No. 7 seed Southeast Missouri (11-15, 9-11) vs. No. 2 seed Morehead State (20-7, 17-3)
Ohio Valley Conference Tourney First Round, Ford Center, Evansville, Indiana; Wednesday, 10:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Southeast Missouri is set to match up against Morehead State in the opening round of the OVC tourney. Morehead State swept the two-game regular season series. The teams last played on Jan. 21, when the Eagles shot 52.1 percent from the field while holding Southeast Missouri to just 37 percent en route to a 76-65 victory.
BIG MEN ON CAMPUS: Johni Broome is putting up 13.2 points and 8.7 rebounds to lead the way for the Eagles. Complementing Broome is Devon Cooper, who is accounting for 11.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. The Redhawks have been led by Chris Harris, who is averaging 12.5 points.
KEY CONTRIBUTIONS: Harris has either made or assisted on 43 percent of all Southeast Missouri field goals over the last three games. The senior guard has accounted for 10 field goals and 21 assists in those games.
PERFECT WHEN: The Eagles are 14-0 when they score at least 69 points and 6-7 when they fall shy of that total. The Redhawks are 5-0 when the team records at least 11 steals and 6-15 when falling short of that total.
ASSIST RATIOS: The Redhawks have recently converted buckets via assists more often than the Eagles. Morehead State has 33 assists on 71 field goals (46.5 percent) across its past three outings while Southeast Missouri has assists on 50 of 72 field goals (69.4 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: Both Southeast Missouri and Morehead State are ranked at the top of the OVC when it comes to getting to the foul line. The Redhawks are ranked first in the conference and have averaged 22.6 free throws and 24.8 per game over their last five games. The Eagles are ranked second with 19.4 foul shots per game, including 27 per game over their four-game winning streak.
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