SE TAKES SOLACE IN OVC ROAD SPLIT

Gary Garner uses plenty of motivational tools for his Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball team, including various quotes of the day prior to practices.

One of Garner's favorite sayings goes basically like this: It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it.

Garner is going to give that statement plenty of play this week as the Indians try to bounce back from Saturday's nationally televised 88-60 loss at Austin Peay.

Southeast's coach will be looking for a positive reaction in the Indians' next game as they take on arch rival Murray State Thursday in a 7 p.m. Ohio Valley Conference tipoff at the Show Me Center. The contest will be televised regionally on KFVS-TV.

"Losing by 28 points, I don't care who you played, if you lost to Duke by 28, you have a confidence factor to deal with," said Garner during his weekly media conference Monday. "We'll find out Thursday night about our mental and physical toughness, how well we come out and fight.

"How you respond after a loss, that's when you find out how tough you are, what character you have. It's easy to play when things are going good. Now, see what you do when you lose by 28."

It's a long season

While the Indians, who are 9-5 overall, are off to a 1-2 league start, Garner said they can still be a major factor in the OVC race as they attempt to defend their regular-season co-championship.

"There is still so much basketball left to be played," he said. "If you win all your conference games at home and split on the road, you'll usually have a chance to win the conference.

"Where we messed up is we already lost one at home to Tennessee Tech. Now we have to go make one up somewhere."

The Indians met Garner's standards of splitting on the road during last week's trip to Tennessee, beating Tennessee State and losing to Austin Peay.

"Any time you go on a two-game road trip and split, you usually feel pretty decent," Garner said. "The way we lost at Austin Peay doesn't make you feel as good.

"But what we have to keep in mind is we did split. We just have to put that (Austin Peay) game behind us. I think we could have played as well as we're capable and not won the game. They just played great."

Murray State on deck

In Murray State (6-6 overall, 1-0 OVC), the Indians will be facing a team that returned very few players from last season but has one of the league's premier performers in senior forward Isaac Spencer, the OVC's third-leading scorer at 21.3 points per game.

While the Racers have been somewhat inconsistent so far -- as one might expect from a squad playing so many newcomers -- they also own some impressive victories, including a recent triumph at Nebraska.

And the Racers will no doubt come to the Show Me Center looking for revenge. Remember, it was Southeast that snapped Murray State's 47-game home winning streak last season. And it was the Indians who beat the Racers in the championship game of the OVC Tournament as Southeast earned its first-ever NCAA Division I tourney berth.

"You don't think they won't want to beat us?" said Garner.

* Garner said before the season that OVC favorite Austin Peay was the one team in the league capable of running away and hiding from the other eight squads. Based on what he saw Saturday, he still does.

"In my four years in the league, they were the best team I've seen, the way they played Saturday," Garner said. "If they play like that, nobody is going to touch them. I've said all along, they're the one team that can run away with it."

The Governors are 2-0 in OVC play, one-half game behind 3-0 Tennessee Tech. Murray State is next at 1-0, then the other six teams all have at least one conference loss.

* Garner said the Indians will continue to try and get more shots for big junior center Terry Rogers, who has really come on in recent games.

A 6-foot-10, 280-pounder, Rogers is shooting 61 percent from the field (36 of 59), by far the best on the team. He would rank among the OVC's leaders in that category if he had enough baskets to qualify.

* Monte Gordon, who had a team-high nine rebounds at Austin Peay, is the probable starter at the power forward position for Thursday's game. Gordon is one of four players who have started at that spot this season.

* On the injury front, forwards Drew DeMond (deep foot blister) and Daniel Weaver (sprained ankle) should return to action Thursday after missing the Austin Peay game.