SEMO men’s squad challenges Lindenwood, WIU in final two legs of road trip

The Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball team is trotting quickly into the thick of OVC play, and the Redhawks are in the running for one of the top spots in the league heading into late January.

Where the Redhawks were just 7-12 and 2-4 in OVC play at this time last year, they are now 10-9 with an impressive 5-3 mark in the conference with a third-place standing in the league as of Wednesday.

There’s been a noticeable turnaround with coach Brad Korn’s men this winter, and it’s been led by some high-energy defensive efforts and some big contributions from its new stars.

On one hand, transfer 6-foot-2 guard Teddy Washington Jr. has the Redhawk offense flowing with a staggering 15.2 points per game scored. On the other hand, it’s the returning Rob Martin with another 11.6, returning from last year’s OVC-missing squad.

Washington Jr., who transferred in from the all-too-familiar Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (although he wasn’t on that 2023 squad), has been the perfect transfer addition to a SEMO offense averaging 73.5 points per game, up nearly seven points from last season.

Heading into two big crucial weekend games against Lindenwood and Western Illinois, this is the perfect time for the Redhawks to prove their mettle and make good on a great start with two all-important wins against teams at the bottom of the conference.

Lindenwood’s season has been anything but dull as the team is sitting a spot outside of the conference tournament at 3-5 in the OVC, 8-11 overall after losing a tiebreaker to Southern Indiana on a head-to-head loss in Evansville, Indiana.

New Madrid County Central alum Jadis Jones, who’s won the OVC’s Freshman of the Week honor on seven different occasions this season, has been a critical function of Lindenwood’s limited success this year, sitting at third-last in the OVC standings as of Wednesday.

His 11.7 points per game ranks third among the Lions, with Anias Futrell (13.5) and Markeith Browning II (13.1) putting up more points than him on average, but Jones is also the only player to have started all 19 of the Lions’ games.

SEMO will take on the Lions in a 7:30 p.m. Thursday night matchup in St. Charles.

Next, on Saturday, the men take on the 10th-ranked Western Illinois Leathernecks, with the Leathernecks on a four-game losing streak and ranking just barely above the bottom of the OVC with an unimpressive 8-11 record, just 2-6 in conference play.

The Redhawk men will tip off at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, looking to increase their lead against a competitive OVC field while fighting for a shot at the top spot.