Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team to launch conference action at West co-favorite Murray St.

The New Year is here, and for the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team it means the Ohio Valley Conference season has arrived.

Southeast will open its conference schedule with a road game against Murray State at 7 p.m. today at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.

The Redhawks and Racers were picked as the favorites to win the OVC West Division in the preseason poll, which is voted on by conference coaches and sports information directors.

"All it means is that you're going to get everybody's best shot," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "A couple of years ago nobody paid attention to us and now all of a sudden you've got some predictions that are pretty favorable for us and so it just means that you're going to get everybody's best shot. So we've got to get out and earn that respect. As far as I'm concerned we haven't earned anything. We've done a nice job putting some pieces together. We've been able to win some games."

Southeast (8-5) finished 8-8 in conference play last season and finished tied for fifth with Morehead State. Murray State, which won the OVC West Division and made it to the OVC tournament title game last year, split games with Southeast in 2013.

The Redhawks lost 74-66 to the Racers at home on Jan. 5 before winning 84-68 in Murray, Ky., on March 2.

Murray State is 5-7 on the season -- 5-1 at home -- and looks to snap a two-game losing streak.

"They've played a lot of tough teams and on the road as well, so there's a reason why they're 5-7," Nutt said. "Just because they're not 10-0 or 12-0 like they have been in the past, they're still very, very good, a very dangerous basketball team. We're going to have to play our best basketball to be able to be successful.

Nutt said that the statistics don't really matter, especially since every team is fighting for a spot in the postseason.

"On a given night anything can happen, so you've got to play 40 minutes," Nutt said. "We don't feel like we've played 40 minutes together. I don't feel like we've had our best 40 minutes yet. Hopefully we can get it going and get out of the block and have some consistency in conference play."

One thing that Nutt is focused on is having his team play with a high sense of urgency for the entire game.

The past two games, Southeast has gotten behind by double-digits late in the game and battled its way back in the final minutes. It worked out against IUPUI, which the Redhawks beat 83-79 in overtime, but wasn't successful in Southeast's 81-78 loss to Missouri State.

"It seems like when we're 10 points down with five minutes to go we completely go crazy," Nutt said, "and that's kind of what we're trying to do. We're trying to absolutely play crazy defensively and really hound the basketball and try to get deflections."

Paul McRoberts, Jamaal Calvin and Josh Langford have helped provide some of the spark on defense while Jarekious Bradley and Tyler Stone have continued to lead the Redhawks in scoring.

Bradley, who was named the OVC Player of the Week and co-Newcomer of the Week on Monday, is averaging 20.5 points and 7.9 rebounds while Stone averages 18.6 points and 9.7 rebounds.

Senior guard Lucas Nutt, who sprained his ankle in Sunday's game, has been sick and is questionable for tonight's game.

Although Murray State doesn't return its top four scorers from last season, it does have four players averaging double figures.

Junior guard TJ Sapp, a transfer from Clemson who has played three games after sitting out for NCAA transfer regulations, is averaging 17.3 points per game.

Junior forward Jarvis Williams and freshman guard Cameron Payne average 13 points apiece. Williams nearly averages a double-double with 9.9 rebounds.

Returning players Jeffery Moss and Dexter Fields average 11.4 and 9.8 points, respectively.