Photo: Chris Radcliffe
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The defending Ohio Valley Conference Tournament champion Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team was picked to finish third this season in the East Division, the league announced today from its annual media day event. Corey Walden was selected to the 10-member preseason All-OVC team.
Walden, a 6-foot-2 guard, earned OVC Defensive Player of the Year and OVC Tournament MVP honors last season. The Daytona Beach native averaged 13.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists a year ago. He led the conference in steals per game (2.2) and ranked 16th in the nation with a total of 76 thefts. In the title contest against Belmont, Walden went off for 29 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Eastern earned four first-place votes and a total of 102 points in a poll of the conference’s head coaches and media relations directors.
Belmont garnered 16 first-place votes and 125 points to take the top spot in the East. Morehead State (103), with four first place votes, earned one more point than EKU for the second spot. Tennessee Tech (71) was a distant fourth. Jacksonville State (52) and Tennessee State (40) rounded out the division in fifth and sixth respectively.
Murray State was picked to win the West Division on all 22 ballots. The Racers are also the overall favorite to win the regular season championship with 132 points.
Southeast Missouri (109) was the second place pick in the West. Southern Illinois Edwardsville (77) was third and Austin Peay (70) was fourth. Eastern Illinois (64) and Tennessee-Martin (40) closed out the division in fifth and sixth respectively.
Walden is one of two starters returning from a team that steamrolled through the 2014 OVC Tournament, beating three teams in three days and trailing for only 41 seconds during the entire tournament. Eastern went on to nearly upset No. 2 seed Kansas in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament, leading the Jayhawks with 8:55 left in the game and trailing by only three with 3:39 to go.
EKU finished the season with a 24-10 record, the second most wins in program history.
The Colonels will host Urbana University for an exhibition game on Nov. 7 before kicking off the regular season against Savannah State on Nov. 14 at McBrayer Arena. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
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