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HomeSportsAPSU Basketball faces off against OVC rival Belmont, Saturday

APSU Basketball faces off against OVC rival Belmont, Saturday

Austin Peay (14-6 | 6-1 OVC) vs. Belmont (14-4 | 5-2 OVC) 

Saturday, January 26th, 2019 | 4:00pm CT 
Clarksville, TN | Dunn Center 

APSU Men's BasketballClarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University (APSU) men’s basketball welcomes Belmont for a Saturday evening, January 16th special between two league heavyweights in the Dunn Center, with tipoff scheduled for 4:00pm following the women’s contest.

Austin Peay Men's Basketball hosts Belmont Saturday afternoon. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay Men’s Basketball hosts Belmont Saturday afternoon. (APSU Sports Information)

After Belmont dispatched Murray State and Jacksonville State suffered a road loss to Eastern Kentucky, the Govs once again find themselves tied atop the league standings, tied with the Racers and Gamecocks at 6-1.

Three Governors–Jabari McGhee, Terry Taylor, Chris Porter-Bunton–rank among the top-11 in the OVC in field goal percentage, tied with Murray State for most in the league.

Only Nick Muszynski (fourth) represents Belmont in the top-11.

About the Belmont Bruins

Belmont head coach Rick Byrd has been in the game a long time, and his team’s have always played the same brand of basketball: smart defense pared with unselfish offense, with a healthy dose of three-point shooting to bury opponents.

This season has been no different, as the Bruins lead the OVC in assists (19.2 per game) and three-pointers per game (9.9) and third in both three-point percentage (36.0 percent) and opponent field goal percentage (41.8 percent)–the only program in the conference among the top three in all four categories.

Where the Govs clean up on the offensive glass, grabbing nearly 33 percent of their own misses, Belmont has grabbed more than 75 percent of opponent misses on the defensive end of the floor. Three Bruins–Dylan Windler, Nick Muszynski and Caleb Hollander–are among the OVC’s top-10 in defensive rebounding.

APSU Govs Last Time Out Against Belmont

Terry Taylor (25 points, nine rebounds) and Averyl Ugba (23 points, eight rebounds) were outstanding, but Belmont’s Amanze Egekeze hit nine straight three-pointers (two off the NCAA record) and scored a game-high 32 points as Belmont brought Austin Peay’s 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament run to an end in the semifinals at Evansville’s Ford Center, March 3rd.

Zach Glotta added 11 points off the bench, including eight in the second half as the Govs mounted an ill-fated rally.

Keep An Eye On

A victory would be Austin Peay’s first regular-season win against the Bruins since 2008 and their first in the Dunn Center since 2007.

Sophomore Terry Taylor pulled down his 200th career offensive rebound during the TSU game; he’s one of four Division I players who have accumulated 200 or more offensive boards the last two seasons.

Austin Peay is one of 14 Division I schools who are unbeaten when leading at the half this season, tied with Texas State at 11-0.

A win would give the Govs a 7-0 home start for the first time since 2003-04.

Over the last 12 games, the Govs are shooting 51.1 percent (372-of-728) from the floor; they’ve won 10 of those contests. Just three times during that stretch have the Govs been below 50 percent, with a low of 40.7 percent at Arkansas. The Govs’ 17-game streak of shooting at least 40 percent from the floor is Austin Peay’s longest since a 19-game streak to close the 2013-14 season (Dec. 19-March 1).

Austin Peay is 9-1 this season in games where they outscore their opponent in the paint; the one loss was the neutral-site defeat against Campbell in Jamaica back on Nov. 18.

With a victory, Austin Peay would move to 7-1 in league play for the first time since 2010-11.

Senior Zach Glotta needs six three-pointers to pass Travis Betran (2012-14) for ninth all-time in career threes.

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 the ESPN+ app.

Postgame video interviews and other videos from around APSU Athletics can be found on our YouTube page (www.youtube.com/letsgopeay).

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