Jan. 25, 2008

BASKETBALL GAME INFORMATION

Saturday, January 26, 2:00 p.m.

Southeast Missouri @ Murray State

Regional Special Events Center, Murray, Ky.

ESPN 2

THE TEAMS: Southeast Missouri is 11-10 overall and 6-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Redhawks, who have lost five straight games, have OVC home wins over Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky and road wins over Samford, Jacksonville State and Eastern Illinois. The losses are home losses to Murray State and Morehead State and road losses at Austin Peay, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech. The Redhawks also have wins over Louisiana Tech, Evansville, Culver-Stockton, Longwood and Central Methodist with losses to nationally ranked Xavier, Coppin State, Tulsa and Illinois State and Bradley from the Missouri Valley Conference. Southeast is 6-1 at the Show Me Center. Murray State is 11-7 overall and 8-3 in the OVC. The Racers have won six straight.

THE COACHES: Scott Edgar, who has been suspended for the Murray State game because of his comments on a post-game radio show following the Morehead State game on Thursday, is 22-30 in his second season as head coach at Southeast after previous head coaching stints at Murray State and Duquesne. His collegiate record is 130-125 in his ninth year as a head coach. Edgar coached at Murray from 1991-1995 with a record of 79-40. He is 1-2 vs. Murray State.

The Southeast assistant coaches, Zac Roman, Rodney Hamilton and Ronnie Dean will handle the team in Edgar's absence. Roman will be the lead coach because he was the scout coach for Murray State and helped develop the game plan.

Roman is in his first season at Southeast after spending the last five seasons at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. He was acting head coach for the second half of last season with a record of 11-9. His team won the NJCAA District 10 title and he was named District Coach of the Year.

Billy Kennedy is 27-21 in his second season at Murray State. He is 2-1 vs. Southeast.

THE SERIES: Murray State leads the Redhawks series 42-16, but the Redhawks have won three of the last four games played at Murray State.

EARLIER GAME: Murray State beat the Redhawks 79-51 on January 7 and started Southeast's current five game losing streak. The Racers jumped on top 17-2 in the first eight minutes.

LAST SEASON: The Redhawks and Racers split the Murray State winning at the Show Me Center and Southeast winning at Murray.

**REDHAWKS NOTES**.

MURRAY STATE GAME ON NATIONAL TV: Saturday's game between the Redhawks and Murray State will be televised nationally on ESPN 2. Bob Wischusen will handle the play-by-play with Stephen Bardo offering analysis.

OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS: When Southeast and Murray State met on Jan. 7 at the Show Me Center, the Redhawks entered the game 6-0 and in first place in the OVC while Murray State was 6-7 overall and 3-3 in the OVC. Murray State won the game, and since that game Southeast is 0-4 and the Racers are 4-0 in league play.

RSEC MAGIC: Southeast has fared well at the Regional Special Events Center. The Redhawks have won three of the last four games played at Murray State's new facility including the 2005 season when Southeast became the first Murray opponent to win two games in a season at Murray including the regular season game and an OVC tournament game. Southeast also ended Murray State's nation leading 47 game home winning streak in 2000.

SHOOTING WOES: During the current five game losing streak, the Redhawks are shooting just .416 from the field, .288 from three and .634 from the line while being outrebounded 42.8-36.8.

HERRING SCORES: Junior college transfer Jaycen Herring is averaging 14.1 points per game during OVC games. He is shooting .526 from the field, .375 from three and .786 from the line. The 6-5 transfer from Palm Beach CC who played his freshman season at Tennessee-Chattanooga, is the Redhawks scoring leader with 12.8 points per game. For the season, Herring who has scored in double figures in 15 of his last 17 games played, averages 12.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.

NCAA STAT LEADERS: Southeast Missouri ranks 74th nationally in scoring with 75.4 points per game, 52nd nationally in blocked shots with 4.5 per game and 52nd nationally in steals per game with 8.5.

DEPTH IS A KEY: Depth has played a key role in the Redhawks 6-5 start in the OVC. In a stat researched by Chris Forman of the United States Naval Academy, Southeast is one of six teams in NCAA Division I to have 10 or more players score in double figures this season. Wofford has 11 players while Southeast, Navy, Duquesne, Creighton and Lipscomb have 10. The Redhawks who have scored in double figures this season and their game highs include Brandon Foust (25), Will Bogan (23), Rod Pearson (22), Jaycen Herring (21), Jimmy Drew (19), Kenard Moore (18), Calvin Williams (16), Marcus Rhodes (15), David Johnson (12) and Mike Rembert (12).

