Southeast Missouri at LMU Classic

Southeast Missouri at Loyola Marymount
Date: Friday, Nov. 14
Tip-Off: 8 p.m., CT
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Arena: Gersten Pavilion (4,156)
Series History: First Meeting
Coaches: Dickey Nutt (256-278 overall; 67-91 at Southeast Missouri; 34-50 OVC). Mike Dunlap (328-105 overall; First Season at Loyola Marymount).

Media Coverage
Radio: ESPN 92.9 FM; Real Rock 99.3 FM (Erik Sean)
Video: LMULions.com
Live Stats: LMULions.com
Twitter Updates: @SEMOmbb
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri

Southeast Missouri vs. San Diego
Date: Saturday, Nov. 15
Tip-Off: 4:30 p.m., CT
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Arena: Gersten Pavilion (4,156)
Series History: First Meeting
Coaches: Dickey Nutt (256-278 overall; 67-91 at Southeast Missouri; 34-50 OVC). Bill Grier (102-128 overall; 102-128 at San Diego).

Media Coverage
Radio: ESPN 92.9 FM (Erik Sean)
Video: LMULions.com
Live Stats: LMULions.com
Twitter Updates: @SEMOmbb
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri

Redhawks Head West
Southeast Missouri will tip off its 2014-15 season on the West Coast when it participates in the LMU Classic hosted by Loyola Marymount this weekend. The Redhawks will face Loyola Marymount on Friday at 8 p.m., CT, and San Diego on Saturday at 4:30 p.m., CT. Boise State is also competing in this year's event.

Follow the Redhawks
Friday's game will be broadcast live on the radio at ESPN 92.9 FM. Saturday's contest will air on ESPN 92.9 FM and Real Rock 99.3 FM. Erik Sean will be on the call for both games. Free video and live stats are available online at LMULions.com.

Basketball is Here!
The 108th season of Southeast Missouri basketball officially begins Friday when the Redhawks take the court against Loyola Marymount. Southeast is presently 1209-1069 overall in its basketball history. The Redhawks also hold a 257-330 record in 23 seasons at the NCAA Division I level.

Season-Openers
Southeast is 9-14 all-time in season-openers since joining the NCAA Division I ranks in 1991-92. The Redhawks have lost eight-straight season-opening games, all of which were on the road. Southeast lost to Kansas in 2012-13, Missouri in 2011-12, UAB in 2010-11, Saint Louis in both 2009-10 and 2013-14, New Mexico in 2008-09, Xavier in 2007-08 and Arkansas in 2006-07 during that stretch.

Nutt Enters Sixth Season
Dickey Nutt enters his sixth season as head coach at Southeast. Nutt's teams have improved each of his first five seasons at the helm. The Redhawks, who advanced to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament four the fourth-straight year in 2013-14, went 18-14 overall. The 18 victories were Southeast's most in a season since 2000-01.

Series History
Southeast's 2014-15 season starts with games against two West Coast Conference opponents in Loyola Marymount and San Diego. The Redhawks have never faced a school out of this conference which also includes BYU, Gonzaga, Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, San Francisco, Saint Mary's and Santa Clara.

Starting Debuts
Point guard J.J. Thompson, forward Aaron Adeoye and guard Isiah Jones are expected to make their first career starts with the Redhawks Friday. Thompson sat out the 2013-14 season due to NCAA Division I transfer rules. He was a two-year starter at Houston before coming to Southeast. Adeoye averaged 3.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 32 games and 15 starts at Western Kentucky a year ago. Jones averaged 5.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 21 games and 17 starts at Odessa College last season. He, too, has previous Division I experience, playing one season (2012-13) at UAB prior to Odessa College.

Returning Starters
The Redhawks return three starters this season in guard/forward Jarekious Bradley, forward Nino Johnson and guard Antonius Cleveland. Both Johnson and Cleveland will start Friday's season-opener. Bradley, who earned Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference honors, did not make the trip due to a quad contusion injury.

Scoring Power
Southeast brings back four of its top five scorers from last year's team. Jarekious Bradley ranked second on the team and third in the Ohio Valley Conference with 19 points per game. Antonius Cleveland (9.1 ppg), Nino Johnson (8.5 ppg) and Josh Langford (7.5 ppg) followed. Those four combined for 66 double-digit scoring games in 2013-14.

Statistically Speaking
The Redhawks ranked among the top-10 teams in the nation in field goal percentage (2nd, .499), scoring offense (6th, 82.9 ppg) and assists (7th, 16.7 apg) a year ago. Southeast led the OVC in each of those categories, as well. The Redhawks registered their highest scoring average in a season since 1993-94 (81.7 ppg).

