Redhawks turn in poor performance in home-opening L to Aces

The fans of Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball got to see the two extremes of the program on Wednesday at the Show Me Center.

On a night when the Redhawks unveiled the banner commemorating the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship, which was won last March, the current SEMO program put on one of its worst performances of the past three-plus seasons, according to fourth-year Redhawk coach Brad Korn.

“That is as un-basketballish of a team that I have seen since I got here from us,” Korn said following his team’s 76-57 loss to Evansville.

Following a 2-2 tie, the Purple Aces (3-0) would never trail again, as the visitors led by as many as 21 points.

“We really didn’t have an answer for anything tonight,” Korn said.

The Redhawks (0-3) competed fairly well through much of the first half and trailed just 27-23 with 6:09 remaining in the opening period following a lay-in by redshirt sophomore forward Adam Larson. However, Evansville closed the first half on a 12-5 run and was never really threatened following that run.

“We didn’t give ourselves a chance today,” Korn said. “The effort at the beginning (of the game) was solid. I thought we were giving pretty good energy, effort, and some toughness, but then we just completely imploded.”

Korn lamented that a point of emphasis entering the game was to “control the paint both offensively and defensively,” and that absolutely did not happen.

The Purple Aces got a combined 38 points from frontcourt players Yacine Toumi and Ben Humrichous, and they outscored the Redhawks 52-22 in the paint.

“When you shoot the ball poorly,” Korn said, “and you’re not in the right mental space to be able to perform, because at the end of the day, you have to come out here and play and perform, if you’re not in the right mental space, you’re not in the right energy space, if you’re not connected, that is what happens.”

SEMO connected on just 43 percent of its shots overall and missed 15 of 22 3-pointers.

Stunningly, the Redhawks also missed 9 of their 13 free throw attempts.

No SEMO player scored in double figures, but three first-year Redhawks each scored nine points.

Braxton Stacker, Rob Martin, and BJ Ward each managed some production.

Martin added four rebounds and three assists while Kobe Clark (five rebounds), Josh Earley (four rebounds), Aquan Smart (seven points and three assists), Larson (seven points), and Evan Eursher (seven points) did some positive things.

The Redhawks committed 18 turnovers and passed out just 10 assists on 23 makes.

Evansville hit 53 percent of its shots.

“They were way more physical than us,” Korn said. “They were more skilled at certain positions than us today. But you can alleviate and eliminate some of that by being connected, by being tough, and we weren’t either of those things today.”

SEMO will host Central Arkansas (1-2) on Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Show Me Center.