LIVE STATS | WatchESPN Broadcast | LIVE AUDIO | Game NotesNASHVILLE, Tenn. – Eastern Kentucky's men's basketball team will make its 13th straight Ohio Valley Conference Tournament appearance Friday night in Nashville. As the No. 2 seed, the Colonels get a double bye into the semifinals and will face No. 3 seeded Belmont.
Friday's game will begin at 9:30 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPNU. 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 video broadcast is available online at WatchESPN.com.
Belmont (20-10, 11-5 OVC) beat No. 6 seed Eastern Illinois, 97-64, in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Eastern Kentucky (19-10, 11-5 OVC) won eight of its final nine games of the regular season, including three in six days last week to capture first place in the OVC East Division. The Colonels have finished in the top-3 in the OVC in each of the past three seasons, including posting the second best record in the conference in 2012-13 and 2014-15.
EKU captured the 2014 OVC Tournament title by winning three games in three days. The Colonels trailed for a total of 41 seconds in the three games combined and beat No. 1 seed Belmont, 79-73, in the championship game.
Corey Walden earned tournament MVP honors after averaging 23 points, four steals, four rebounds and two assists. He made 66 percent of his shots from the field and 91 percent at the stripe.
Eastern Kentucky will attempt to become the first team to repeat as OVC Tournament champions since Murray State won three in-a-row from 1997-1999. Eastern has won six tournament titles (1950, '55, '79, '05, '07, '14) and has finished as the runner-up seven times (1951, '53, '54, '65, '87, '90, '92). EKU has the third most championships and is tied with Austin Peay for the second most tournament game victories (38). Eastern is 9-3 as the No. 2 seed. The Colonels are 17-5 against lower seeded teams since seeding began in 1975.
Eric Stutz and Walden were selected to the All-OVC first team and Walden garnered OVC Defensive Player of the Year honors for the second straight year. With Walden earning first team All-OVC honors, each of EKU's three most recent point guards have earned first team All-OVC recognition.
Stutz averaged 16 points, six rebounds and three assists per game this season. The senior shot 62 percent from the field and made 47 percent of his three-pointers. Stutz ranks second in the conference and sixth in the nation in shooting. He also sits in the top-15 in the OVC in free throw percentage (4th), scoring (5th) and rebounding (11th). Over Eastern's final 13 regular season games, Stutz averaged 18 points, six rebounds and three assists per game.
Walden put up numbers worthy of OVC Player of the Year consideration. He is the only player in the conference ranked in the top-10 in scoring (2nd), field goal percentage (7th), assists (7th) and steals (1st). He averaged 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals per game while shooting 54 percent from the field and 82 percent from the free throw line. The Dayton Beach native ranks second in the nation in steals per game and 34th in scoring.
Walden has tied the EKU career record with 221 steals, which is also tied for the eighth most in the history of the OVC. His 84 steals this season are the ninth most single season total in OVC history.
While Stutz and Walden were putting together all-conference caliber seasons, fellow starters
Timmy Knipp and
Isaac McGlone turned in the best seasons of their careers. Knipp averaged 11 points and four rebounds per game while leading the team in three-pointers (65) and blocks (37). McGlone has contributed five points, three assists, two steals and two rebounds per game.
EKU has held 21 of its 29 opponents to fewer than 70 points. Eastern is second in the OVC in scoring defense at 63.3 points allowed per game. In their 11 conference victories, the Colonels have limited their opponents to 59.9 points per game. EKU won eight of its last nine by holding eight of those teams below 70 points and four of them under 60.
For three straight seasons the Colonel offense has thrived on their opponents' turnovers. EKU leads the country in turnover margin (+7.6), recently moving past West Virginia (+7.5). In 2012-13, Eastern Kentucky out-scored its opponents by 268 points off turnovers. Last season that margin grew to 287 points. This year EKU has out-scored is opponents off turnovers by 288 points. The team's turnover margin has gone from 199 two years ago to 219 fewer turnovers this season.
Eastern Kentucky has shot 50 percent or better in six of its past eight games and eight times in its last 13.
With their win at Tennessee State (Feb. 14), the Colonels set a new program record for the winningest four-year stretch. Eastern has now won 84 games over the last four years. The previous record was 80 from 2010-14.
