Austin Peay vs. Southeast Missouri
Saturday, January 6th, 2018 | 7:00pm CT
Clarksville, TN | Dunn Center
Clarksville, TN – Seeking its first 4-0 start in Ohio Valley Conference play since 2010-11 and closing out a season-long six-game homestand, Austin Peay State University men’s basketball hosts Southeast Missouri, 7:00pm, Saturday, January 6th, 2018 in the Dunn Center.
While Southeast Missouri’s perimeter presence will aid the Redhawk cause, the post presence of Averyl Ugba and Terry Taylor has been dynamite for the Govs of late.
Research pegs Taylor as one of three freshmen nationally (along with Kentucky’s Kevin Knox and Duke’s Marvin Bagley III) to lead his team in scoring and rebounding, while Ugba has a chance to become the first Gov since 2016 OVC Tournament MVP Chris Horton to record four straight double-doubles.
Saturday’s game will be presented by Cumberland Surgical Arts, who will have giveaways on hand for fans in attendance.
Scouting the Southeast Missouri Redhawks
After tacking on an additional 10 wins from 2015-16 to 2016-17, earning its highest finish in the OVC standings since 2012, Southeast Missouri looks to have a solid foundation in Year 3 of the Rick Ray era despite the loss of versatile playmaker Antonius Cleveland (who has spent time this season with the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden State Warriors G-League affiliate).
Much of the slack has been picked up by preseason All-OVC choice Denzel Mahoney, who has reached double figures in 13 straight games and 42 times through 49 games in his career. While the Govs and Redhawks are evenly matched from an offensive standpoint (45.2 percent shooting for the Govs, 44.9 for the Redhawks) despite SEMO’s adroitness from three-point range (8.6 made 3pt FG/game, 38.1 percent clip both rank second in the league).
Austin Peay holds a sizeable edge on defense. SEMO ranks last in the OVC in three-point defense (39.4 percent) and shooting from the floor (48.4 percent), while the Govs have limited opponents to 32.8 percent (second) and 45.0 percent (eighth), respectively, in those categories.
Last Time Out Against Southeast Missouri
A career-high 33 points from outgoing senior John Murry brought Austin Peay an 88-79 win in Cape Girardeau to close out the 2016-17 season. Murry’s former Owens Community College teammate, Kenny Jones, closed his APSU career with his season’s 10th double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds), while Austin Peay sank a season-best 14 three-pointers as a team and held SEMO to 37.5 percent shooting, lowest by an opponent in 2016-17.
Keep An Eye On
A win would be the Govs fourth in their last five meetings against the Redhawks.
Should he secure his fourth straight double-double, senior Averyl Ugba would be the first Gov to pull that feat off since Chris Horton (February 4th-13th, 2016). He’s averaging 13.9 ppg and 8.3 rpg on 53.1 percent (51-of-96) shooting over his last eight games.
If the Govs secure 10 or more offensive rebounds, it will mark the 10th straight game Austin Peay has reached double figures on the offensive glass—its longest streak since a 15-game stretch spanning the end of the 2010-11 season and the start of the 2011-12 season, from February 12th, 2011 to November 26th, 2011. The Govs are averaging 13.8 offensive rebounds per game over their last nine outings.
Freshman Terry Taylor is averaging 18.1 ppg over his last seven outings.
Austin Peay is outrebounding its last five opponents by an average of 8.2 boards per game.
The Govs hit a season-best 11 three-pointers against UT Martin in Thursday night’s encounter; should Austin Peay find itself in double figures again from beyond the arc on Saturday, it would be the Governors first instance of back-to-back contests with double-digit three-pointers since December 21st-30th, 2013 (East Tennessee State, Dalton State).
In wins, junior Zach Glotta is averaging 8.0 ppg and junior Chris Porter-Bunton is averaging 7.5 ppg; those numbers drop to 3.3 ppg and 4.1 ppg, respectively, in Austin Peay’s seven losses.
APSU Govs Online
Check back at LetsGoPeay.com and on Austin Peay’s Official Athletics Facebook page often for up-to-date news about all Governor athletics, as well as the Governor men’s basketball Twitter page (@AustinPeayMBB). Live stats will be available during the game at PeayStats.com, and all home games and Ohio Valley Conference games can be viewed on www.ovcdigitalnetwork.com
Postgame video interviews and other videos from around APSU Athletics can be found on our YouTube page (www.youtube.com/letsgopeay).
