Southeast men's baketball team set for crucial homestand

~ The Redhawks face OVC West opponents in their next two games

The next two games for the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team could prove to be two of the most important for the Redhawks' hopes of moving up in the Ohio Valley Conference standings.

The Redhawks (10-9, 2-4) host OVC West Division opponents SIU Edwardsville and Eastern Illinois to start a three-game homestand that begins with a 7 p.m. game today against SIUE.

SIUE will look to extend its two-game winning streak when it comes to the Show Me Center while the Redhawks will attempt to pick up their first win against a West Division opponent.

"I think every game at home creates just that much more importance to your conference race," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "If you look around the league, I think teams are winning at home. But just because you're at home doesn't mean there's any guarantee, so we're going to have to play very well to beat a very, very improved SIU Edwardsville team. ... They've beat three of the finest teams in the league, so they're not going to be lacking in confidence. They think they're just as good as anybody, and they very well may be on a given night. We've got to make sure that we're playing to the highest level that we can play."

The Cougars (6-13, 3-3) look to pick up their first road win of the season. They have notched OVC wins against Murray State, Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky. They handed the Racers their first conference loss of the season during a 67-60 win Saturday.

SIUE has a well-balanced offense, with seven players averaging more than seven points a game. The Cougars are led in scoring by guard Donivine Stewart, with an 11.4 points a game average, but others have stepped up to have high-scoring nights.

The past two games, Rozell Nunn scored a team-high 20 points and 15 points against Murray State and Austin Peay, respectively.

Four players scored in double figures in the Cougars 85-79 defeat of EKU.

"That makes it very difficult for a team to prepare for," Nutt said. "That's a very big positive for their team that they've got so many guys that can score like that. ... They're very, very capable. They're very much improved. They have a lot of weapons, so we have to make sure we understand that they have about five or six guys that can really shoot the 3-ball and we've got to do a good job of knowing where they are and identifying these shooters and make sure we're contesting their shots."

Nutt feels his team's defense is improving, and Paul McRoberts and Jamaal Calvin provide a spark from the bench. In Southeast's 83-74 win over Tennessee Tech, McRoberts scored 16 points and had five rebounds and Calvin scored 12 and had four assists.

"I think they've earned that respect and have earned that spot where they're going to be the first guys in," Nutt said. "I think they can take us to another level in terms of ... even though they're freshmen I do think they bring us a sense of speed and quickness and even toughness that will help us give these other guys a breather, and I think it certainly worked well the other night."

Now the Redhawks have some confidence after their road win -- their first since Dec. 7 -- Nutt wants his team to focus on consistency.

"I want to know what to expect and I think up to this point for the exception of a couple of two or three guys, we've been inconsistent," Nutt said. "Some nights we may have 10 or 15 points, some nights we may have zero. Some nights we'll have 10 rebounds and some nights we'll have two rebounds. I mean, I want to be consistent."

The most consistent player for Southeast has been Jarekious Bradley, who's second in the conference in scoring at 21.5 points a game and who averages 7.3 rebounds. Bradley was out of practice until Wednesday because of a knee injury he suffered against Morehead State on Jan. 16. Nutt said it is a sprain.

"That was great news for us, but we've got to limit his minutes -- I think the 39 minutes a game is probably catching up with him," Nutt said. "He's got a sprained knee, luckily, and there's not any major issue."

Antonius Cleveland did not start and played just five minutes in Southeast's win Saturday because he had the flu, but has practiced this week and is expected to play.

Southeast faces EIU (6-12, 3-4) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Show Me Center. The Southeast women's team plays EIU at 3 p.m. Saturday.