Southeast Missouri State at Tennessee State
Gentry Center, Nashville, Tenn.
7:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 4, 2001

Southeast Missouri State at Austin Peay
Dunn Center, Clarksville, Tenn.
11 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 6, 2001
Live on ESPN

Southeast Missouri (8-4, 0-1, OVC)

 Probable Starters                    Ppg.   Rpg.
F  23  Drew DeMond, 6-7, So.          3.8    3.6
F  15  Emmanuel McCuthison, 6-4, Sr. 14.4    5.3
C 50  Terry Rogers, 6-10, Jr.         6.0    5.1
G 12  Michael Stokes, 6-0, Sr.       13.3    4.3
G 05  Antonio Short, 6-2, Sr.        12.5    3.2

Off the Bench
03  Amory Sanders, 6-1, Sr.         10.7     2.1
10  Joel Shelton, 5-9, Fr.           2.9     1.1
20  Tim Scheer, 6-7, So.             3.6     2.2
23  Drew DeMond, 6-7, So.            3.8     3.6
24  Damarcus Hence, 6-6, Fr.        2.1     1.1
30  Monte Gordon, 6-5, Jr.           3.2     2.2
44  Daniel Weaver, 6-8, So.          2.8     2.2
54  Nyah Jones, 6-11, Sr.            5.2     3.2

Tennessee State (3-9, 0-0 OVC)

F  00  Terrick Brown, 6-3, Sr.       8.7     2.8
F  41  Kyle Rolston, 6-4, Jr.       10.0     4.8
C 32  John Gilmore, 6-8, Sr.        10.3     7.9
G 24  Jamie Roberts, 6-3, Sr.       13.8     3.0
G 31  Garrett Richardson, 6-3, Fr    8.7     2.5

Austin Peay (9-3, 0-0 OVC)

F  44 Trenton Hassell, 6-5, Sr.     21.2     7.6
F  04 Theanthony Haymon, 6-7, Sr.    8.4     5.8
C 23  Joe Williams, 6-8, Sr.        11.0     7.3
G 05  Matt Jakeway, 6-3, So.         8.4     2.4
G 12  Nick Stapleton, 6-1, Sr.      18.6     1.8

THE TEAMS: Southeast Missouri State is 8-4 overall and 0-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference. In its latest outing, Southeast beat Jackson State in the consolation game of the 40th annual SunClassic Tournament in El Paso, Texas. Southeast is 0-1 in the OVC after dropping a home game to Tennessee Tech on Dec. 9. Southeast has wins over Truman State, Missouri-Rolla, Robert Morris, Cleveland State,

Campbell and Jackson State with losses to Toledo, Mississippi Valley State, Tennessee Tech and Houston. Last season Southeast was 24-7, won a co-championship in the Ohio Valley Conference and won the OVC post-season tournament. Southeast advanced to the NCAA tournament where the Indians lost to Louisiana State 64-61. Tennessee State is 3-9 on the season after dropping a 86-80 overtime game to Evansville on Monday at Evansville. The Tiger wins are over Middle Tennessee, Fisk and Trevecca Nazarine. Austin Peay is 9-3 overall prior to a Thursday night home game against Eastern Illinois.

THE COACHES: Gary Garner is 66-33 in his fourth season at Southeast and is 313-197 in his 18th year as a collegiate head coach. He won a Division II national championship when he guided Fort Hays State to a 34-0 season in 1995-96. Known for having teams ready at tournament time, Garner has taken teams to the finals of conference tournaments in six of the last seven years and has won five of those title contests. Nolan Richardson III is 3-9 in his first year as head coach at Tennessee State. Prior to a Thursday night contest with Eastern Illinois, Dave Loos is 148-148 in his 12th season at Austin Peay. He is 230-201 in his 15th season as a collegiate head coach.

THE SERIES: Southeast and Tennessee State are tied 9-9 while the Indians lead the Austin Peay series 11-9.

LAST SEASON: Southeast split with Tennessee State, winning 79-46 at the Show Me Center but losing 56-51 at Nashville. The Indians also split with Austin Peay, winning 62-60 at the Show Me Center but losing 67-64 in two overtimes at Austin Peay.

STOKES NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT AT SUN CLASSIC: Senior guard Michael Stokes was named to the 40th Annual SunClassic all-tournament team after scoring 21 points, pulling down 10 rebounds and handing out four assists in the Indians consolation round win over Jackson State. It was the first double-double for a Southeast player this season.

In the opening round loss to Houston, Stokes had 15 points, five rebounds and three assists. Stokes was the OVC Player of the Week on Dec. 18. He leads the team in assists, steals, free throw percentage and minutes played and is second in scoring and third in rebounding. Stokes, who has scored in double figures the last six games, averages 13.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. He is shooting .426 from the field, .379 from three and .812 from the line while playing an average of 32.6 minutes per game.

DEMOND ESTABLISHES NEW SUN CLASSIC RECORD: Drew DeMond established a new SunClassic tournament record for blocked shots with eight against Jackson State. DeMond's eight blocks also tied the Don Haskins Center record for blocked shots. The record came in the 40th anniversary of the tournament that has seen 160 games played. After 12 games this season, DeMond leads the OVC with 18 blocks. Last season, DeMond had 26 blocked shots in 23 games played.

