The OVC’s Dramatic Battle at the Bottom

Scrambling for the Final Spots

(St. Louis, MO) – We’re ready for the dramatic battle at the bottom of the Ohio Valley Conference. Headlines don’t usually mention the teams at the bottom of the standings, but OVC schedule makers did us a favor and created a dream scenario.

Four teams are scrambling for the final two spots in the OVC post-season tournament, and they are playing one another. Perfect theater for the final week of a pandemically challenged season.

Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois Edwardsville, Eastern Illinois and UT Martin are separated by two games for those two final spots. For these teams, that in recent history have struggled to find on-court success, an invitation to Evansville would be huge.

While Belmont’s season has been one of the best in OVC history and Eastern Kentucky seems to be making EKU history with each win, college athletics is also about those teams that are fighting for respect, struggling to build something special.

These four teams are attempting to take some of their first steps up a long mountain.

SEMO In The Driver’s Seat

Southeast Missouri and first-year head coach Brad Korn have the easiest path, but nothing is guaranteed for the Redhawks. Their (9-15, 7-11) OVC record leads SIUe and EIU by one game in the win column and UTM by two.

Korn’s squad has won two of its last three games and has already won more conference games and more contests overall than last season. SEMO has played 14, single digit games and has played into overtime five times.

Get to know more about Korn from our mid-season article.

If Southeast can defeat either Eastern Illinois (Thursday) or Southern Illinois Edwardsville (Saturday) they will play in Evansville.

SIUE & EIU – An Eyelash Apart

SIUE and Eastern Illinois are in very similar situations. They both have six wins and both play SEMO and UT Martin, but they cannot finish in a tie. The Cougars will finish the season with just 19 conference games. Should they tie in the win column, SIUe would win by virtue of a higher winning percentage.

Second year coach Brian Barone’s team has tied last season’s overall win total (8) and have surpassed last year’s conference total of five. However, the Cougars have lost five straight games and seven of their last eight.

SIUE is playing shorthanded. Cam Williams is out for the season with an ACL injury. Second leading scorer Sidney Wilson has left the team for personal reasons and Carlos Curtis is injured and probably finished until next season too. On top of those recent issues, top recruit Ray’Sean Taylor missed the entire season and highly regarded Philip Pepple has missed most of the year.

Finishing at home, as the Cougars are, would seem like an advantage, but SIUE has lost seven of its eight home games. Barone’s squad defeated UTM and lost to SEMO in previous road contests.

Eastern Illinois has rarely played with a full roster, but seems to be getting healthy at the right time. No Panther player has played, much less started in each game. Leading scorer Marvin Johnson (15.1 ppg) missed one game and started 20. Leading rebounder George Dixon missed eight games, but has played the last two.

While the Panthers are getting healthy, they are making history. Last week they swept their road games at Austin Peay and Murray State. No previous EIU team went undefeated on that road trip. Eastern may be the most dangerous team in this foursome.

Skyhawks Need a Miracle

First year coach Montez Robinson took over the team after the sudden and tragic death of former coach Anthony Stewart. Shortly after that, UTM’s best player, Stewart’s son Parker, understandably left the program. It has been an impossible situation all year.

But, they are not out of the playoff race. They are a huge long shot, but they aren’t out of it yet. Their 5-and-13 conference mark leaves them on the outside looking in, but if they sweep the weekend they could earn a miraculous trip to Evansville’s Ford Center. Several scenarios are possible for the Skyhawks, but they all begin with sweeping SIUE and EIU.

Battle at the Bottom Schedule:

Thursday –

UT Martin @ Southern Illinois Edwardsville – 5:00 pm – ESPN+

Southeast Missouri @ Eastern Illinois – 7:30 pm – ESPN+

Saturday –

UT Martin @ Eastern Illinois – 4:00 pm – ESPN+

Southeast Missouri @ Southern Illinois Edwardsville – 5 pm – ESPN+

There is also a good battle for fourth, fifth and sixth between Jacksonville State, Murray State and Austin Peay, but those seedings are not near as desperate as the drama surrounding the battle at the bottom. Survival is at stake.

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