EKU – Stealing Their Way Into Contention

Pressure Defense Leading to Conference Wins

(St. Louis, MO) – Eastern Kentucky is stealing their way into contention for the Ohio Valley Conference title. The Colonels (11-12, 8-2) have won five straight games and are doing it with high pressure defense and great team chemistry.

Heading into this week’s road trip at Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois Edwardsville they stand alone in third place and have the league’s third longest winning streak. Second-year coach A.W. Hamilton preaches pressure defense, selfless offense and all out effort.

His Colonels are listening.

EKU graduated one of the program’s all-time best players (Nick Mayo) and yet somehow are better without the super star, who is now playing professionally overseas.

Hamilton says his players believe in what they are doing and work extremely hard to achieve success.

 

 

Stealing Their Way

Hamilton’s squad is among the national leaders in steals (seventh), forced turnovers (fifth) and turnover margin (12th). The key to Eastern Kentucky success is their ability to take the ball away from their opponents. Hamilton says his team has done the hard work to be physically able to press and they have completely bought in.

 

 

EKU forces turnovers. During the team’s five game winning streak they tortured opposing ball-handlers. After an embarrassing loss to Belmont, the Colonels have put the clamps on the opposition. Their 48 steals during the streak are glimpse into what they’ve done all season. They average 9.6 per game and force almost 19 turnovers per contest.

Quality Guard Play

Hamilton has a group of guards that know how to make plays and take care of the basketball. Sophomore leader Jomaru Brown was a preseason All-OVC nominee. He leads the team in scoring and sets the pace for this young team.

Hamilton says Brown was pressing earlier in the season and now has settled into a good rhythm and his fellow guards Jacquess Hobbs and Russhard Cruickshank are playing intelligent basketball.

 

 

Many Important Parts

While the Colonel rotation isn’t long, it is solid. Sophomore forward Tre King (10.9 ppg) and senior guard Ty Taylor (12.1 ppg) both score and rebound. Freshman forward Michael Moreno has raised his scoring (7.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.7) averages during OVC play.

Senior, super-sub Lachlan Anderson is a spark plug. While he hasn’t started a game, he provides 20 minutes per game of energy and is the team’s fifth leading scorer. Hamilton says Anderson is a study in patience and hard work. After three years of both limited playing time and team success, Anderson is giving the Colonels exactly what they need.

 

 

This Week’s Schedule

EKU plays at Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois Edwardsville. They swept those to teams in Richmond. However, their victory over EIU was by three points and they edged the Cougars by six. Hamilton knows his team will have to play well during these road challenges.

Meanwhile, league leading Austin Peay and Murray State both travel to Belmont. It is reasonable to believe the Bruins could sweep the two 10-0 teams. A successful EKU road trip could mean the Colonels would be one game out of first place with six games to play.

Hamilton’s ‘band of thieves’ will be seeking to steal two road wins and are hoping to be stealing their way into contention.

Do Good

 

Listen to the interview with coach A.W. Hamilton!