a Saturday tilt with Southern Indiana and Tuesday at Little Rock.

Currently in a three-way tie at 8-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference, with second place caught up in a dogfight, while the Eagles of Morehead, Kentucky are solely in possession of first, Southeast has an excellent chance at the top spot in the OVC.

In fact, a victory Thursday would move the Redhawks further into a tie for first place after having missed the 2024 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament a season ago, though Little Rock and SIU-Edwardsville are hot in pursuit of that same moniker.

The last time the Redhawks linked up with the Eagles, it resulted in an 11-point Southeast loss on its home floor back on Jan. 11, the second of four SEMO losses this conference season.

With three matchups including facing off with the No. 1 team and a team tied with Southeast for second in Little Rock, the next week is a major swing for the Redhawks as they eye a serious chance at a bye into the conference semifinals, going only to the top two teams.

It’ll begin Thursday with perhaps the biggest matchup of the road trip, with the top-ranked offense in the OVC in Southeast going into the Bluegrass State with hopes of knocking off the top-ranked team in the league.

Against Tennessee State over the weekend, the Redhawks managed to pull off a miracle in overtime after rallying back from a big extra-time deficit to take an 89-85 win, pulling out of a dogfight victorious in the homestand finale.

The difference, of course, is the defensive edge. Although Southeast has had much success offensively in league play, the defense has raised some eyebrows to this point.

The Redhawks rank dead last in the OVC in offensive rebounding, and conveniently enough for the Eagles, they rank first in offensive rebounds allowed, and overall the Eagles place third in defensive efficiency while the second-place Redhawks sit at fifth in the OVC.

For the Redhawks, the biggest cause for concern is Kenny White Jr., who’s solidified himself as an all-around threat at 6-foot-7 with the team lead in points and rebounds while placing second in assists and blocks.

A facilitator, White Jr. logged 14 points and 6 boards the first time he faced off with Southeast this season, while Anouar Mellouk’s 18 points and 10 rebounds played an all-important role in getting Morehead over the hump and into the win.

Jerone Morton’s 11.6 average on 48 percent 3-point shooting is another way the Eagles can hurt you, and he’s led them in assists and steals so far this season as they’ve rallied to first place in the Ohio Valley.

This tilt might just be the toughest of the trip, and it’s followed by a matchup that’ll split the two biggest matchups as the Redhawks travel to Evansville, Indiana, for a contest at Southern Indiana.

It’s been a rough go at it for the Screaming Eagles this season, sitting at 4-8 on the year in the OVC, 9-13 overall with sole possession of ninth in the league heading into the final month of play.

Yet, as the Redhawks come into town, with the OVC Tournament down the line taking place right down the road at the Ford Center in downtown Evansville, there’s a chip on the Eagles’ shoulder.

With the long, three-game stint over six days in which Southeast will spend much time on the road, the approach will likely be lightest going into Saturday as the load management comes into play.

Damoni Harrison and Jayland Randall average 14.5 and 14.4 points per game respectively, and Stephen Olowoniyi’s 13.7 is hardly behind them in double-digit scoring.

When the Eagles first came to the Show Me Center last month, Sam Kodi’s 15 led them while Braxton Jones’ 13 plus 12 and 11 from Olowoniyi and Harrison put four men in double figures as Southeast’s high-powered offense led it to a 77-66 win.

At 8-4 in conference, SEMO’s four games above USI in the conference table but will still need to keep its bearings to stay comfortable in a road tilt with one of the conference’s latent competitors.

Lastly, on Tuesday, Southeast recoups from weekend trips to Kentucky and Indiana with a third trip down into Arkansas for a road trip-ending battle with Little Rock, one of the newest faces of the OVC.

Moving down from the Sun Belt Conference, one of the more competitive in the NCAA and certainly much stronger than the Ohio Valley, it’s been an immediate success for the Trojans over the past few years.

Last year, just two removed from the Sun Belt ranks, the Trojans clinched the top seed going into the OVC Tournament but were stonewalled by No. 3 Morehead State in the championship game following a three-way tie at 14-4 in the regular season that included Tennessee-Martin.

Tuesday’s matchup in the Natural State’s capital city brings two teams tied for second in the Ohio Valley Conference (as of this midweek) into the Stephens Center with hopes of a top-two seed on the line.

The Trojans are led by Johnathan Lawson, who currently ranks as the eighth-highest tenured player in Division I this season as he averages over 37 minutes per game this season, listed as a 6-foot-7 guard out of Memphis, Tennessee.

His 15.3 points per game leads all Trojan scorers, sixth in the OVC, with Mwani Wilkinson’s 13.7 and Ante Beljan’s 11.2 joining him in double figures on the season, all three having started each of their 23 games this season.

Putting an end to a three-game road trip, the Redhawks will then return home for a Saturday, Feb. 15 game versus Tennessee Tech, part of a three-game homestand to end their season’s slate of Show Me Center games.