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MOREHEAD, Ky. — The postseason is on the horizon for the Morehead State Men’s Basketball program. The OVC regular-season champions will take on the Clemson Tigers in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament at Clemson on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.
Morehead State is making its first-ever appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. This will be the Eagles’ 12th postseason berth in program history (8 NCAA, 3 CBI). Morehead State has an 11-12 all-time postseason record.
The game can be heard on the Eagle Sports Radio Network (WIVY-96.3 FM) with Chuck Mraz and Tom Lewis. It is also available on MSUEagles.com. ESPN+ will have the game live with Dave Neal and Terrence Oglesby on the call.
2022-23 RECORDS
MSU: 21-11 | CLEMSON: 23-10
SERIES RECORD
Record vs. Clemson: 0-2
First Meeting: 11/30/91 CLEM won 114-69 at CLEM
Last Meeting: 12/21/20 CLEM won 66-51 at CLEM
Streak: Clemson, 2 games
Record in Clemson, S.C.: 0-2
Record in Morehead: 0-0
Neutral Record: 0-0
NOTABLE
• Morehead State won the 2022-23 Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title, the program’s first since 1983-84. MSU fell to eventual tournament champion Southeast Missouri 65-58 in the OVC semifinals.
• Morehead State has won 10 OVC regular-season titles in its history: 1955-56, 1956-57, 1960-61, 1962-63, 1968-69, 1971-72, 1973-74, 1983-84, 2002-03 and now 2022-23.
• Morehead State has registered its third consecutive 20-win campaign. It’s only happened one other time in program history, from 2008-09 through 2010-11.
• Senior guard Mark Freeman is the OVC Player of the Year, graduate center Alex Gross is the OVC Defensive Player of the Year and head coach Preston Spradlin was honored as the OVC Coach of the Year. It’s the second COTY for Spradlin and his staff in the last two seasons. Freeman is the first Eagle since Kenneth Faried in 2010-11 to be named POTY and sixth Eagle all-time. Gross is the second straight Eagle to earn DPOTY and third overall. Both Gross and Freeman were First-Team All-OVC and Gross was also All-Newcomer.
• Morehead State lost four of its five starters from 2021-22 and only returned players who combined to average 13.1 points, but the Eagles still managed to clinch the OVC regular-season title.
• Mark Freeman registered six 20+ point scoring games in the regular season and OVC Tournament. He was one of just three OVC players to score 25+ in four separate games against league foes. He finished eighth overall in scoring (15.0/game) in the league. He had 10 games with at least 18 points in OVC play.
• Alex Gross is one of just 25 current players on Division I teams to score 2,000+ career points in college. He is the ONLY current player in Division I to record 2,000+ points AND 1,400+ career rebounds in college (Gross’ first four seasons were in NAIA). He is one of only 6 current Division I players with 2,400+ career college points. His career college totals stand at 2,401 points and 1,462 career rebounds.
• Alex Gross ranked first in the OVC in blocked shots with 67. He had at least one block in all but three games.
• Drew Thelwell scored in double figures in 14 of the 18 OVC games and had a career-best 24 points to lead MSU to a win at SEMO when Mark Freeman went down on the first possession. He also has 93 assists and had 4+ helpers in 12 games this year.
• Preston Spradlin ranks first among the 10 current OVC head coaches in wins at their current school (113), winning percentage at their current school (.537), conference wins at the school (73) and conference winning percentage (.580).
• Morehead State ranked first in the OVC in three-point percentage defense (.320) while ranking second in making three-pointers (.355).
• Morehead State ranked first in the OVC in scoring defense, rebound margin and fewest fouls per game.
• Jake Wolfe has NIT experience. As a member of the 2018-19 team at Lipscomb, Wolfe helped the Bison advance to the finals in New York City and won 29 games.