Redhawks to debut Saturday in exhibition game

~ Southeast will play the first of two exhibition games against Ouachita Baptist

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt gets his first look at his revamped team against outside competition Saturday.

It won't count on the Redhawks' record, but they're excited about their two-game exhibition schedule that begins when Ouachita Baptist visits the Show Me Center at 7 p.m.

Southeast then hosts Henderson State -- like Ouachita Baptist a Division II squad from Arkansas -- Tuesday night before tipping off the season Nov. 13 at Alabama-Birmingham.

"Our guys are looking forward to playing somebody else. They're tired of banging on each other," Nutt said. "We're ready as we'll ever be, I guess. We still have a long way to go but our guys are progressing."

Southeast went 7-23 overall and a ninth-place 3-15 in the 10-team Ohio Valley Conference during Nutt's first season last year.

That was a significant improvement from the 2008-09 campaign that saw Southeast bottom out at 3-27 overall and 0-18 in the OVC.

The Redhawks will look to make considerably more improvement this season with a re-tooled roster that features only five returning players.

"We've got a lot more to work with this year," Nutt said. "We've got more size, more athleticism."

Junior forward Leon Powell, the jewel of Nutt's first Southeast recruiting class last year who missed the entire season after suffering a knee injury during a pickup game, scored 28 points during Saturday's intrasquad scrimmage.

Returning senior forward Cameron Butler and returning senior guard Anthony Allison both scored 23 points.

"What we saw in the scrimmage is that we can score a little bit better but we're not nearly where we need to be defensively," Nutt said. "If we don't get better at that, it will be a long year."

Nutt said he will enter Saturday's game seeking a victory and improved defense.

"We want to win the game. We want to win every game we play," said Nutt, who figures to give all of his available players some court time. "We're expected to win and win big when you play a non-Division I opponent."

Nutt said there is still a question of whether junior college transfer shooting guard Nick Niemczyk will redshirt this season.

Niemczyk, a Bell City High School graduate, had surgery to repair a torn ACL in April. He had been progressing well and it appeared as if he would play this year, but Nutt said he still is bothered some by the injury.

"We still haven't made a decision on Nick. We don't want to put him out there if he's not ready. We want to do what's best for him," Nutt said.

Southeast also faced Ouachita Baptist last year in exhibition play, romping 81-59.

The Tigers, from Arkadelphia, Ark., already have had one exhibition game, losing 83-71 Thursday at Arkansas State.

Ouachita Baptist went 8-19 overall and 4-10 in the Gulf South Conference a year ago.

The Tigers return leading scorer Scott Day, a 6-foot-7 senior forward who averaged 9.6 points per game last season.