TRAVEL WEARY: The entire Southeast team finally arrived in El Paso, Texas for the SunClassic Tournament on a charter flight at 4 p.m. last Wednesday after spending two days in a St. Louis hotel after flight after flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Dallas. Four players, Antonio Short, Michael Stokes, Nyah Jones and Drew DeMond got up at 4 a.m. on Wednesday (game day) for early flights to El Paso. When the Houston game ended about 12:30 a.m.(CST), the players had all been up for 201/2 hours. Stokes, playing on limited sleep, played all 40-minutes of the loss to Houston.

INDIAN DEFENSE RANKS HIGH IN OVC: In the latest OVC stats, Southeast ranks first in field goal percentage defense at .405, second in scoring defense and second in 3-point field goal percentage defense. The Indians allow 66.6 points per game and allow opponents to shoot just .322 from three. Last season, Southeast, Southeast ranked fifth nationally in field goal percentage defense (38%) and 175h nationally in scoring defense (61%).

INDIANS LEAD OVC IN SCORING MARGIN: Southeast leads the OVC in scoring margin at plus 6.1. The Indiasn average 72.7 points per game while allowing 66.6. Southeast also leads the OVC in 3-point field goal percentage at .404.

SANDERS LEADS OVC IN THREES: Amory Sanders, who did not make the trip to El Paso because of a foot injury, leads the OVC in 3-point field goal percentage at .545. Sanders, who will be available for action against Tennessee State, was 7-10 from three in the win over Robert Morris and is 24-44 for the season.

McCUTHISON LEADS TEAM IN SCORING AND REBOUNDING: Senior Emmanuel McCuthison is the Southeast leader in points and rebounds. He is averaging 14.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. McCuthison had a career high 29 points against Southern Illinois. Against SIU, McCuthison sizzled in the first half when he scored 20 points with 6-10 from the field, 4-5 from three and 4-6 from the line. For the game, McCuthison, nicknamed e-mail, was 9-18 from the field, 6-9 from three and 5-8 from the line. Earlier this season, he was named to the all-tournament team in the Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tournament in Kansas City. He averaged 15.3 points and four rebounds per game in the three tournament games while shooting 61% from the field, 50% from three and 83% from the line.

SHORT LIGHTS IT UP: Senior guard Antonio Short had a hot first half against Campbell with 17 points including 5-5 from the floor, 4-4 from three and 3-3 from the line. For the season, Short averages 12.5 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. He shoots .452 from the field and .421 from three.

DEMOND RETURNS AS STARTER AT 4 POSITION: Drew DeMond is scheduled to return to a starting role at the four position. He started the first seven games, but Monte Gordon, Tim Scheer, and Daniel Weaver have all had a shot at the starting role. DeMond has started seven games, Scheer three games, Gordon one game and Weaver one game..

POST BY COMMITTEE: Southeast continues to rotate three players at the post position. Nyah Jones averages 18.4 minutes per game, Terry Rogers averages 18.5 minutes per game and Daniel Weaver who also plays at the four position averages 10.8 minutes per game. Jones averages 5.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, Rogers averages 6.0 points and 5.1 rebounds while Weaver averages 2.8 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. Rogers is scheduled to start against Tennessee State.

INJURIES: Amory Sanders, who is suffering from a deep stone bruise on his right foot, has missed the last three games. He did not make the trip to El Paso, but is expected to return to action Thursday against Tennessee State. Monte Gordon has missed the last five games because of recurring back problems and although the back still bothers him, he will be available for action against Tennessee State. Antonio Short has tendonitis in his knees and a bad back but still starts and averages 29.8 minutes per game. Senior guard Matt Morris has not played this season because of mononucleosis. He will not make the trip to Tennessee State and Austin Peay.

SOUTHEAST PICKED THIRD IN OVC: Southeast has been picked to finish third in the league race in balloting of league coaches and sports information directors. Austin Peay was picked to win the OVC followed by Murray State, Southeast Missouri, Eastern Illinois and Tennessee Tech.

STOKES PRESEASON ALL-OVC: Senior point guard Michael Stokes was selected first team preseason all-OVC. Ranked as the 16th best point guard in Division I basketball by the Sporting News, Stokes was third team all-OVC and a member of the OVC all-tournament team last season. Antonio Short was selected as honorable mention preseason all-OVC.

AT THE SHOW ME CENTER: Southeast is 5-1 at the Show Me Center this season and is 160-46 (.777) since the Show Me Center opened in 1987. Last season, Southeast again led the OVC in attendance with 5,066 fans per game. After six games this season, Southeast averages 4,886 fans per game.

NEXT: Following the OVC road games at Tennessee State and Austin Peay, Southeast will return to the Show Me Center to host Murray State on Thursday, Jan. 11 and Tennessee-Martin on Saturday, Jan. 13. The Murray State game, which will be televised by KFVS-TV, will begin at 7 p.m. with Tennessee-Martin game scheduled for 7:30 p.m.