Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team seeks OVC tourney berth tonight

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt addressed a recurring problem with his players following their second consecutive loss on Thursday that allowed SIU Edwardsville to clinch its spot in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

"We talked about it as a team. There have probably been about seven games that we basically just hand-delivered, gave the game away, and Edwardsville was one of those games," Nutt said.

The Redhawks (12-15, 6-8 OVC) have two regular-season games remaining and need just one win to claim their stake in the eight-team conference tournament.

Their next chance is tonight when they face Eastern Illinois on the road.

Southeast tips off against the Panthers at 5:30 p.m. from Lantz Arena in a contest televised on the American Sports Network.

"I still think we're playing very well, and I have a lot of confidence in our team," Nutt said. "I know our record is not anywhere near where we expected, but nonetheless, we still feel like we've got basketball games to play, we still have life, and that's what I'm most excited about for our team right now."

The Redhawks sit alone in eighth place after a 94-92 overtime loss to OVC champion Murray State last Saturday and a 75-72 loss to SIUE on Thursday.

"There were sections of the game where we played really well, and then there were sections of the game where we didn't play so well, particularly on the defensive side of the ball," Nutt said of the SIUE game. "I think that we're stinging from that."

Nutt was particularly concerned with how sophomore guard Antonius Cleveland had responded from the loss to the Racers and wasn't pleased with his performance against SIUE, but he believes Cleveland and the rest of the team have responded much more positively since its latest loss.

"He certainly takes a lot of blame for that [Murray] loss, and I think that carried over to the next game," Nutt said of Cleveland, who is recovering from the flu. "I thought he was virtually invisible. If you look at the stat sheet and the minutes he played, that's not the Antonius Cleveland that we've enjoyed all year long."

Cleveland had 10 points the last time the Redhawks faced EIU on Feb. 7. Southeast overcame a double-figure deficit to beat the Panthers 68-64 in the first meeting. Freshman guard Marcus Wallace finished with 18 while senior forward Nino Johnson had 10 and junior guard JJ Thompson had 11.

EIU's Trae Anderson had 25 points and 12 rebounds against the Redhawks, and the Panthers will have a couple of players available tonight that didn't play two weeks ago in senior guard Reggie Smith and junior forward Chris Olivier.

Olivier scored 25 points against UT-Martin on Thursday in only his second game back since Jan. 22.

"Chris Olivier really is a good player. He's all inside and he's all left-handed, so we've got to defend accordingly," Nutt said.

EIU also has some threats on the perimeter. Freshman guard Cornell Johnston is a 51.8 percent 3-point shooter. He knocked down 5 of 6 attempts against UTM and made 4 of 4 against Austin Peay on Feb. 12

Senior guard Dylan Chatman has made 10 of 21 attempts over his last four games.

"I just think they can score in all kinds of ways," Nutt said of the problems EIU poses. "They've got four, five or six guys that are 6-8 or better, so that poses some problems. With our team we're kind of shorthanded when it comes to inside. The only rim protector we have is Nino Johnson, and sometimes he's playing a little bit too many minutes. Last game he certainly didn't have the game he's been having in the last few games, so we've got to get him back to that level of playing and doing the little things and playing with a lot of energy."

Nutt noted that senior forward Josh Langford did not make the trip due to a back injury suffered last week. He's hopeful he'll be available next week.

The Panthers (15-12, 8-6 OVC) have lost three of their last four games and are coming off a 75-73 overtime loss to the Skyhawks.

"We're excited about this game," Nutt said. "Obviously we beat them once already, so we're certainly going in with some confidence."