By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
GAME NOTES (PDF) | SCHEDULE PAGE (LINKS TO LIVE VIDEO, LIVE AUDIO AND LIVE STATS)
MOREHEAD, Ky. — Coming off a tough season-opening road trip, Morehead State men’s basketball is excited to finally showcase the squad in a regular-season game in front of friendly fans. The Eagles host Kentucky Christian Monday night at 7 p.m. ET.
MSU dropped games at Auburn and UAB to open the year. KCU, which will treat Monday’s game as an exhibition, is 1-4 with a seven-point loss to Point (Ga.) Saturday.
The game can be heard on the Eagle Sports Radio Network with Chuck Mraz and Drew Barnette. It’s also available on MSUEagles.com as well as WGOH 100.9 FM/1370 AM. The game will also air live on ESPN+ with Jared Stacy and Tom Lewis providing the voices.
2021-22 RECORDS
MOR: 0-2 (0-0 OVC) | KCU: 1-4 (1-3 Appalachian Athletic)
SERIES RECORDRecord vs. KCU: 9-0First Meeting: 2/1/03 (MSU won 88-39)Last Meeting: 12/12/17 (MSU won 85-57)Streak: MSU, 9 GamesRecord in Morehead: 9-0Record in Grayson, Ky.: 0-0
NOTABLE• Morehead State leads the the all-time series 9-0 with its closest university to campus, KCU. There have also been two other exhibition games between the two programs. In the last four matchups with KCU, MSU has averaged 102.7 points (including the largest victory margin in program history 121-49 in 2014) and have outscored the Knights by an average margin of 50.2.
• In the first two games, Morehead State has performed admirably in the rebound column. After out-rebounding 24 opponents in 2020-21, The Eagles are off to a fast start on the boards again. They have out-rebounded Auburn and UAB by a 10.5 margin
• Freshman center Johni Broomecollected plenty of hardware in his first collegiate season. The OVC Freshman of the Year was also crowned OVC Tournament Most Valuable Player, one of just three players in OVC history (Monty Wilson, Tennessee State [1993] and Isiah Canaan, Murray State [2009]) to earn MVP honors as a freshman. He was also named First-Team All-OVC, OVC All-Newcomer and First-Team NABC District 18 as well as Freshman All-America by CollegeInsider.com.
• Johni Broome posted his first double-double of 2021-22 and 14th of his career at UAB. Broome had 20 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. It marked the 9th 20+ point game of his young career.
• Johni Broome has been named to the Lou Henson Award Preseason Watch List, which honors the nation’s top Mid-Major Player.
• Junior guard Skyelar Potter also posted a double-double at UAB, the fifth of his Eagle career. Potter had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Broome and Potter also both had double-doubles in the OVC Championship game versus Belmont last spring.
• Sophomore guard Ta’lon Cooper has 210 assists in just 63 career games for the Eagles, for 3.3 per game. He had 15 games with 4+ assists in 2020-21 and 10 of that variety in his freshman year in 2019-20.
• Grad transfer Tray Hollowell is starting to find his range. After nailing 123 three-balls at Wofford his last two seasons before joining the MSU program, Hollowell nailed a trio of trios at UAB.
• Morehead State’s 19 free throws made at UAB was the most since hitting 31 versus Belmont at home last February. The Eagles also shot 73 percent at the line versus UAB and are hitting free tosses at better than 70 percent in the first two games.
• The Eagles would like to cut down on turnovers. MSU is averaging 19.5 mistakes so far, allowing its first two foes to score 47 points off Eagle turnovers.