Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team hopes to even record

The last time the Southeast Missouri State basketball team hit the road for a game, the Redhawks faced a team with a new coach in its home opener.

Saturday will be the same when Southeast travels to Conway, Arkansas, to face Central Arkansas (0-3) at 3 p.m.

The Bears will play their home opener at Farris Center under first-year coach Russ Pennell and will try to pick up their first win of the season, while the Redhawks are going for their second win, a .500 record and continued improvement.

"We just want to develop some chemistry and some consistency," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "We haven't been able to have a full team for the exception of the last game. *... We just need some time to play together and improve, and I think we're getting closer."

Senior guard Jarekious Bradley and senior forward Josh Langford made their returns in the Redhawks' 86-49 defeat of NAIA Hannibal-LaGrange after an injury and a two-game suspension, respectively, sidelined them for Southeast's first two games.

The Bears are coming off three straight losses in four days to start their season.

They lost to Creighton 104-77, Nebraska-Omaha 100-75 and Nebraska 82-56.

"I saw a five-man motion [on film] where they're shooting the basketball," Nutt said. "They're guard oriented, so they'll run a lot of motion and shoot the ball. We're going to have to do a good job, and one weakness we're having right now and we've had the last couple of years is defending the 3-point shot, so we've got to do a good job and emphasize better defense out on the perimeter."

Southeast's opponents shot 37.3 percent from behind the arc last season. The Redhawks' first three opponents have made an average of seven 3-pointers against them.

Central Arkansas has shot 38 percent from behind the 3-point arc this season and have five players that have made at least four 3-pointers.

The Bears, who only return one player, are led in scoring by freshman guard Jordan Howard., who is averaging 14.3 ppg. Howard has knocked down seven 3-pointers, including 4 of 9 against Creighton. Freshman guard Mathieu Kamba averages 12.0 ppg and 4.7 rebounds.

"He's shooting the ball awfully well, and we've got to make sure we know where he is at all times," Nutt said about Howard.

Central Arkansas defeated Southeast 88-85 in their last meeting two years ago.

Nutt, who wanted to see how his point guards separated themselves from each other against Hannibal-LaGrange, continues to evaluate that position as senior JJ Thompson and freshman Marcus Wallace both played well against the NAIA opponent.

Thompson had eight assists Tuesday night, while Wallace had three points, two assists, two steals and a team-high six rebounds.

"I think the point guard position is a very critical position for us," Nutt said. "We've had some inconsistent play in the first five games, however, in the last game I do feel like JJ Thompson really did some good things along with Marcus Wallace. Those are the two guys that just kind of separated themselves a little bit at the point guard position. Anytime you've got a guy that gets eight assists in one night, that's finding some other people and getting other people involved, and that's exactly how we have to play to win."