Southeast men set to take on OVC leader Murray State

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team will face the Ohio Valley Conference's undisputed best when it faces the Murray State Racers tonight.

The Racers bring a 17-game winning streak and a 9-0 conference mark into the contest, which is set to tipoff at 7 p.m. at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky, following the women's game.

"They've had some very, very good teams over the last three to four years, and even one year went over 30 wins, but I do think that this may even be a better team because they're more balanced in every way," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "All five guys on the floor can really score the basketball, and then when they bring in the reserves they can score just as well. They're very athletic, and it poses a lot of problems because they can all score and they can all shoot the 3. Now, we're going from one extreme to the other. Austin Peay has not had the success of shooting the three ball, I think they were last in the league, and now Murray State's No. 1 in the league, so we're going from one extreme to the other, so we've got to make sure that we've got a hand up and are contesting every shot that they take."

The Redhawks (10-12, 4-5 OVC) are coming off a 70-64 win at Austin Peay, which is shooting just 30.9 percent from behind the arc. Meanwhile the Racers shoot 38 percent and have knocked down 52 3-point attempts in conference action, averaging 7.4 per game.

MSU is tops in the league with 78.1 points per game, 47.7 percent shooting and 15.9 assists per game. The Racers also lead in rebounding and field goal percent defense, holding opponents to 38.0 percent shooting.

Sophomore guard Cameron Payne is the OVC's leading scorer, averaging 20.7 points per game in conference action. The defending conference freshman of the year is shooting 39.2 percent from behind the arc against conference foes, connecting on 20 of 51 attempts from distance.

Senior forward Jarvis Williams averages 16.0 points and 9.8 rebonds, junior forward Jeffery Moss averages 12.7 points and senior guard TJ Sapp averages 11.1 points.

"Cameron is one of those guys where he had an outstanding freshman year, and a lot of times in the game of basketball that second year is always the hardest year," Nutt said. "In fact, there's such a thing as the sophomore blues and we were kind of all hoping that Cameron would go through some of that, but he has not. He took up where he left off from last year, and not only that, he's gone to another level. He's very impressive and he makes them go. When that ball is in his hands he's got the ability to do a lot of things with that basketball, and he can score in all kinds of ways. He's got great range, and if you close out on the shot he can go around you and he's athletic enough that he can really finish around the basket. He plays with unbelievable confidence. He really is a good player and at the rate they're going he probably will wind up being the Player of the Year."

Southeast could be shorthanded against the Racers, too.

The status of senior guard Jarekious Bradley is uncertain for tonight's contest. The Redhawks' leading scorer, who's averaging 14.6 ppg in conference, was hit in the head during practice on Wednesday.

"We're watching him, and we're going to see how he feels and make sure it's not a concussion," Nutt said. "That may be questionable whether he's able to go or not."

The Redhawks sit in fifth in the OVC West Division and eighth overall with seven games remaining.

"We're anxious to get going and we're anxious to get back out on the floor," Nutt said. "We had a really fine game last weekend and we're hopeful that we can build off that and take some of the confidence and build off that against what we think is the best team in the league."

Women face OVC's winless Racers

For the first time in conference play this season, the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team may have an advantage over its opponent.

The Redhawks enter today's 5 p.m. contest at Murray State with a conference record of 1-8 and are second to last in the 12-team Ohio Valley Conference standings, one game ahead of the Racers. Murray State (5-14, 0-9) sits in last place.

Southeast is coming off its third straight conference loss, dropping a 70-62 decision to sixth-place Austin Peay on Saturday. The Redahwks fell in a 10-0 hole early and were never able to complete a comeback against the host Governors.

Murray State lost its ninth-consecutive game on Saturday, to conference leader UT-Martin, which is undefeated in conference play so far this season. The Racers won their last game against Brescia at the end of December.

Keiona Kirby will be the biggest offensive threat the Redhawks will face on Thurdsday. The senior is averaging 13.1 ppg and has hit 18 3-pointers in OVC games to lead the Racers.

Ke'Shunan James is Murray State's next highest scorer with 13.4 points and has a team-leading 33 steals this season.

Freshman guard Olivia Cunningham averages 10.7 points on the season and is the Racers' leader in assists with 71.

Meanwhile, the Redhawks continue to struggle on the offensive side of the ball.

Junior forward Erin Bollman continues to be Southeast's only player averaging double figures this season. Bollman scores about 11 ppg while senior guard Jasmine Robinson is next with 9.9 points.

Southeast Missourian reporter Ben Striker contributed to this report.