Nelke finally able to make a strong point

Mike Nelke expected to be Southeast Missouri State University's starting point guard this season.

But when that didn't happen right away, he never got down in the dumps.

"No, I wasn't really disappointed," Nelke said. "I waited a year, I figured I could wait another month."

Instead, the Valparaiso transfer -- who practiced with the Indians last season but could not play in games -- tried his best to show the coaches what he could do during the first part of the season, which he spent backing up freshman Terrick Willoughby.

Nelke displayed enough improvement to finally get his first Southeast start during the tenth game of the season. He's been a fixture in the lineup ever since -- and his play since the start of the Ohio Valley Conference schedule has been nothing short of sensational.

As the Indians (9-6, 2-2) prepare for this week's big road trip to play Tennessee Tech (7-8, 1-3) on Thursday and Austin Peay (8-7, 5-0) on Saturday, Nelke has been a major reason why Southeast has climbed into the thick of the OVC race.

"Mike has been playing extremely well for us," Southeast coach Gary Garner said.

In Southeast's four OVC contests, Nelke has 23 assists and just one turnover, with no turnovers in the past three games. He has 28 assists and three turnovers since becoming a starter. For the entire season, he leads the OVC in assist-to-turnover ratio by a wide margin as his 46 assists and 14 turnovers produce a ratio of 3.3. Next in line is 2.17.

"Mike has been real steady, getting the ball to the right players in the right situations," Garner said.

It's a far cry from the way Nelke looked early in the season, when his ballhandling was plenty shaky. He said the year he had to sit out under NCAA transfer rules might have caused some problems.

"I think that's what it was," said the 6-foot Nelke. "Even though I got to practice with the team, it's just not the same as playing in games. I feel a lot more comfortable now."

While Nelke has been solid as a rock handling and distributing the ball, he's also proven to be one of the Indians' top long-range gunners -- which should come as no surprise since he led Valparaiso in 3-point shooting as a sophomore two years ago, hitting 47.2 percent.

After also getting off to a slow shooting start, Nelke is now up to 39 percent from beyond the arc. He's 10-for-22 in his last three games, during which time he has averaged more than 11 points. For the season, Nelke is averaging 5.6 points.

"I've always been able to shoot," Nelke said with a smile.

After starring at McCluer High School in St. Louis, Nelke decided to attend Valparaiso, where he saw considerable action for two seasons and played in the NCAA Tournament. But he elected to transfer following his sophomore campaign and Southeast was more than happy to welcome him back to Missouri.

"It just wasn't the right situation for me," Nelke said of why he left Valparaiso.

But Nelke believes the situation in Cape Girardeau is what he was looking for all along.

"I've found a great home here," he said.

OVC honors

Southeast basketball players netted three of the OVC's weekly honors Monday, two on the men's side and one on the women's side.

Junior guard Derek Winans is the co-player of the week after scoring 51 points during Indian victories over Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State. He shot 72 percent from the field in those two games and also made seven of 11 3-pointers.

Nelke is the newcomer of the week. He scored 22 points in the two games, including a career high 16 against Tennessee State. He also had 14 assists and no turnovers during the week.

On the women's side, junior guard Sami Jo Cotton is the newcomer of the week. She scored 33 points in Otahkian wins over Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State.