Austin Peay (4-12/0-2) at Jacksonville State (9-8/2-1)
Saturday, January 7th, 2017 | 7:00pm CT
Jacksonville, AL | Pete Mathews Coliseum
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team continues its longest road trip of the conference season with a journey to resurgent Jacksonville State for a 7:00pm, Saturday, contest at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Jacksonville State is the only program in the OVC among the conference’s top-three in field goal percentage (47.4 percent, first) and field goal percentage defense (42.9 percent, third).
The Governors and Gamecocks are both known as shooting squads, and this game will likely turn on who is more efficient from beyond the arc; although Austin Peay lags behind Jacksonville State in three-point percentage (40.2 percent to 34.4 percent), the Gamecocks surrender threes at a much higher clip (43.4 percent three-point defense for JSU, compared to 40.5 for the Govs).
Jacksonville State Gamecocks
First-year head coach Ray Harper has engineered a quick turnaround at Jacksonville State; the Gamecocks are 9-8 under Harper after going 8-23 last season and look like a good bet to return to the OVC Tournament for the first time since 2012.
Under Harper, the Gamecocks have turned into long-range sharp-shooters, hitting 40.2 percent from beyond the arc (19th nationally), led by Erik Durham (54.9 percent 3-point field goal percentage, second in the nation).
Summing Up Tennessee Tech
Seniors John Murry and Kenny Jones each scored 21 points, but the Governors hit just two of their final 11 shots down the stretch in a 76-67 loss in their conference road-opener at Tennessee Tech, Thursday. With head coach Dave Loos taking a leave of absence while he continues chemotherapy, it was the first since March 7th, 1990 without Loos on the sidelines.
Last Time Out Against Jacksonville State
Austin Peay picked up its first conference victory last season with a wire-to-wire win against the Gamecocks, 73-54, behind a Chris Horton double-double (24 points, 13 rebounds) and a team-wide shooting performance that saw Austin Peay hit 55.1 percent from the floor.
Josh Robinson added 13 points for the Govs, who limited JSU to 29.9 percent shooting; Jaquail Townser (10 points) was the only Gamecock to score in double figures.
Keep An Eye On
- This will be just the third home game for Jacksonville State in the 2016-17 season; they played nine consecutive true road contests from November 29th-December 31st.
- Jones has shot at least 60 percent from the floor in 12 of 16 contests this season.
- Junior Josh Robinson needs 21 points to pass Lamonte Ware (1987-89, 90-92) for 18th all-time and is two three-pointers away from passing Travis Betran (2012-14) for ninth all-time.
- A win would give the Governors back-to-back wins against the Gamecocks for the first time since winning 11 straight from 2007-12.
- This contest will pit the conference’s top-two shooting teams; the Gamecocks are hitting 47.4 percent as a team, with the Govs right behind at 47.2 percent from the floor.
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 www.LetsGoPeay.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).
