Austin Peay Governors Basketball faces Morehead State Eagles in first OVC home game

January 8, 2013 |

Morehead State vs. Austin Peay Governors

January 9th, 2013 | 7:00pm
Dave Aaron Arena/Dave Loos Court | Clarksville, TN

Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay will return home for the first time since mid-December, 7:00pm, Wednesday, when the Govs play host to Morehead State in their Ohio Valley Conference home opener.

Austin Peay Men’s Basketball. (Courtesy: Brittney Sparn/APSU Sports Information)

Senior Anthony Campbell (15.3 ppg) along with juniors Travis Betran (17.1 ppg) and Will Triggs (11.9 ppg) have proven to be a solid trio for APSU, but they have had little help of late. In addition, the Govs bench has struggled, scoring just four points in the loss to UT Martin.

Morehead State no longer has Donnie Tyndall on the sidelines–he became head coach at Southern Miss last spring. Sean Woods, a former Kentucky standout, now is running the program.

The Eagles comes in 2-0 in the OVC after sweeping SIU Edwardsville and Eastern Illinois last weekend.

Fastbreak

• This is Dave Loos’ 23rd season as Austin Peay head coach and he is 368-321 at APSU-the winningest basketball coach in Ohio Valley Conference history-while 449-374 all-time in his 27th season as a college head coach
• Austin Peay was picked to finish third behind Murray State and Southeast Missouri in the newly formed OVC West Division in the preseason poll.
• After playing five straight games away from Dave Aaron Arena, the Govs now embark on a four-game OVC homestand.
• APSU enters the game seeking to snap an eight-game losing streak after losing 76-74, Saturday night in overtime at UT Martin. It was APSU’s third straight two-point defeat.
• Conversely, Morehead State comes in riding a three-game winning streak after sweeping its OVC-opening weekend series with Eastern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville.
• Sean Woods, a former Kentucky basketball standout, is in his first season as Morehead State coach. He replaced Donnie Tindall after spending four seasons at Mississippi Valley.
• Morehead State is the most penalized team in the country, averaging 24.6 fouls per game. However, the ball-hawking Eagles also are seventh nationally in steals at 10.1 per game.
• The Eagles are an extremely deep team, with 11 players averaging 10 or minutes played. Guard/forward Milton Chavis is the only Eagle averaging in double figures at 12.3 ppg.

The Series

This is the 103rd meeting between the two Ohio Valley Conference foes, Austin Peay and Morehead State, with the Govs trailing the series, 50-52. Morehead State has won the last four contest, including both meetings a year ago.

Recapping First OVC Weekend

What went right?

Junior forward Will Triggs scored a career-high 29 points while grabbing 11 rebounds against SEMO. He shot 75 percent from the floor on the weekend, averaging 22 ppg.

Junior guard Travis Betran scored an APSU season-best 30 points against SEMO, knocking downing six three pointers. He also had 22 points against UT Martin.

Senior forward Anthony Campbell saw his streak of 20-point games end at four against Southeast Missouri. However, he bounced back with a 22-point effort against UT Martin, going 4-of-4 from three-point range.

Freshman center Chris Horton blocked a career-best seven shots against UT Martin.

Walk-on point guard Jeremy Purvis had just one turnover while dishing out four assists against UT Martin.

The Governors had 23 assists against Southeast Missouri.

The Govs were 27 of 31 from the free-throw line against UT Martin.

What went wrong?

The Governors remain winless on the road this season.

The Govs opened 0-2 in the OVC for the second straight year because of their inability to close out games. They have lost three straight two-point decisions.

After holding opponents to below or near 30 percent on three-point field goal, the Governors allowed opponets during the first OVC weekend to shooting a combined 48.8 percent, permitting a total of 20 three pointers.

The Governors permitted 33 offensive rebounds, including 22 to UT Martin, which allowed the opposition to hold a 35-14 advantage in second-chance points.

At the close of regulation and overtime against UT Martin, the Governors could manage just desperation three-point shots, despite the fact the respective possessions began with 15 or more seconds.

