Austin Peay at Belmont
Saturday, January 20th, 2018 | 5:00pm CT
Nashville, TN | Curb Event Center
Clarksville, TN – For the second time in a week, Austin Peay State University men’s basketball will be playing one of the Ohio Valley Conference favorites on the road.
Last Saturday, the Governors rolled to an 87-67 victory at defending OVC tournament champion Jacksonville State, picked to finish second in the preseason conference standings.
Come Saturday, the Governors will be battling defending OVC regular-season champs and preseason favorite Belmont, 5:00pm, Saturday January 20th, 2018 at the Curb Event Center.
The Governors come into the game at 10-9 overall, 5-2 in the OVC, good enough for a five-team second-place tie in the league standings after Thursday’s loss to Tennessee State.
The preseason favorites, meanwhile, are living up to expectations, owning a 6-1 league mark after a 79-72 win at home against Murray State, also Thursday night.
About the Belmont Bruins
Belmont moved into first-place in the OVC by itself, Thursday night, knocking down 14 three pointers and defeating rival Murray State, 79-72. The victory improved the Bruins, who got 21 points apiece from Dylan Windler and Austin Luke, to 6-1 in league play and 14-6 overall.
The Bruins lead the OVC In three pointers made (11.4) by almost 2 ½ per game. The Bruins are third in overall field-goal percentage (47.4 percent) and lead the OVC in free-throw shooting (75.9 percent).
Forward Amanze Egekeze leads the balanced Bruins in scoring (16.9 ppg) while Windler is barely behind at 16.7 ppg. Windler leads the OVC in rebounding at 9.0, just two-tenths of a point ahead of the Govs’ Taylor (8.8). Luke leads the OVC in assists (7.1 apg).
Last Time Out Against Belmont
Austin Peay took the preseason OVC favorite down to the wire to open league play, dropping an 82-77 decision to Belmont at the Dunn Center, December 31st, 2016. After trailing 40-32 at halftime and by 13 early in the second half, the Govs chipped away at the deficit, using an 11-5 run midway through the half—thanks to seven points from Josh Robinson—to cut the deficit to five and a later 10-3 run cut it to four with less than a minute to go.
But Robinson’s 3-point attempt rolled off the rim before Taylor Barnette’s four free throws sealed the contest.
Notably
With his 16-point, 13-rebound effort against Tennessee State, Terry Taylor now has eight double-doubles this season, ranking him fifth among freshmen in that category.
With his bucket in the final minute against Tennessee State to give him 11 points, freshman guard Dayton Gumm scored in double figures for the first time in five games. He now has scored twin figures eight times this season.
Freshmen Terry Taylor and Dayton Gumm have scored in double figures in the same game five times this season and have been the leading scorer a combined 10 times this season.
Taylor now has scored in double figures 11 straight games.
The Governors own a plus-8.4 rebound differential over the opponents during the last nine games, out-rebounding the opponent in each outing.
Freshman Terry Taylor (8.8 rpg) and senior Averyl Ugba (7.5 rpg) are the only set of teammates in the OVC’s Top-10 rebounding category, ranking second and ninth, respectively.
The Govs’ 19 offensive rebounds against Tennessee State tied for the third most this season. They had 22 against Southeast Missouri and 21 versus Oakland City. It was the 12th time in the last 13 games the Govs reached double-figures in offensive rebounds.
The five offensive rebounds the Govs allowed against TSU were the fewest permitted in OVC games and tied for the third lowest this season.
In going 10-9, the Govs own a 20.5 margin of victory in those 10 victories.
After being named OVC Player of the Week for his 35-point (17-of-21 shooting—his 17 FGs were an NCAA high this season), 11-rebound outing against Jacksonville State, Averyl Ugba was limited to eight points on 2-of-10 shooting against Tennessee State.
Austin Peay’s defensive improvement (-15.1 ppg) from 2016-17 to 2017-18 is ranked second only behind Central Michigan’s (-18.9 ppg). The Govs permitted 83.8 ppg a year ago and only 68.7 ppg this season.
Freshman Terry Taylor and senior Averyl Ugba are the only Govs teammates since at least the 1990-00 season to record double-doubles in the same game three or more times.
The Governors own a 31-15 all-time record against Belmont. The Govs, however, have not beaten the Bruins in a regular-season game since November 7th, 2008, the last time APSU also won in the Curb Event Center. The Govs are 2-4 against Belmont in the Curb Center.
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).
