RICHMOND, Ky. – After knocking off Ohio Valley Conference East Division leader Belmont on Thursday, the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team will look to continue its strong play at home against Tennessee State University on Saturday.
The game will start at 7 p.m. The live radio broadcast is available in the Richmond area on WCYO 100.7 FM, and can be heard worldwide on EKUSports.com. A live free video broadcast is available on OVCDigitalNetwork.com.
The Colonels will wear pink warm-up shirts to help raise awareness and support for the fight against cancer.
Eastern Kentucky shot 57 percent from the field on Thursday against Belmont. It was the highest shooting percentage against an NCAA Division I team by the Colonels this season. Eastern out-scored Belmont by 22 points off turnovers (32-10), the largest edge in points off turnovers since out-scoring UC-Clermont by 40 (Nov. 22).
After going through a stretch allowing 70 or more points four times over a six game period, Eastern has held its last two opponents below 70 points. In its five OVC wins, EKU has held its opponents to 60 points per game. Tennessee State averages only 58 points per game this season.
Eastern’s Corey Walden is the only player ranked in the top-10 in the OVC in scoring (2nd), field goal percentage (8th), assists (7th) and steals (1st). He has 18 steals in his last five games, an average of 3.6 per game. Walden is third in the country with 2.91 steals and 31st with 19.0 points per game.
Senior Eric Stutz has come on strong the last six games, averaging 20 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists while shooting 67 percent from the field. Stutz has set new career scoring highs in each of his last two home games in McBrayer Arena. He scored what was then a career-best 24 points against SIUE (Jan. 17) and then surpassed that with 27 points against Belmont on Thursday.
Tennessee State snapped a six-game losing streak by beating Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State at home last week. The Tigers lost 72-57 on Thursday at Morehead State. TSU is last in the OVC and 338th among 345 NCAA Division I in scoring. The Tigers have held their opponents to 66.5 points and lead the conference in three-point field goal defense (31.3 percent).
Of the 10 players that have seen action this season for Tennessee State, only one is a senior and five are freshmen. Jay Harris, a 5-foot-10 senior guard, leads the team in scoring at 10.9 points per game. No other Tiger averages in double figures. Christian Mekowulu, a 6-foot-9 freshman, is the team’s top rebounder (6.1 rpg).
Mekowulu scored a team-best 20 points off the bench at Morehead State. Harris was held to three points on 1-of-6 shooting. TSU made 36 percent of its shots while MSU knocked down 53 percent.
This is the 56th meeting between the two teams with EKU leading the series 30-25. The Colonels are 17-11 all-time against Tennessee State in Richmond. Eastern has won eight of the past 11 meetings overall and six straight at McBrayer Arena.
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