What You Should Know

The Series: This is the 103rd meeting between the two Ohio Valley Conference foes, Austin Peay and Morehead State, with the Govs trailing the series, 50-52. Morehead State has won the last four contest, including both meetings a year ago.

Deeper Meanings

What A Win Would Mean: The Govs would snap an eight-game losing streak, improving to 5-12…they would go to 1-2 in OVC play…they would go 1-2 in January…it would be the Govs’ first OVC home victory of 2012-13…they would go to 51-52 all-time against Morehead State…the Govs would snap a four-game losing streak in the series… it would make Loos 1-0 against Morehead State coach Sean Woods….it would be Loos’
450th career victory.

What A Loss Would Mean: The Govs would drop nine games below the .500 mark at 4-13…the Govs would lose their ninth straight game, matching last season’s nine-game losing streak…the Govs would open OVC play with three consecutive losses… the Govs would drop to 3-3 at home this season…the Govs would fall to 0-3 in January… it would be Dave Loos’ 323rd APSU loss and 376th all-time.

Magic Number

In losing a pair of games last weekend (86-84 to Southeast Missouri and 76-74 to UT Martin, the Governors are now 1-10 in the games when the opponent scores 70 or more points.

Balance Missing

In the last four games, the Governors have had 13 double-figure scoring performances, with 12 of the 13 coming from the trio of Travis Betran, Will Triggs and Anthony Campbell. Freshman Chris Horton scored 10 points against High Point in the consolation game of the Dr. Pepper Classic.

That trio represented APSU’s only double-figure scorers in the losses to both Southeast Missouri and UT Martin (Campbell-22, Betran-22, Triggs-15).

Freebird

The Govs finished the night against UT Martin 27 of 31 (87.1 percent) at the free-throw line, including a perfect 10-of-10 by guard Travis Betran and 6-of-6 by Anthony Campbell. The 27 free throws made were a season high.

Triggs-on-omics

Junior forward Will Triggs enjoyed a strong first OVC weekend. He scored a career best 29 points on 14-of-17 shooting against Southeast Missouri, Thursday. In addition, he grabbed 11 rebounds for his seasons’s first and career third double-double. He follow that up with 15 points against UT Martin, going 4-of-7 from the floor and 7-of-9 from the free-throw line.

Over the last three games, Triggs is averaging 19.3 ppg while shooting 71.4 percent (25 of 35) from the floor.

Betran Again Earns Newcomer Honor

Junior guard Travis Betran, who averaged 26 points per game in two OVC contests last week, has been named the league’s Newcomer of the Week. It is the fourth time this season Betran has earned the Newcomer honor. In APSU’s loss to Southeast Missouri, Betran scored a season-high 30 points—APSU’s first 30-point game since John Fraley scored 31 against Tennessee Tech, February 2nd, 2012.

The Harlem native connected on 12 of 24 shots, including six three pointers—tying his season high for triples. He also tied a then-career high of five assists. Then against UT Martin, Betran finished with 22 points, including a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line. He set a career best with six assists against the Skyhawks.

Be-Train

Travis Betran’s weekend performances were the fifth and sixth times this season the 6-3 guard scored 20 or more points–his 30-point performance as APSU’s first this season. He enters the week 13th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (47.5) while 23rd in three-pointers made per game (2.94).

Soup’s On

After seeing his string of 20-point performances end at four straight when he was held to 11 points by Southeast Missouri, senior forward Anthony Campbell bounced back with an efficient 22-point effort against UT Martin, going 6-of-10 from the floor, including 4-of-4 from three-point range.

He also was 6-of-6 at the free-throw line.

Govs Ranked

After blocking seven shots against UT Martin, freshman center Chris Horton is averaging 3.13 blocks per game, good enough for seventh place in the country.

Meanwhile, guard Travis Betran is ranked 13th in the country, shooting 47.5 percent from three-point range. As a team, the Govs are ranked seventh in three-point shooting at 41.9 percent.

Media Center

Radio: Governors Radio Network
Play-by-Play: Greg Walker
Analyst: David Loos
Statistics: Patrick Miller

WVRY 105.1-FM
www.letsgopeay.com

Television: Peay Nation Broadcasting
Play-by-Play: Will Pryor
Analyst: Brandon Wilkerson

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