Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team seeks first three-game win streak

The chance for its first three-game winning streak of the season and to go above .500 in the Ohio Valley Conference is within reach for the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team.

The Redhawks will have to go through improved OVC West Division foe UT-Martin to get those firsts.

The teams meet up Saturday night at the Elam Center in Martin, Tennessee, and will tip-off following the women's game that is slated for 4 p.m.

"Consistency's a big thing, and we haven't put together more than two games all year long," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "We've not gotten past a two-game winning streak all year long. We can put the blame on anything, scheduling or whatever, but the bottom line is there's no excuse. Just be consistent, play as hard as you can play, and so that's what I'm asking my team right now.

"Instead of all the praise -- and I'm quick to praise our guys, I love them. I love when they have a great attitude and effort, and we win -- I want consistency. You're in a part of your schedule where we're capable of winning every game, but we're also capable of losing them. It's a matter of consistency, doing the little things."

Southeast (9-10, 3-3 OVC) is coming off a four-point win against Tennessee Tech on Saturday. Nutt liked the way his team practiced in the week between games.

"I thought it was good for us, and I try to always look at the positive side of it," Nutt said of having a break between games. "I know it's natural to say, 'Man, I wish we could've just played,' because we were playing pretty good, but I thought it gave us a good time to get back on the practice floor and get some things corrected. A lot of times when you play back to back to back, you kind of lose out on fundamentals. We were able to get some fundamentals back in. It was a good time for us."

The Skyhawks (11-6, 3-2 OVC) already have surpassed their win total from a season ago and have tied their conference win mark under the leadership of first-year coach Heath Schroyer, a former UNLV assistant.

"They're playing with a lot of confidence, and I think they're a dangerous basketball team," Nutt said.

UTM had a three-game winning streak snapped with a 72-67 loss at Belmont. The Skyhawks held a nine-point advantage at halftime and led by as many as 11 midway through the second half.

"I think if I had to just say one thing [I changed], it would just be to raise the expectation level of everyone within the program, and to be quite honest, everyone in and around the program as an administration and as an institution," Schroyer said in the OVC's weekly teleconference Monday. " ... If you continue to do what you've always done, you're going to get what you've always had.

"We really tried to change that. We changed from what we wear, to how we look, to what we eat, to where we eat. I mean, you name it, and I tried to change A through Z within this program. I think the most important thing we changed was the expectation level and the accountability level from every facet in the program."

Nutt's biggest emphasis to his players about the Skyhawks was their guard play.

UNLV transfer Deville Smith, Marshun Newell and Alex Anderson are UTM's starting guards.

Smith and Newell average about 14 points apiece in conference play, while Anderson scores about eight. Each has knocked down 30 or more 3-point attempts on the season.

Forward Twymond Howard averages about 11 points and eight rebounds.

Nutt said shutting the guards down would be critical.

"They're very athletic and they shoot the basketball," Nutt said. "They have unlimited range and they have the green light, and they just play. I just think they're good at what they do. ... Those three guards are the ones that make them go."