Austin Peay (7-18/2-9) vs. UT Martin (15-9/7-4)
February 14th, 2015 | 6:00pm CT
Martin, TN | Skyhawk Arena
Martin, TN – Austin Peay’s basketball team heads back to the road in search of its offense as it travels to UT Martin for a 6:00pm, Saturday, Ohio Valley Conference contest in the Elam Center.
Only forward Chris Freeman avoided the Govs’ offensive misfortunes, Thursday. The senior was 8-of-11 (73 percent) from the floor in scoring a game-high 20 points. The rest of his teammates were 10-of-43 (23 percent).
It was a difficult loss for the Governors in they dominated Eastern Illinois on the boards 36-24, and forced the Panthers into 18 turnovers. Now 2-9 in the OVC, the Govs hopes of advancing to the OVC tournament are flickering at best.
UT Martin comes in after a decisive 98-76 road defeat at Southeast Missouri in a strange contest where both Deville Smith (20 points) and Twymond Howard (21) scored 20 or more points and the Skyhawks as a team hit better than 50 percent of their shots, including 13-of-24 from three-point range. But SEMO tallied 25 points off 17 UTM turnovers and 38 points in the paint.
Despite the loss, the Skyhawks are 15-9 and 7-4 in the OVC, leaving them in third place in the division under first-year coach Heath Schroyer.
In the first match up, the Skyhawks prevailed 76-64 as Skyhawk senior guard Marshun Newell had career highs in points (23) and rebounds (17).
The More You Know
The Series: This is the 97th meeting between Austin Peay and UT Martin, a pair of Ohio Valley Conference West foes who also competed as junior colleges and later members of the VSAC before eventually landing in the OVC. The Governors lead the series, 70-26. After winning three straight, the Govs dropped last week’s contest at home to UT Martin, 76-64.
What A Win Would Mean: The Govs would improve to 8-18…they would gain their second OVC road victory…they would improve to 3-9 in league play…they would improve to 2-10 on the road this season…they would snap a five-game losing streak…it would be APSU’s third win of 2015…they would go to 1-3 in February…they would improve to 71-26 all-time against UTMartin…it would make Dave Loos 32-12 all-time against UT Martin…it would make Loos 1-1 all-time against first-year UT Martin coach Heath Schroyer.
What A Loss Would Mean: The Govs would fall to 7-19 overall…it would be their sixth straight loss…it would drop the Govs to 2-10 in the OVC…the Govs would slip to 1-11 on the road…they would go to 0-4 in February…APSU would fall to 1-7 against the OVC West…Loos would drop to 472-423 overall and 390-370 as the Governors head coach.
Broadcast Information
Radio • Governors Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Scott Chase
Analyst: David Loos
Governors on the Web
Live Video: www.OVCDigitalNetwork.com/showcase
Live Audio: www.LetsGoPeay.com
Live Statistics: www.statbroadcast.com
