No. 6 seed Austin Peay (14-12, 10-10) vs. No. 3 seed Eastern Kentucky (21-6, 15-5)
Ohio Valley Conference Tourney First Round, Ford Center, Evansville, Indiana; Thursday, 10:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Austin Peay is set to square off against Eastern Kentucky in the opening round of the OVC tournament. The teams split the regular season series at one win apiece. The teams last played each other on Feb. 4, when the Governors shot 53.7 percent from the field while holding Eastern Kentucky’s shooters to just 43.5 percent en route to a 15-point victory.
TEAM LEADERS: Eastern Kentucky’s Wendell Green Jr. has averaged 15 points and 5.1 assists while Tre King has put up 15.2 points and 6.3 rebounds. For the Governors, Terry Taylor has averaged 21.7 points and 11 rebounds while Mike Peake has put up 10.6 points and 5.2 rebounds.TERRIFIC TERRY: Taylor has connected on 28.6 percent of the 84 3-pointers he’s attempted and has gone 2 for 13 over the last three games. He’s also converted 80.2 percent of his free throws this season.
PERFECT WHEN: The Colonels are 19-0 when holding opponents to 48.3 percent or worse from the field, and 2-6 when opponents shoot better than that. The Governors are 13-0 when they hold opponents to 71 points or fewer and 1-12 whenever opponents exceed 71 points.
PASSING FOR POINTS: The Colonels have recently converted baskets via assists more often than the Governors. Eastern Kentucky has 53 assists on 93 field goals (57 percent) across its previous three outings while Austin Peay has assists on 36 of 78 field goals (46.2 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: The Eastern Kentucky defense has forced opponents into turnovers on an impressive 24.9 percent of all possessions, which is the seventh-highest rate in the country. The Austin Peay offense has turned the ball over on 21 percent of its possessions (ranked 276th among Division I teams).
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