The Ohio Valley Conference Tournament has been as tightly contested as any in league history. Ford Center witnessed an overtime thriller to kick off the tournament and the narrow decisions have continued.
Thursday’s quarter final games were decided by two and three points, but in the end the higher seeded teams have all moved on and semifinal Friday contains the leagues’ top four teams.
During a highly competitive regular season, Tennessee State (21-9, 15-5) and Morehead State (19-12, 15-5) tied for the league championship and earned the tournament’s double-bye into today’s action.
Their opponents, UT Martin (22-10, 13-7) and Southeast Missouri (19-12, 14-8) also held down the league’s top spot at various times of the campaign.
Semifinal Number One
Tennessee State swept their regular season games with UT Martin and the Tigers are loaded with talent. Player of the Year Aaron Nkrumah and fellow all-OVC guard Travis Harper II are the OVC’s second and third leading scorers and Nkrumah led the conference in steals.
Harper is the OVC’s best shooter from the arc and from the line. They are the OVC’s most explosive duo. Second teamer Dante Harris finished second in assists per game (5.1).
UT Martin is more a case of the ‘team basketball’. They have stars in first-teamer Andrija Bukumirovic and Freshman of the Year Matas Deniusas, but their success is predicated on defense and rebounding.
TSU leads the OVC in scoring and UTM leads in scoring defense. These two teams are very different in approach and style, but each is highly effective.
Game time set for 7 pm and can be seen on ESPNU.
Semifinal Number Two
Morehead State and Southeast Missouri split their head-to-head matchups. They are teams that play solid, steady basketball.
However, all conference guards George Marshall (Morehead) and Luke Almodovar (SEMO) couldn’t be more different. Almodovar is a crowd pleaser (or disturber) that fills the high-light reels with dunks.
Marshall is ‘Mr. Steady’. They each lead their team in scoring and their teammates lean on their leadership.
The frontcourt matchups between Morehead’s Jon Carroll and SEMO’s Brendan Terry will be important to watch. Carroll was the OVC’s third leading rebounder and Terry was tenth, but has been one of the most important OVC players during the back half of the season.
SEMO coach Brad Korn won the 2023 tournament. He is the only remaining coach that has net-cutting experience at Ford Center.
Game time is set for 9:30 pm and can be seen on ESPNU.