APSU Men’s Basketball plays Purdue Fort Wayne at Dunn Center, Saturday

Austin Peay (5-4) vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (6-6)

Saturday, December 15h, 2018 | 4:00pm CT
Clarksville, TN | Dunn Center

Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University (APSU) men’s basketball team finishes out the non-conference home schedule with a visit from Purdue Fort Wayne this Saturday–the first Division I foe to invade the Dunn Center in 2018-19. Tip off is at 4:00pm.

The Govs set records galore last Saturday in their 116-33 demolition of Calvary, but the Mastodons—who sport a 4-0 mark all-time against Austin Peay—figure to offer a tougher test, particularly in ball control; where Calvary averaged nearly 19 turnovers per game coming and committed 35 against the Govs, Purdue Fort Wayne averages just 14.0 turnovers per contest.

This will be the last opportunity for Austin Peay fans to see the Govs in the Dunn Center before the start of 2019—Austin Peay closes the calendar year and non-conference play with a three-game road trip.

About the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons

The Mastodons own early-season losses to UCLA, Ohio State and Dayton and wins against institutions such as Manchester, Earlham (and eked out a four-point victory against 2-9 South Carolina State), so the jury is still somewhat out on just who Purdue Fort Wayne is at this stage in the game. But the schedule has begun to even out, with the Mastodons 3-2 in their last five, all against mid-major competition, including a 104-60 win against Ohio Valley Conference foe Eastern Illinois, November 28th.

If the game devolves into a foul-fest–and let the record show that Austin Peay has already played three games featuring 40 or more combined fouls–then the advantage will be the Governors close and late. Purdue Fort Wayne hits just 60.5 percent at the free-throw line, with only three regulars–Jarred Godfrey, Matt Weir and Marcus DeBerry–hitting 70 percent for the season. Contrast that with the Governors, who are at 71.8 percent as a team, with four regulars above 78 percent.

Last Time Out Against Purdue Fort Wayne

Then doing business simply as Fort Wayne, the Govs had a night to forget the last time these two teams got together, dropping a 98-58 contest on a snowy Indiana night, December 10th, 2016. Kenny Jones had 20 points and 9 rebounds, but the remainder of his teammates combined for 38 points (on 13-of-48 shooting) and 23 boards.

However, fast-forward two seasons and this Austin Peay unit is a completely different team–only Zach Glotta, Steve Harris and Chris Porter-Bunton remain from that 2016 night, and the trio combined to play just 44 minutes on the evening.

Keep An Eye On

A win would make the Govs 3-0 to start the home schedule for the firszt time since 2005-06, and 3-0 to start December for the first time since 2009-10.

Glotta ranks fourth nationally in free-throw shooting this season at 96.0 percent (24-of-25); at his current pace, he will graduate as Austin Peay’s all-time leader in free-throw percentage at 88.3 percent.

A victory would be Austin Peay’s first against a Summit League foe since sweeping IUPUI in a home-and-home in 2000.

With 22 games to go in the season, Glotta needs to average 1.9 three-pointers per contest to break into the top-10 all-time.

With a victory, Matt Figger would become the fastest Austin Peay coach to 25 wins (44 games) since Lake Kelly (42 across the 1971-72 and 72-73 seasons).

The Govs are averaging 15.0 steals over the last three games.

At fourth (96.0 percent) in free-throw percentage and 19th (50.0 percent) in three-point percentage, Glotta is one of just three players nationally in the top-20, joined by Nevada’s Jazz Johnson (fourth in three-point percentage, 11th at the line) and Princeton’s Devin Cannady (10th in three-point shooting, sixth in free-throw shooting).

Austin Peay has forced an average of 22.2 turnovers over the last five games, with an average turnover margin of plus-6.2; that has led to an average of 25.2 points off turnover.

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).