Southeast men's basketball team will make exhibition debut tonight

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team will finally get a chance to face outside competition.

Tonight is the first of two exhibition games for Southeast. The Redhawks host NAIA Missouri Baptist at 7 p.m. at the Show Me Center.

"I'm excited about Monday night, I'm excited about getting out there under the lights and seeing if we can put together some of the improvements we've made," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said.

The Redhawks likely will be without their lone returning all-conference player against the Spartans. Senior guard/forward Jarekious Bradley, one of the Redhawks' three returning starters, is doubtful to play tonight due to a deep thigh bruise, according to Nutt.

Senior guard Darrian Gray is also out with a severe ankle sprain, which Nutt said could possibly be a stress fracture.

Southeast, which finished last season 18-14 and 8-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference, is the heavy favorite tonight, and Nutt is excited to see how his players perform in a game situation.

"I think the biggest thing is play together and getting some chemistry and being held accountable," Nutt said about what he hopes to see from his players tonight. "I think our depth will allow us to hold our guys better accountable. I do feel like we can be a better defensive team, we can block out better -- we can do a lot of things that can help us win even at a higher level."

Southeast will host its second exhibition game against Division III Fontbonne on Saturday night. The Redhawks open the regular season at the Loyola Marymount University Classic where they'll face Loyola Marymount and San Diego on Nov. 14 and 15, respectively, in Los Angeles.

Nutt and his team hadn't spent any time looking at the Spartans as of Saturday night, but they planned to do some research Sunday. Their main focus has been themselves.

The Spartans return six players from a team that went 7-24 last season. MBU was 17-15 and 18-13 the two seasons before that.

Perryville graduate Bryce Weibrecht is a junior forward for the Spartans after playing the last two seasons at Mineral Area College.

"We're mainly going to be worried about ourselves," Nutt said. "It's going to give us a chance to see a couple guys and see what they can do under the lights."

Fans who bring a minimum of three non-perishable canned food items to the game will receive free admission.

The canned food drive for admission will be in place for both of the men's exhibition games as well as the women's basketball team's Thursday night exhibition against Missouri Valley College.