Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team's lack of consistency irks Nutt

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt acknowledges that a lack of consistency has been among his major concerns so far this year.

"Our consistency in practice is good," he said. "When we get to games, it's not where we want it to be."

The Redhawks, who are coming off arguably their best performance of the season, will try to start giving Nutt the consistency he seeks when they host Ohio Valley Conference opponent Jacksonville State at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

Southeast, 6-7 overall, won its OVC opener Wednesday for the first time since 2006-07 by routing visiting Morehead State 67-51.

The Redhawks scored the first 15 points and were in control throughout to improve to 5-2 at the Show Me Center this year.

That effort, combined with a victory at Sacramento State on Dec. 22, gives the Redhawks their second two-game winning streak of the season.

"Confidence is the biggest key word in college basketball," Nutt said. "We're improving every day and we've got some confidence now. The win at Sacramento State was big and then we had a very good game against Morehead State."

After taking apart the defending OVC tournament champion Eagles, the Redhawks now will try to take down a team that finished last in the OVC a year ago.

Jacksonville State went 5-25 overall and 3-15 in league play last season, although one of the wins was at Southeast.

The Gamecocks are off to a 5-10 start. They already have matched their victory total from a year ago, but have lost their first two conference games -- at home to Eastern Kentucky and at first-year OVC member SIU-Edwardsville.

JSU leads the OVC in field-goal percentage defense (41.9) but are last in field-goal percentage (40.0) and 3-point field-goal percentage (25.3).

The Gamecocks are paced offensively by junior forward Tarvin Gaines and sophomore guard Brian Williams with averages of 12.2 and 11.4 points per game, respectively.

"They're a good defensive team. We've got our hands full," Nutt said. "In our league, anybody can win at any given time. It's important we protect our home court."

Defense has been a Southeast sore spot for much of the season, but the Redhawks turned in one of their top defensive performances against Morehead State.

Senior forward Leon Powell said that area is key for the Redhawks, who boast one of the OVC's top offenses.

"Sometimes you're not going to be able to hit shots, but you can always play defense," Powell said. "That's our main focus, playing defense."