Loaded OVC – Austin Peay Edition

One-On-One With Matt Figger

(St. Louis, MO) – Ohio Valley Conference fans are excited about the coming season. Rarely has the league-wide collection of talent been so deep and so strong. Austin Peay is one of the most talented teams in the loaded OVC. Twelve of the league’s top 15 players return. Two of those players are on coach Matt Figger’s team.

OVC ‘Player of the Year’, Terry Taylor and ‘Freshman of the Year’ Jordyn Adams return after flirting with the NBA draft. The Governor standouts finished first and sixth in the league scoring race. Taylor has been a first-team, All-OVC player, three straight seasons. He is a once-in-a-generation type player.

The 6’5 senior has accumulated 1,923 points, 947 rebounds, makes 6o.8% of his two-point attempts and 35.5% from deep. Oh yeah, he’s also on the APSU Dean’s List.

Adams wasn’t bad! He became the third freshman Governor to record 500 points (574) and earned an OVC record TEN, FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK awards. Ten! He finished sixth in the league’s scoring race (17.4 points per game) while making 60 three-pointers at a 37.7% clip. The 6’3 Texas native is the perfect combination for his veteran teammate.

The college basketball offseason, however, has been anything but normal for coaches and players.

Dealing With Offseason Tensions

Fourth year head coach Matt Figger says there was plenty to worry about when the coronavirus shutdown college athletics and whole universities. He was concerned for his players’ health, education and well-being, but also wondered if players would choose to go to school closer to their home towns.

After their OVC Tournament appearance, Figger sent his players home (it was Spring Break), and they never returned for the Spring Semester. Their return this summer was a celebration.

 

 

Perhaps Figger’s down-to-earth and engaging way of coaching was part of that celebration. His 62-38 record speaks for itself. His 20+ year assistant coach journey prepared him well for this assignment. He has assisted at the highest levels and he has trained several NBA players. He believes he’s mellowed a little compared to his first season in Clarksville.

 

 

Obviously, this has been an offseason of racial tensions. Figger was proactive in the early stages of the emerging national struggles. He wanted his players to gain perspective from someone they could respect. He wants his players to learn how to become solid men.

 

 

Loaded Governors – Loaded OVC

When asked about his talented team, Figger is quick to point out that they are ‘good on paper’ and that his team has to prove their status on the court. While Taylor and Adams are elite-level players, Figger says they are great young men. He is proud of the personal make up of his two star players.

He says for Taylor and Adams to have a better chance at the NBA, the Govs need to get into the NCAA Tournament.

 

 

Point guard Carlos Paez returns after a freshman season where he led the league in free-throw percentage, was second in ‘assist-turnover ratio’ and ninth in assists. Figger says the 5’10 Venezuelan struggled during the late season games after ‘hitting the freshman wall’.

Two players, Reginald Gee and Devon McCain sat last season and seem poised to be impact players. Gee, an Alabama State transfer played five games before a knee injury ended his season. He started 92 games for the Hornets. McCain was a high school teammate of Jordyn Adams’ and was rated as the better of the two players.

Georgia transfer, Mike Peake has become eligible and Figger is waiting on two other high-level Division 1 transfers (D.J. Peavey & Corbin Merritt) to receive their individual waivers. Figger is high on his newcomers.

 

 

Chasing Belmont and Murray State

In spite of the wealth of talent, teams in the loaded OVC are still chasing the league’s traditional powers. Belmont and Murray State are, as Figger says it, the league’s ‘gold standard’. Each of the OVC’s ‘blue bloods’ have won three of the past nine tournament titles. They tied for the conference championship last season, with Belmont defeating the Racers for the tournament title.

Austin Peay finished third for the second time in Figger’s three seasons, and Eastern Kentucky finished fourth. EKU coach A.W. Hamilton was named coach of the year.

Figger quotes hall-of-fame wrestler Rick Flair when asked ‘who can knock off those top two teams?’ He says the league is loaded, but to be the man ….

 

 

While Belmont lost all-league wing Adam Kunkel to transfer, they and the Racers each return two, all conference players. During our entire conversation, Figger discusses virtually every team in the loaded OVC.

Figger is the third of our recent interviews with OVC coaches. Hamilton and Tennessee State’s Penny Collins are the other two.

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