Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team looks to pick up first win of season vs. Northern Kentucky

Following his team's home loss to Ole Miss on Saturday, Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Rick Ray mentioned three tasks he'd given to his players -- fight, compete and play within themselves.

Although that game was the Redhawks' ninth straight loss to start the season, Ray was proud that they were able to check those three things off the list, and they'll remain the items in his message prior to the team's game against Northern Kentucky on Saturday.

Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. from BB&T Arena in Highland, Kentucky.

"We've got to make sure we have limitations as a basketball player. We've got to make sure we have limitations as a team," Ray said. "We need to understand that, so when you try to go outside of those boundaries, then we're probably not going to be successful. We talk about like we want to hit singles. No home runs, just hit singles."

The winless Redhawks are expected to have nine players available against the Norse. The departures of sophomores Marcus Wallace, Ladarius Coleman and JT Jones from the program were announced last Friday night, and junior guard Jamaal Calvin, who has missed the last three games, remains sidelined with a hamstring injury.

In Southeast's 75-64 loss to Ole Miss, the starting five accounted for all but one point, and each played 29 or more minutes.

Ray said he doesn't expect any one bench player to take on a more productive role to make up for the minutes and production of Wallace and Coleman. Wallace averaged 7.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists, and Coleman averaged 6.8 points and 5.8 rebounds.

"I just think we all need to go in and do our job," Ray said. "I just think if we're looking toward one particular person, then we're putting some undue pressure on that particular young man. To me, everybody's playing, so when you go in, you've got to make sure you're doing your job to the best of your ability and not trying to go outside of yourself. The best way you can help the team is to make sure that you go in and carry out your assignments."

Junior guard Antonius Cleveland is averaging 13.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game and is coming off a career-high 25-point performance. Redshirt junior forward Trey Kellum averages 9.6 points and 5.7 rebounds, and junior forward Joel Angus averages 8.3 points and 5.1 rebounds.

The Redhawks face a NKU team that is off to a 2-6 start in coach John Brannen's first season at the helm.

NKU's wins are against Tiffin (83-71) and Norfolk State (81-60).

The Norse have lose to West Virginia, Morehead State, Xavier, North Carolina A&T, Eastern Illinois and Michigan.

"It seems like coach has got them playing really hard. ... From what I've seen on tape, they do a tremendous job of cutting hard and running the offense with precision," Ray said.

Brannen spent the last six seasons under Anthony Grant at Alabama, and Ray thinks he might draw on that experience to give the Redhawks, who average 15.1 turnovers per game, trouble taking care of the ball.

"The one thing that concerns me with that Alabama background -- Anthony Grant would always do a lot of running and jumping in a press situation," Ray said. "And they haven't done it as much, but with our propensity to turn the basketball over, I think they might ramp that up a little bit more. So we've got to be prepared for them pressing a little bit more than maybe they have in the past."

NKU has four players averaging double-figure scoring. Jalen Billups, a 6-foot-6, 245-pound redshirt senior forward, averages 15.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He's shooting 65.8 percent from the field.

"I think he's a guy that's kind of rare in college basketball where he can actually score with his back to the basket," Ray said. "Not a lot of people are comfortable with their back to the basket, but he's a guy that does a tremendous job of using his size and his girth to duck in and create seals. And then once he has that seal, he does a great job of executing that seal.

"We've got to make sure first and foremost that we don't allow him post catches because if he gets it in there deep, it's going to be a problem where you're going to foul him or he's going to have a chance to score because he does such a good job of sealing. That's the most important thing. Then second of all, if he does get the ball in there, we've got to come help in some way, shape or form."

Guard Lavone Holland II, a 6-2, 180-pound sophomore guard, averages 11.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists.

Tyler White, a 6-3, 185-pound senior guard, and Cole Murray, a 6-7, 200-pound junior guard, average 10.8 and 10.6 ppg, respectively. Twenty of Murray's 30 made field goals have been 3-pointers, and he's shooting at a 51.3 percent clip from beyond the arc.

White averages 4.1 assists per game and has knocked down 11 3-pointers. He had 22 points in Southeast's only other meeting against NKU -- a 79-65 Redhawks win in the Cure UCD Classic in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in 2013.

"It's really a continuity motion, but it's involving a ball screen. And they do a good job of their bigs passing to each other in the high-low, and if you overplay, they do a good job of their guards skipping and driving," Ray said of the NKU offense.

Southeast (0-9) last started a season 0-10 in 2010-11. The Redhawks play at Missouri State on Tuesday and host NAIA Harris Stowe on Dec. 27 before beginning their Ohio Valley Conference slate vs. Belmont on Dec. 31.