Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team begins play at the Central Michigan Tournament on Thursday, playing the host team at 6:00pm CT, in Mount Pleasant Michigan.
This is the first time Austin Peay and Central Michigan, a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC), have ever met. The Govs have won two of their last three meetings with MAC teams.
This is Dave Loos’ 24th season as Austin Peay head coach and he is 374-334 at APSU–the winningest basketball coach in Ohio Valley Conference history–and 456-387 all-time in his 28th season as a college head coach. For the first time since the 1996 season Dave Loos is only the Austin Peay basketball coach. He stepped down as APSU Athletics Director last April.
APSU was picked to finish third behind Southeast Missouri and Murray State in the OVC West Division in the preseason poll. Austin Peay head coach Dave Loos is a 1970 Memphis alum and the former basketball and baseball standout was inducted into M-Club (Memphis Athletic Hall of Fame) in 2002.
Since 1993-94, Austin Peay has finished at .500 or above in the OVC for 19 of the last 20 seasons, that one season being 2012-13. In 2013, the Governors failed to reach the OVC tourney for the first time in Dave Loos’ coaching career. They have appeared in 28 of the last 29 OVC tourneys.
Senior guard Travis Betran and senior forward Will Triggs were named Preseason All-OVC as voted by the conference coaches and sports information directors. As a freshman center Chris Horton broke APSU’s single-season record for blocked shots with 100. He has had 12 blocked shots over the last two games, including seven against Southern Illinois.
The Govs’ 13 blocks against Southern Illinois not only were a Dunn Center record but a school record as well.
Central Michigan head coach Keno Davis served from 1997-03 as an assistant coach in Ohio Valley Conference with Southeast Missouri. Davis was named 2008 national coach of the year by six different national services after leading Drake to a 28-5 record. Davis’ dad, Dr. Tom Davis, was the longtime Iowa coach.
Central Michigan is led by guard Chris Fowler, who is averaging 16.7 ppg while forward John Simons is at 15 ppg over the first three games.