Johnson Chases Blocks Record
Senior forward Nino Johnson needs 37 blocks to break Southeast's all-time career record. Johnson had a single-season record 84 blocks in 2012-13. He currently has 120 in his career and ranks third behind William "Bud" Eley (156 blocks, 1995-99) and Tyler Stone (124 blocks, 2011-14). Johnson was third on the team with 28 swats a year ago.

Exhibition Recap
Southeast won both of its exhibition games last week. The Redhawks beat Missouri Baptist, 97-69, on Nov. 3 and Fontbonne, 103-61, on Nov. 8. Both of those games were at the Show Me Center. Southeast had 10 different players score in each of the contests. Nino Johnson also had a double-double in both games and Isiah Jones led the Redhawks with 19 points in their latest effort against Fontbonne.

Winning Seasons
Southeast posted winning seasons each of the last two years. The Redhawks went 17-16 overall in 2012-13 and 18-14 in 2013-14. If Southeast finishes the year with a winning record, it will mark only the second time in its NCAA Division era where it recorded three-straight winning seasons. The Redhawks have had a total of seven winning seasons since joining the NCAA Division I ranks in 1991-92. Southeast last had winning seasons three-straight years from 1997-2001 (14-13 in 1997-98, 20-9 in 1998-99, 24-7 in 1999-2000, 18-12 in 2000-01).

Tournament Play
This year marks the fourth different tournament the Redhawks partake in since Dickey Nutt took over as head coach. Southeast is 5-5 all-time in in-season tournament games. Southeast also participated in the 2009-10 Basketball Travelers Classic (Normal, Ill.), 2011-12 CBE Classic (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and 2013-14 Cure UCD Classic (Puerto Vallarta, Mexico). The Redhawks went 3-0 and won the last tournament they played in a year ago.

Redhawks Picked Second in OVC West Division
Southeast was picked second in the West Division and third overall in the 2014-15 Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll released on Oct. 21 at the league's annual media day in Nashville, Tenn. The redhawks collected 109 points and two first-place votes in the overall voting by OVC head coaches and sports information directors. Murray State was picked this year's preseason favorite with a total of 22 first-place votes and 132 points. MSU sophomore guard Cameron Payne was tabbed OVC Preseason Player of the Year. SIU Edwardsville (77 pts.), Austin Peay (70 pts.), Eastern Illinois (64 pts.) and UT Martin (40 pts.) rounded out the balloting in the West Division. Meanwhile, Belmont (125 pts.), Morehead State (103 pts.), Eastern Kentucky (102 pts.), Tennessee Tech (71 pts.), Jacksonville State (52 pts.) and Tennessee State (40 pts.) completed the order of finish in the East Division.

Bradley Nabs Preseason All-OVC Honors
Senior guard/forward Jarekious Bradley was one of 10 players named to the Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference Team. A native of Memphis, Tenn., Bradley earned Second-Team All-OVC and All-Newcomer honors in 2013-14. He averaged 19 points per game and knocked down 75 three-pointers in his first year with the Redhawks.

New Coaches
First-year assistant coaches Stetson Hairston and Justin Argenal will accompany Dickey Nutt on the bench this season. Hairston comes to Southeast after spending the last two seasons under Rodney Watson at the University of Southern Indiana. Prior to USI, Hairston coached at the University of Montevallo, Lincoln Trail College, Southwestern Illinois College and Chipola College. As a player, Hairston was a four-year starter for Southern Illinois. The Salukis won four Missouri Valley Conference titles, made four NCAA Division I Tournament appearances and produced a record of 104-28 with Hairson on the roster. He finished his career with over 1,000 points and 500 rebounds, while earning a pair of All-Conference and All-Defense awards. Argenal spent the 2013-14 season at The Citadel where he was an assistant coach under Chuck Driesell. Before that, he worked two seasons as director of basketball operations at Louisiana Tech. Jamie Rosser, who has been with Nutt the entire time he has been at Southeast, was promoted to associate head coach this season.

Three SEC Schools Highlight 2014-15 Schedule
Southeast's 2014-15 schedule includes 29 games and features 14 matchups at the Show Me Center. The Redhawks will play a tough non-conference schedule in addition to their 16-game Ohio Valley Conference slate. Southeast's non-conference schedule has three SEC opponents in Missouri (Dec. 2), Arkansas (Dec. 20) and Ole Miss (Dec. 22), as well as, regional home games against Southern Illinois (Dec. 10) and Missouri State (Dec. 13). The Redhawks open OVC play on the road at Belmont (Jan. 1).