Improving Southeast men's hoops team set to open OVC play

The first six games of the season failed to go the way Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt envisioned.

Southeast is off to the program's worst start since moving up to Division I in 1991-92, surpassing the 2001-02 squad that lost its first five games.

But the Redhawks have a chance to put their 0-6 record in their rearview mirror as long as they begin their Ohio Valley Conference schedule strong.

Southeast opens OVC play today with a 7:30 p.m. home game against perennial conference power Austin Peay (3-4). The Redhawks have another 7:30 p.m. OVC home contest Saturday, against Tennessee State (1-5).

"It's a brand new season coming. Conference play is what it's all about," Nutt said. "It gives you a breath of life. Hopefully we can put something together at the right time."

While disappointed that the Redhawks have not yet tasted victory, Nutt is far from discouraged with a squad that returned just five players from his first Southeast unit that went 7-23 overall and a ninth-place 3-15 in the 10-team OVC.

Nutt believes the Redhawks have shown considerable improvement over their last two games, a 10-point loss at Arkansas and Saturday's 56-50 setback to an Arkansas State squad that pounded Southeast by 24 points a year ago.

"I know our record doesn't show it, but we're getting better," Nutt said. "Our record is not what we want it to be, but I feel like we're headed in the right direction. It's a process. We're a work in progress."

Said junior college transfer guard/forward Nate Schulte: "I feel like we're moving in the right direction. We're just going to keep working hard and believing in the system. I think wins will start coming."

Southeast's first two OVC games will be against squads whose programs are in different stages.

Austin Peay has been among the conference's top teams for quite a while under Dave Loos, the league's dean of coaches in his 21st season with the Governors. He is the OVC's all-time winningest coach.

The Govs, picked fourth in the OVC's preseason poll, have reached the conference tournament championship game six of the past eight years.

"Any time you play a Dave Loos team, it's a challenge," Nutt said.

Austin Peay is being led offensively by Tyshwan Edmondson, a 6-foot-4 junior college transfer guard who leads the OVC with an average of 18 points per game. He has reached double figures in all seven contests so far.

Edmondson played his freshman season at St. John's, where he averaged 1.7 points in 26 games.

Anthony Campbell, a 6-7 junior forward who was a second-team all-OVC selection last season, is averaging 13.9 points.

Campbell, among four returning Austin Peay starters, ranked fourth in the league in scoring a year ago (15.5 ppg) and ninth in rebounding (5.3 rpg).

The Govs, who own an impressive win at Saint Louis University, have lost at nationally ranked Purdue and perennial mid-major power Southern Illinois. Their other two defeats have been in overtime.

"I expect them to be a very good team," Nutt said.

Tennessee State, like Southeast, is rebuilding under a second-year coach. The Tigers, directed by John Cooper, were picked seventh in the OVC preseason poll, two spots ahead of the ninth-place Redhawks.

"We're starting out at home," Nutt said of the conference schedule. "We're looking forward to it."