OVC Basketball outlook in 2021-22 after shakeup of members

By Chris Smith | Aug 1, 2021

The Morehead State Eagles celebrate their victory over the Belmont Bruins in the Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championship at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind., Saturday, March 6, 2021. The Eagles defeated the Bruins 86-71 to win the championship title and a bid to the 2021 NCAA tournament.Ovc Mens Championship 8 /

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Murray’s Jaiveon Eaves APSU’s Carlos Paez OVC Basketball Hpt Austin Peay Murray State Basketball 28 /

Eastern Illinois

The Panthers struggled last year with a record of (9-18) overall. Eastern Illinois had one of the most experienced teams across all of college basketball a year ago, but between Covid and injuries, the team was never able to get going. Jay Spoonhour was at the helm a year ago and really got the rough end of the stick at the end of the year, by being let go. Had the team been healthy, the Panthers without a doubt should have been near the top of the standings in the OVC.

With Spoonhour gone, Eastern Illinois went out and hired the longtime midwest mid-major head coach, Marty Simmons. Simmons who was most recently at Clemson as the Special Assistant to the Head Coach has head coaching stints at SIUE and Evansville. Simmons has a head coaching record between those two schools of 272-234.

The Panthers have quite the change in roster, having had so many players graduate, but redshirt senior Kashawn Charles and Sammy Friday IV return. Charles totaled 7.7 points per game while knocking down 35 percent from distance. Friday averaged 8.9 points and over 4.5 rebounds per game.

Eastern Illinois will need to make up for the loss of Marvin Johnson who led the team in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per contest, as he was one of few that stayed healthy all year a year ago.

Murray State

The Racers are looking to improve off of a subpar year in Murray State terms. The Racers finished at .500 at (13-13) overall. Murray State will be lead by head coach Matt McMahon, who enters his 7th season as the head coach for the Racers. The Racers welcome back Tevin brown and KJ Williams.

Both are an elite presence inside the OVC. Williams nearly averaged a double-double last season per game. Williams totaled 15.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per contest. Brown who can light it up from distance (73 made 3’s last season), is also a good facilitator, he made everything look easy for his team at times, he collected over four assists per game while averaging 14.7 points on a game to game basis.

The wild card here is, Jordan Skipper-Brown. Skipper-Brown comes over as a grad transfer from Eastern Illinois. He brings plenty of Ohio Valley basketball experience and should come in right away and make a huge impact for the Racers. Skipper-Brown was one of the players hampered with injuries a season ago but still managed to score over 10 points per game in 20 contests.