Southeast men get break from conference play

~ Redhawks will play Eastern Michigan in a BracketBusters game.

The most important games of the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball season will take place next week.

Today, the Redhawks hope to gain some momentum for their key stretch run when they visit Eastern Michigan.

The 3 p.m. contest in Ypsilanti, Mich., is part of the ESPNU BracketBusters series, in which all 11 Ohio Valley Conference squads participate.

As part of the BracketBusters setup, Eastern Michigan will play at the Show Me Center next season, when the Redhawks also will host a BracketBusters opponent to be determined.

"The ultimate goal is to be in the [BracketBusters] games that are nationally televised," Southeast coach Scott Edgar said. "Right now nobody in our conference is in those.

"But I still like the idea of the BracketBuster. It gives you two built-in games for the schedule, and now we already have a good home opponent for next year's schedule in Eastern Michigan."

Southeast has lost 11 of its last 12 games to fall to 12-16. The Redhawks are ninth in the 11-team OVC at 7-11, and only the top eight finishers make the conference tournament.

The Redhawks end their regular season next week with home games against Samford and Jacksonville State.

Southeast needs to win both and receive help as it chases Tennessee State (9-9), Samford (9-9) and Tennessee Tech (9-10). The Redhawks hold potential tie-breakers over Samford and Tennessee Tech.

"We're looking forward to trying to get a road win, to build some confidence as we try to still play our way into the OVC tournament," Edgar said. "It would be great momentum for us if we could go there and win."

Eastern Michigan is 10-15 overall and 6-7 in the Mid-American Conference as the Eagles are tied for second in the MAC's West Division. They are tied for sixth in the 12-team league.

After a slow start, the Eagles have won three of their last five.

The MAC is regarded as a stronger league then the OVC.

According to various ratings services, the MAC is ranked either 12th or 13th, with the OVC either 29th or 30th among 32 conferences.

"It's a chance to go out of league against a team from a very good conference," Edgar said.

Eastern Michigan does not appear to be an overly potent offensive team, averaging 65.1 points per game and shooting 42.3 percent from the field.

But the Eagles are allowing just 67.6 points as opponents shoot 44.5 percent.

Southeast is averaging 76.7 points, but allowing 82.5. At the start of the week, the Redhawks ranked 326th among 328 Division I squads in scoring defense.

Teams are shooting just 43.7 percent against the Redhawks, who have been hurt by averaging 18 turnovers per game, which ranks 311th nationally.

Eastern Michigan has one of the MAC's better point guards in junior Carlos Medlock, who averages 13.8 points and has been a starter since the first game of his freshman season.

"They've got a very good guard, and the MAC is usually known as a pretty physical league," Edgar said. "I'm sure it will be a physical game."