OVC Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)

17. Jr. Clay

A 6’0 point guard from Chattanooga, Clay had himself quite the college career in his home state of Tennessee, playing for a pair of OVC programs. His journey began at Tennessee Tech back in 2018, where he became a star in their backcourt for the next four seasons. Clay’s bonus year from the pandemic was spent at rival Tennessee State, where he had by far his best offensive season.

In his freshman campaign, Clay hit 39% of his 3-pointers and was good for 14.4 points and 4.3 assists per game. He’d actually average at least 13 points per game in each of his five seasons in the OVC, with decent assist numbers the entire time. He performed well for the Golden Eagles, though they lacked postseason success, but really stood out in that final year at Tennessee State. He’d average 19.3 points and 5.5 assists per game in that lone season with the Tigers, including a 34-point performance in an OVC Tournament loss to Southeast Missouri State.

Clay achieved something that may never happen again, earning All-OVC honors in all five seasons in his career. He was actually Second Team All-OVC for all four seasons at Tennessee Tech before evolving as an offensive player with the Tigers, finally getting the First Team honor in 2023. He’s spent this last half decade high up on the yearly leaderboards in assists and steals as well and has had quite the run in the OVC.