PEARSON CONSISTENT: Sophomore Rod Pearson is the only Redhawks player to start all 21 games. He is second on the team in scoring with 217 points and leads in assists with 51. Pearson averages 10.3 points and 2.4 assists.

MOORE WARMS UP: Junior college transfer Kenard Moore was 5-8 from three in the win over Eastern Kentucky. Moore, the Redhawks second leading scorer in OVC games, is 29-74 (.392) from three in OVC games while averaging 10.5 points per game. At Tennessee State, Moore was 4-7 from three and led the Redhawks with 16 points.

OVC HONORS: Senior Brandon Foust was selected as a co-winner of the OVC Player of the Week honors on Jan. 7 after averaging a double-double in win wins over Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Illinois. He averaged 16.5 points and 11 rebounds per contest and also added 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

Calvin Williams, a transfer from Colorado, was named the OVC Newcomer of the Week for the second time this season after averaging a double-double in two opening OVC wins. Williams averaged 15.5 points and 11 rebounds per game in the wins over Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech. He is the Redhawks second leading rebounder with 6.4 per game and leads in blocked shots with 1.4 per game.

BENCH CONTRIBUTES: In the road win at Louisiana Tech, 29 of the 59 points came from the bench. In the OVC opening win over Tennessee State the bench scored 61 of the 102 points scored. In the road win at Jacksonville State, the bench scored 49 of 81 points. The bench scored 41 of 66 points in the OVC win over Eastern Kentucky.

IMPRESSIVE START BY BOGAN: True freshman Will Bogan, 6-10, 300, is off to an impressive start with the Redhawks. He had 23 points at Illinois State. Bogan had the game winning tip in with 1.9-seconds remaining in the win at Jacksonville State. He had 17 points against league leading Austin Peay and is shooting .592 from the field in OVC games. After 19 games played, Bogan averages 7.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.

REMBERT RETURNS: Senior post player Michael Rembert is recovering from two off season knee surgeries, and saw his first playing time of the season in the win over Culver-Stockton on Nov. 16. Rembert, who has started 13 of the last 14 games, is averaging 5.7 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

DREW FROM THREE: Long range bomber Jimmy Drew, a sophomore from Anna, Ill., is shooting .403 from three. He was 4-4 from three against Samford including the game winner with one second remaining. He is struggling with a foot injury and is doubtful for the Murray State game.

FOUST OUT FOR SEASON: Senior forward Brandon Foust, 6-6, has been lost for the remainder of the season with a knee injury suffered in a Jan. 12 game at Austin Peay. Foust, a preseason all-Ohio Valley Conference choice, injured his knee when landing from a dunk shot with 11:57 remaining in the game. He had an MRI exam in Cape Girardeau and surgery will be required.

TWO EARLY SIGNEES: The Redhawks signed two players to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period. Martino Brock, 6-5 guard from Nashville Christian Academy, and Mark Caviness, 6-5 swing player from Indian River Community College in Ft. Pierce, Fla., both signed with Southeast. Brock is averaging 22 points and 7 rebounds per game this season and was recently named MVP of the Martin Luther King Tournament in Memphis. Caviness is averaging 16 points and seven rebounds per game.

AT THE SHOW ME CENTER: Southeast has a record of 211-92 (.696) at the Show Me Center since the facility opened in 1987.

EDGAR ON RADIO: The Scott Edgar Radio Show will be heard every Tuesday, 6 p.m., on ESPN 1220 Radio. The hour long show that will include call ins, will be hosted by Erik Sean.

REDHAWKS ON TV: The Southeast game at Murray State on Saturday, Jan. 26, will be televised by ESPN 2 with a 2:00 p.m. tipoff. The following game on Tuesday, Jan. 29, the Redhawks game with Austin Peay will be televised by ESPNU, beginning at 6:00 p.m.

SID STREAK: Southeast SID Ron Hines has worked 810 consecutive basketball games. He has not missed a game since 1980.

NEXT FOR THE REDHAWKS: Southeast will be at the Show Me Center to host Austin Peay on Tuesday, Jan. 29 and Tennessee-Martin on Saturday, Feb. 2. The Austin Peay game will be nationally televised on ESPNU beginning at 6 p.m. The UT-Martin game will begin at 7:30 p.m.