Eagles back in action versus Morehead, SIUE

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball returns to action in the Ohio Valley Conference with a visit to Morehead State University Thursday and by hosting Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Saturday. Tipoff Thursday at Morehead is slated for 6 p.m. (CST), while Saturday’s home game with SIUE is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start.
 
USI (8-7, 1-1 OVC) is coming off a 1-1 start in conference play after posting an 86-81 win over Southeast Missouri State University and a road loss at Eastern Illinois University, 91-80. The win over SEMO takes USI’s 2022-23 home record to a perfect 7-0.
 
The Eagles, who have won five of their last seven games, have four players averaging in double-digits and are led by senior guard Jelani Simmons (Columbus, Ohio) with 13.5 points per game. He is followed by graduate forward Trevor Lakes (Lebanon, Indiana) and sophomore guard Isaiah Swope (Newburgh, Indiana) with 13.0 points and 11.6 points per outing, respectively.
 
Senior forward Jacob Polakovich (Grand Rapids, Michigan) rounds out the double-digit scorers with 11.5 points per outing and is posting a team-best 11.1 rebounds per game.
 
Morehead is 8-7, 1-1 OVC, after splitting its start of OVC play. The Morehead Eagles started conference action with an 83-75 victory over Tennessee State University before falling 64-57 to the University of Tennessee Martin.
 
Senior guard Mark Freeman leads Morehead with 13.2 points per game, while graduate forward Alex Gross follows with 11.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per contest. 
 
Thursday’s matchup between USI and Morehead will be the first ever meeting between the two programs.
 
The SIUE Cougars are 10-5 overall and 1-1 in the OVC after splitting its start in OVC play. SIUE won at Tennessee Tech University, 64-51, before falling at SEMO, 82-73.
 
SIUE is led in 2022-23 by sophomore guard Ray’Sean Taylor, who is posting 14.3 points per game, and sophomore forward DeeJuan Pruitt with 11.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per outing.
 
In the series, SIUE won the last meeting between the two programs when both were members of the GLVC, but USI has won three of the last four. USI has split the last 10 meetings with SIUE but is 15-5 against the Cougars in the last 20 games. The Eagles have the longest winning streak in the series, winning 13-straight games between the 1997-98 and the 2003-04 seasons.