2020-21 Ohio Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Report December 14, 2020 Ohio Valley Conference FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 215 Centerview Drive, Suite 115 Contact: Kyle Schwartz Brentwood, Tennessee 37027 Phone: (615) 690-6685 OVCSports.com Email: [email protected] @OVCSports OVC STANDINGS (In games through December 13) CONFERENCE OVERALL W L Pct. Home Away Streak W L Pct. Home Away Neutral Last10 Streak Belmont 1 0 1.000 1-0 0-0 W1 5 1 .833 1-1 1-0 3-0 5-1 W2 Eastern Kentucky 1 0 1.000 1-0 0-0 W1 5 1 .833 2-0 1-1 2-0 5-1 W3 Jacksonville State 1 0 1.000 0-0 1-0 W1 4 2 .667 0-0 2-2 2-0 4-2 W1 Murray State 1 0 1.000 1-0 0-0 W1 3 2 .600 3-0 0-2 0-0 3-2 L1 UT Martin 0 0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 1 0 1.000 1-0 0-0 0-0 1-0 W1 Southeast Missouri 0 0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 2 2 .500 1-1 0-1 1-0 2-2 L1 Eastern Illinois 0 0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 3 4 .429 2-0 1-4 0-0 3-4 W1 SIUE 0 0 .000 0-0 0-0 - 2 4 .333 0-1 1-2 1-1 2-4 L2 Austin Peay 0 1 .000 0-0 0-1 L1 3 2 .600 1-0 0-1 2-1 3-2 L1 Morehead State 0 1 .000 0-0 0-1 L1 3 4 .429 3-0 0-3 0-1 3-4 W2 Tennessee State 0 1 .000 0-0 0-1 L1 0 2 .000 0-0 0-2 0-0 0-2 L2 Tennessee Tech 0 1 .000 0-1 0-0 L1 0 6 .000 0-2 0-4 0-0 0-6 L6 THIS WEEK’S TENTATIVE SCHEDULE LAST WEEK’S RESULTS Monday, December 14 Monday, December 7 *Eastern Kentucky at Morehead State, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+) *@Eastern Kentucky 71, Morehead State 68 McKendree at Austin Peay, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+) @Southeast Missouri 82, Lipscomb 77 Tuesday, December 15 Tuesday, December 8 Bethel at UT Martin, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+) *@Belmont 79, Tennessee State 64 Southeast Missouri at Evansville, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+) *@Murray State 87, Austin Peay 57 Transylvania at Murray State, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+) Florida A&M at Austin Peay, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+) Wednesday, December 9 @Morehead State 77, Transylvania 55 Wednesday, December 16 @Valparaiso 80, SIUE 58 Kennesaw State at Belmont, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+) @Evansville 68, Eastern Illinois 65 *Tennessee Tech at Jacksonville State, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+) @Lipscomb 80, Southeast Missouri 74 (OT) Thursday, December 17 Thursday, December 10 CU Harrodsburg at Eastern Kentucky, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+) @Morehead State 81, Transylvania 55 Friday, December 18 Friday, December 11 *SIUE at Morehead State, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+) @Southern Illinois 70, Murray State 66 *Belmont at Tennessee State, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+) Georgia Southwestern at Jacksonville State, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+) Saturday, December 12 Tennessee Tech at #10 Tennessee, 6:00 p.m. (SEC Network+) @IUPUI 69, Tennessee State 66 *UT Martin at Southeast Missouri, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+) @Eastern Kentucky 81, Transylvania 60 @Eastern Illinois 92, Western Illinois 88 Belmont 81, @Lipscomb 71 Sunday, December 13 *Jacksonville State 73, @Tennessee Tech 67 * Indicates OVC Contest ALL TIMES CENTRAL 2020-21 OVC Men’s Basketball Weekly Release - December 14 • 1 THIS WEEK’S OVC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK OVC MEDIA INFORMATION PLAYER Kyle Schwartz Asst. Commissioner/Strategic Communications Luke Smith, G • 6-0, 175, Jr. • Knoxville, Tenn. • Belmont Offi ce: (615) 690-6685 Cell: (615) 775-1937 Smith averaged 21.0 points, 4.0 steals, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists/game last week in a pair of Bel- E-mail: [email protected] mont victories. Smith, a transfer from Sewanee, hit 50 percent (14-of-28) from the fi eld, 57.1 percent Web: http://www.OVCSports.com (12-of-21) from 3-point range and 100 percent (2-of-2) at the free throw line. In the Bruins OVC opener ONLINE PRESS BOX: The OVC Basketball Online Press Box is a against Tennessee State, Smith hit 7-of-10 3-pointers on his way to 23 points in the 79-64 victory. one-stop shop for gathering information about the OVC and its member Smith also added four rebounds, three steals and an assist. The seven made 3-pointers are tied for the schools. Media can access it OVCSports.com/basketballpressbox. 