Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team set for rematch with UTM

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt is convinced his team is finally playing its best basketball of the season with five regular-season games remaining.

Tonight kicks off a two-game homestand for the Redhawks, who will get to see how their best stacks up against the top two teams in the Ohio Valley Conference West Division.

Southeast hosts UT Martin, which is second in the west, in an 8:05 p.m. contest at the Show Me Center tonight that will be nationally-televised on the CBS Sports Network, and faces league leader Murray State on Saturday.

"Defensively we've been pretty good, and everything else offensively we're doing better," Nutt said. "We're shooting the ball better. We're shooting the three better. We're shooting free throws better. We're doing a lot of things as a team where I feel like we're gelling, and hopefully we're gelling at the right time."

The Redhawks are currently tied for seventh in the OVC standings with a 5-6 record. They're 11-13 overall.

UT Martin boasts the league's second-best record at 7-3. The Skyhawks are 15-8 in coach Heath Schroyer's first season and are one win away from doubling their total wins from last season and securing the program's first winning season since 2008-09. "I think that this is a pivotal week for us, and I want to encourage our fans to get out and get behind this basketball team because I think they'll like what they see," Nutt said.

UTM defeated Southeast 70-53 in the team's first meeting in Martin, Tennesse, two and a half weeks ago.

The Redhawks were without leading scorer, senior guard Jarekious Bradley, who did not make the trip out of punishment for missing an 11 a.m. class the day before.

Southeast remained within reach of the Skyhawks in the loss before the offense faltered. The Redhawks scored just seven points over the final 11 and a half minutes as UTM pulled away.

Junior guard Isiah Jones scored 21 points in Bradley's absence, while Deville Smith, Twymond Howard, Alex Anderson and Marshun Newell each scored in double figures for UTM. The Skyhawks shot 49 percent and hit 7 of 13 3-point attempts.

UTM has won two straight since losing by three to Murray State.

Southeast lost to the Racers by 10 points on Feb. 5, a game that Bradley missed due to a concussion.

Bradley did play in the Redhawks' 68-64 come-from-behind victory over Eastern Illinois on Saturday. He finished with nine points.

"I thought in the second half the other night, he kind of got in groove a little bit, kind of got back into that groove that we need him to be in," Nutt said. "Obviously being in and out all year with injuries and things, he hasn't been the Jarekious Bradley that we expected him to be, but I do feel like the second half of last game, and then carrying that over to practices this week, he's had an outstanding week. Not only him, but the entire team.

"We still feel like we're playing our best basketball right now."

A pair of freshmen helped Southeast secure the win over the Panthers.

Guard Marcus Wallace finished with 18 points in 31 minutes off the bench to lead the Redhawks and was named the OVC's Freshman of the Week.

Sikeston native and walk-on guard JT Jones scored just two points in his first game since Dec. 28, but Nutt and players credited him with providing the energy the Redhawks needed midway through the second half.

Nutt said there's "no question" that those two can be expected to play tonight.

"Marcus Wallace is certainly very capable and deserving to be on that floor, so look for him to try and get those same minutes that he had the other night," Nutt said. "Also, JT Jones, we've worked him with that first group all week long. He's been very, very good.

"Sometimes as a coach we get kind of caught up in our ways, and it just takes someone to knock you in the head maybe to recognize that maybe somebody else over there can help us and spark our basketball team. And that's just what JT Jones has done for us. Not only that, but after putting him in the mix for the last three days, he has proven to be improving every day. We look forward to him being in there and to give us that same spark that he gave us the other night."