SEMO men face Belmont in OVC home opener

~ Senior forward Tyler Stone is probable to play but will not start

If it seems to Redhawks fans as if the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team has not had a home game in a while, they're correct.

The Redhawks were last spotted at the Show Me Center last year -- before Christmas.

Southeast rallied for an 83-79 overtime win over IUPUI on Dec. 23 to improve to 8-4 at the time.

The Redhawks have been far from idle since but remain stuck on eight wins after encountering three road losses.

The latter two came with the onset of Ohio Valley Conference play at the home of perennial powers Murray State and Austin Peay.

Southeast, which also suffered a last-second 81-78 loss at Missouri State, will attempt to end the three-game losing streak tonight when last season's OVC Tournament champion Belmont visits for a 7 p.m. game.

The schedule makers did not ease the Redhawks into conference play. Austin Peay and Murray State combined for eight of the 10 regular-season championships won before last year's new two-division format, which crowned Murray State (West) and newcomer Belmont (East) as regular-season champions.

All three of those teams are 2-0 in OVC play thus far.

Southeast enters tonight's game at 8-7 overall, having played all but four of its games on the road.

The Redhawks have had their moments despite their 0-2 start in OVC play. They led Murray State with less than five minutes remaining in the game and jumped out to a 15-point lead against Austin Peay.

"I do feel like we're making some progress," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "We're working hard and we got a couple things accomplished last game. We were able to get out of the block well and we shot the ball better. It just goes back to a few minutes here and there. We're not playing that 40 minutes of basketball in order to get a win. ... We've been in these games. It just hasn't happened for us. The last thing we need is to duck our heads and think we have not accomplished something."

In Belmont, the Redhawks face a team which drew national attention earlier this season with an 83-80 victory over North Carolina on the Tar Heels' home floor.

"Anybody that can go to North Carolina and win, that certainly opens up a lot of eyes," Nutt said. "And it's a good win for our league."

Belmont (10-6) has made the NCAA tournament in six of the last eight seasons and introduced itself to the OVC last season by winning its first 10 conference games. One of those was a 107-72 home romp of Southeast, a game in which Belmont shot 67.6 percent from the field. Trevor Noack and Ian Clark both scored 30 points against the Redhawks but were among three seniors that graduated.

"Belmont is an outstanding program," Nutt said. "Their coach [Rick Byrd] has been there for over 25 years, and he has built his program ... and it's some kind of system. It's very impressive and they have some impressive wins, and they just continue to rebuild and reload every year.

"They shoot the 3-ball very, very well. If you want to see a team that shoots the ball, that's a team to watch."

Belmont leads the OVC with 49.3 percent shooting from the field and features the conference's top 3-point shooter in 6-foot-9 redshirt senior Drew Windler, who is in his first season with the Bruins after transferring from Samford. Windler is hitting 52.8 percent (38 of 72) from 3-point range.

Current OVC Freshman of the Week Evan Bradds (.645), 6-7 redshirt senior Blake Jenkins (.610) and Windler (.554) rank in the top 10 among OVC players in field-goal percentage.

Returning senior guard JJ Mann leads Belmont in scoring at 16.1 points per game, while junior guard Craig Bradshaw (14.2 ppg) has led the team in scoring the last six games. Windler averages 11.9 ppg and redshirt junior guard Reece Chamberlain follows at 9.6.

"Our defense has to be very good," Nutt said. "It has to be very smothering. We have to challenge every shot. We can't allow them to have penetration then kicks [to the outside]. Obviously that's how they score their points. They play the percentages and would rather shoot the 3 than anything."

The Bruins broke a four-game losing streak -- Kentucky and Indiana State among the victors -- with the onset of OVC play. Belmont's OVC wins came at the Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tenn., against visiting Jacksonville State (78-67) and Tennessee Tech (64-62).

Southeast has been led by 6-5 junior Jarekious Bradley, who is coming off a season-best 30 points. Bradley leads the OVC in scoring at 21.3 ppg and is sixth in rebounding at 7.4 rpg. He is shooting 52 percent from the field and 42.6 percent on 3-pointers. He's averaging 26 points in league play.

"We've had some good performances," Nutt said. "Jarekious Bradley has certainly been playing well."

Foul trouble had been the only obstacle for Bradley. The former junior college All-American has fouled out of both of his OVC games while the outcomes hung in the balance late.

"That's a big concern for us," Nutt said. "Here's a guy that has been our most impact player, and we can't afford for him to be fouling out in the critical parts of the game. I'm going to do a better job of playing him accordingly. ... And he's had a little bit of bad luck with the foul calling.

"But these two games, like I've said, you want to profit from every game, whether it's a loss or a win, and I feel like we have. We've learned some lessons in the last few games, and we're getting just a little bit better, but he's going to have to be a little more careful, especially when he has that fourth one that he can't even be mixed up in any type of confrontational hustle play. Hopefully we can do a better job with that."

OVC preseason Player of the Year Tyler Stone, fourth in the OVC at 17.8 points per game and fifth in rebounding at 9.5 per game, is questionable for tonight's game after taking a blow to the head early in the second half against Austin Peay. Nutt said the 6-8 senior, who finished out the game against the Govs, has been held out of practice this week as a precaution and monitored closely.

"We're hopeful, and I'd say he's probable for [tonight]," Nutt said. "He's a hard guy to hold out. If there's any way he can play, he'll certainly be out there."

If Stone does play, he'll be coming off the bench as he did Saturday against Austin Peay. Nutt said junior Josh Langford (6.2 ppg) will make his second straight start, joining Bradley, junior forward Nino Johnson (7.8 ppg), freshman shooting guard Antonius Cleveland (10.0 ppg) and senior point guard Lucas Nutt (7.4 ppg) in the opening lineup.

"That's the same five we started against Austin Peay, and we got out of the block pretty good that game, and that's something we were trying to accomplish because we kept digging ourselves holes," Nutt said. "The last game holding Tyler out, that was just trying to push every button we could. We'd thought we'd take a little pressure off him. He's been pressing too much and trying to be the best he can be, and I think he's been overdoing it. He needs to relax and let the game come to him. And it worked. We jumped off to a good lead."

Stone has averaged 13 points in OVC play. Nutt also hopes to get more offensive production from Lucas Nutt and Cleveland, who are averaging 4.0 and 6.5 points, respectively, in OVC action.

"When these guys are getting backed off of, they got have to have that confidence to jump up and shoot the basketball," Nutt said.

Nutt said the entire team, coming off three tough road losses, is in need of a confidence boost in its return to the Show Me Center against an OVC power.

"We need a good dose of confidence," Nutt said. "I think a good crowd support would really help this team because these guys are playing hard and they want to win. I still feel like we're a very good basketball team, but hey, everybody's good."