11th-most by a Division I player this season. In the team’s 81-71 victory at Lipscomb, Smith hit 5-of-11 SOCIAL MEDIA: Get breaking news about the OVC by following the 3-pointers on his way to 19 points. He also added fi ve steals, four assists and three rebounds. For the OVC through Social Media. Check out the OVC sites at http://www. week Smith committed just one turnover in 66 minutes of court time. Smith’s 26 made 3-pointers so far twitter.com/OVCSports and http://www.facebook.com/ovcsports. Also this season is the second-most among all Division I players. He ranks fi rst in the OVC in steals (3.2/ check out www.YouTube.com/ohiovalleyconference and the league’s game and second in scoring (20.0/game). Smith is believed to be the fi rst player in Belmont’s Division blog at www.OVCExtra.com. I Era to score 100 or more points in his fi rst fi ve games with the program. WEEKLY NOTES: The OVC will release its Players of the Week and weekly notes report each Monday throughout the season by 5 p.m. Others Nominated: Mack Smith, Eastern Illinois; Michael Moreno, Eastern Kentucky; Chico Carter CT. The report is available via e-mail, and is posted on the league’s Web site in text and PDF versions. Statistics are updated after each Jr., Murray State; Chris Harris, Southeast Missouri; Mark Freeman, Tennessee State; Jr. Clay, Ten- gameday on the OVC Website. nessee Tech. NEWCOMER OVC SID DIRECTORY Luke Smith, G • 6-0, 175, Jr. • Knoxville, Tenn. • Belmont AUSTIN PEAY Smith averaged 21.0 points, 4.0 steals, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists/game last week in a pair of Belmont Colby Wilson (931) 221-6561 Cell Phone (615) 604-3803 victories. Smith, a transfer from Sewanee, hit 50 percent (14-of-28) from the fi eld, 57.1 percent (12-of- Email [email protected] 21) from 3-point range and 100 percent (2-of-2) at the free throw line. In the Bruins OVC opener against Website LetsGoPeay.com Tennessee State, Smith hit 7-of-10 3-pointers on his way to 23 points in the 79-64 victory. Smith also Press Row Number (931) 221-7155 added four rebounds, three steals and an assist. The seven made 3-pointers are tied for the 11th-most BELMONT by a Division I player this season. In the team’s 81-71 victory at Lipscomb, Smith hit 5-of-11 3-point- Greg Sage (615) 460-6698 ers on his way to 19 points. He also added fi ve steals, four assists and three rebounds. For the week Cell Phone (615) 512-3633 Smith committed just one turnover in 66 minutes of court time. Smith’s 26 made 3-pointers so far this Email [email protected] season is the second-most among all Division I players. He ranks fi rst in the OVC in steals (3.2/game Website BelmontBruins.com and second in scoring (20.0/game). Smith is believed to be the fi rst player in Belmont’s Division I Era Press Row Number (615) 460-8554 to score 100 or more points in his fi rst fi ve games with the program. This marks his second Newcomer EASTERN ILLINOIS of the Week award of the season. Rich Moser (217) 581-7480 Cell Phone (217) 508-8317 Email [email protected] Others Nominated: Sammy Friday IV, Eastern Illinois; Cheikh Faye, Eastern Kentucky; Darian Adams, Website EIUpanthers.com Jacksonville State; Chris Harris, Southeast Missouri; Damaria Franklin, Tennessee Tech. Press Row Number (217) 581-7770 FRESHMAN EASTERN KENTUCKY Steve Fohl (859) 622-1253 Johni Broome, F • 6-10, 235, Fr. • Plant City, Fla. • Morehead State Cell Phone (859) 200-1958 Broome averaged 12.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocks/game while hitting 66.7 percent (16-of-24) Email [email protected] from the fi eld in three games. In Morehead State’s OVC opener at Eastern Kentucky, Broome had Website EKUSports.com 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting while adding seven rebounds, two assists and a block in 28 minutes. In Press Row Number (859) 622-5908 Wednesday’s win over Transylvania, Broome played just 18 minutes, scoring three points, grabbing JACKSONVILLE STATE seven rebounds and blocking a shot. The two teams also played a day later with Broome netting his Tyler Brown (256) 782-5377 second career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Broome hit 9-of-10 shots in that game, Cell Phone (423) 619-0557 blocking three shots and netting a steal in 21 minutes. Broome leads all OVC freshmen in rebounding Email [email protected] Website JSUGamecockSports.com (7.6/game) and fi eld goal percentage (59.0%) and is second among freshmen in scoring (11.7 points/ Press Row Number (256) 782-5583 game).