LIVE STATS | FREE LIVE WEBCAST | LIVE AUDIO | Game NotesRICHMOND, Ky. – A No. 2 seed and a double bye into the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament semifinals will be on the line when Eastern Kentucky hosts Tennessee Tech on Saturday.
The Colonels (18-10, 10-5 OVC) won three games in three days to capture the 2014 OVC Tournament Championship. A win on Saturday would mean the Colonels can repeat by winning just two games in the league tournament. A victory over the Golden Eagles will also assure EKU of a top-3 finish in the conference standings for the third straight year.
The game will start at 7 p.m. ET. Saturday is Faculty & Staff Appreciation Day presented by Delta Dental. All faculty and staff get two free tickets when they present their voucher at the door. The live radio broadcast is available in the Richmond area on WCYO 100.7 FM, and can be heard worldwide on EKUSports.com. A live free video broadcast is available on OVCDigitalNetwork.com.
Seniors
Deverin Muff,
Eric Stutz,
Robbie Stenzel,
Corey Walden and
Timmy Knipp will be honored before the game.
Eastern began the week needing to win three home games in six days to secure first place in the OVC East Division and the No. 2 seed that comes with it. The Colonels dispatched Austin Peay, 76-64, before downing Jacksonville State, 63-57, to get to this point.
EKU has won seven of its last eight games and has held seven of its opponents to less than 70 points during that time. The Colonels are second in the conference in scoring defense (63.2 ppg). Tennessee Tech is 10th in the same category, allowing 69.8 points per game.
Walden appears to have returned to form after being slowed by a minor ankle injury. He had 15 points, eight rebounds and four steals in 33 minutes of action against Jacksonville State on Thursday. The Daytona Beach native is now just six steals away from breaking the EKU career record.
Stutz continues to put up amazing numbers inside McBrayer Arena. In his last six home games, Stutz has shot 73 percent from the field, including 70 percent from three-point range, while averaging 21 points per game.
Tennessee Tech has lost four straight games overall and eight straight road games. The Golden Eagles are 12-17 overall and 4-11 in OVC games.
Three of Tech's top four scorers are post players. The trio of 6-foot-10 Charles Jackson, 6-foot-8 Dwan Caldwell and 6-foot-5 Josiah Moore account for 48 percent of the team's points and 53 percent of its rebounds.
Jackson leads the team in scoring (12.9 ppg) and rebounding (9.3 rpg). He leads the OVC with 17 double-doubles and is second in rebounding. Caldwell, a senior, contributes 11.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Moore, a junior transfer from Nebraska, averages 9.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per contest.
On Thursday, Morehead State scored 50 first half points in its way to an 86-73 win over Tennessee Tech. Jackson finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Aleksa Jugovic hit the team's only three 3-pointers and finished with 18 points off the bench.
This is the 130th meeting between the two programs. EKU leads the all-time series with Tennessee Tech 71-58. The Colonels have won three of the last five. Eastern is 42-22 in games played in Richmond.
