With the Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball game between Southeast Missouri State and UT Martin pushed back to today it gave the Redhawks another 24 hours to work on what their new emphasis is: man-to-man defense.

Southeast, which had only spent one day practicing man defense prior to their 84-61 win over NAIA Hannibal-LaGrange on Tuesday, is focused on buckling down on the defensive end when it hosts the Skyhawks at 4:15 p.m.

"I thought we did a really good job in the second half of that game," coach Rick Ray said of the defense. "I know it's an NAIA opponent but they were still somebody that presented a problem because of the way they set flare screens and things like that. We've just been doing a lot of fundamentals and principles and not really worrying about UT Martin at this point in time."

UT Martins brings a 10-10 record to the Show Me Center. The Skyhawks are 2-3 in the OVC.

Today marks the first OVC West Division game of the season for the Redhawks, who are 3-16 and 0-6 in conference.

"They present a challenge because they really play small when it's all said and done," Ray said. "Their 4-man, their power forward, [Twymond] Howard is really a 3, kind of similar to [Southeast guard] Antonius [Cleveland], and so we've got to figure out a way how to guard their ball screens, dribble action. Do we want to switch that? Which obviously puts us at a disadvantage in regards to our 4-man trying to guard their guard. But if we don't switch it then all of a sudden we've got our 4-man continually closing out to their best player."

Howard, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound senior forward, averages 13.9 points on the season. He's fourth in the conference, averaging 17.6 points in OVC action. He's also fourth in rebounding, snagging 7.8 per game through the Skyhawks' five conference games.

"He's a physical kid," Ray said. " Â… He's a guy that gets it up at the top of the key area and really does a good job of driving the ball to the basket. They have a naked side over there with a guy that can really shoot the basketball in that corner, so it forces you to make a decision -- do you come help on Howard's drive or do you stay attached to the shooter, which gives Howard freedom? But he's really good using his strength and attacking the basket and going downhill with his drives."

UTM averages 8.0 made 3s per contest in OVC play. Six of Howard's 12 makes on the season have come in conference. Jacolby Mobley and Alex Anderson, who have made 32 and 51 on the season, respectively, each have drained 11 in conference. Motley's averaging 12.2 points in the OVC along with Myles Taylor. Anderson's averaging 9.8 points.

The Skyhawks' conference wins were against Eastern Kentucky (78-70) and Tennessee Tech (96-90). They knocked down a season-high 16 3-pointers on 21 attempts (64 percent) against the Golden Eagles on Jan. 13.

UTM is coming off an 82-72 loss to OVC leader Belmont. The Skyhawks shot 36.7 percent and were 7 of 24 from beyond the arc. They were 21 of 25 from the free-throw line.

Southeast's leading scorer, Cleveland, could return to the lineup today. He missed the last three games with a right wrist injury.

Ray said Cleveland, who's averaging 13.9 points and 6.7 rebounds to lead Southeast, practiced for the first time on Thursday, but that it was non-contact. Ray said a definite answer to whether he'd be able to play would have to wait to see how he responded once he practiced with contact.

"Until he's able to do something as far as like five on five we won't know anything for sure," Ray said.