Southeast Missouri at Bradley

Game Information
Date: Monday, November 4, 2024
Tip-Off: 7 p.m., CT
Location: Peoria, Ill.
Facility: Carver Arena (11,060)
Series: Bradley leads, 10-2
Last Meeting in Peoria: BU 73, SEMO 60 | Nov. 19, 2022

Head Coaches
Southeast Missouri: Brad Korn (53-73 overall; 53-73 at SEMO; 31-42 OVC)
Bradley: Brian Wardle (253-203 overall; 158-138 at BU; 85-81 MVC)

Follow the Redhawks
Video: ESPN+  
Live Stats: BUBraves.com
Radio: Real Rock 99.3 FM (Erik Sean)
X: @SEMOMBB
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF) 

Southeast Missouri Probable Starters
Rob Martin, G
Troy Cole, Jr., G
TJ Biel, G
Teddy Washington, Jr., G
Brendan Terry, F

Redhawks Open Season at Bradley
•    Southeast Missouri opens its 2024-25 season at Missouri Valley Conference member Bradley on Nov. 4. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m., CT at Carver Arena.  
•    SEMO starts a season against Bradley for the second time in its NCAA Division I era.
•    The Redhawks and Braves last faced each other in a season-opener on Nov. 19, 2004. BU won that game, 77-73, in Peoria, Illinois.
•    SEMO opens a season on the road for the seventh-straight year.        
•    The Redhawks have started a season on the road every year Brad Korn has been their head coach.
•    SEMO is 3-1 in season-openers with Korn at the helm.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Series Notes
•    Southeast Missouri and Bradley meet for the 13th time in 2024-25.
•    BU holds a 10-2 lead in the all-time series that dates back to 1976.
•    SEMO is 1-9 against the Braves in Peoria.
•    The Redhawks only win on BU's home court came on Dec. 22, 1999 (65-60).
•    SEMO has dropped each of the last eight meetings between the teams with seven of those in Peoria.

Season-Openers
•    The Redhawks are 13-20 in season-opening games during their NCAA Division I era.
•    Southeast Missouri opens a season away from home for the 18th time in 19 years when it travels to Bradley Monday.
•    SEMO is 3-1 in such games under Head Coach Brad Korn.
•    The Redhawks last season-opening win, a 64-61 victory at South Florida (Nov. 7, 2022), gave SEMO three-straight season-opening wins away from home for the first time in program history.

About the Program
•    Southeast Missouri begins its 118th season of basketball in 2024-25.
•    This year marks SEMO's 34th as an NCAA Division I program.
•    The Redhawks first moved to the NCAA Division I ranks in 1991-92.
•    SEMO has a total of nine winning seasons at the NCAA Division I level.
•    The Redhawks won one Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title (1999-2000), two OVC Tournament crowns (1999-2000, 2022-23) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice (1999-2000, 2022-23).
•    SEMO has an all-time NCAA Division I record of 385-562 and is 213-328 in the OVC.

Roster Breakdown
•    The 2024-25 roster consists of 14 players, including two seniors, eight juniors, three sophomores and one freshman.
•    Rob Martin, BJ Ward, TJ Biel, David Idada, Mason Hanback, Braxton Stacker and Marqueas Bell are the returnees back from last season.
•    SEMO added six transfers and one freshman to complete this year's team.

Redhawks Picked Seventh in OVC Preseason Poll
•    Southeast Missouri was picked seventh in the 2024-25 Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Preseason Poll.
•    SEMO accumulated 86 points in the overall voting by the OVC head men's basketball coaches.
•    Little Rock was tabbed this year's preseason favorite with 200 points and 20 of the possible 22 first-place votes.
•    The Trojans were one of three teams to share last year's OVC regular-season title along with Morehead State and UT Martin.
•    Western Illinois (172 pts.), SIU Edwardsville (2 first-place votes, 151 pts.), Tennessee State (134 pts.), Morehead State (131 pts.) and Eastern Illinois (87 pts.) were also picked ahead of the Redhawks.
•    Southern Indiana (79 pts.), Lindenwood (67 pts.), UT Martin (52 pts.) and Tennessee Tech (51 pts.) round out the 11-team predicted order of finish.

Returning Starters
•    Guards Rob Martin and Braxton Stacker are Southeast Missouri's returning starters.
•    Martin led SEMO in scoring (11.9 ppg), assists (108), minutes (28.5 mpg) and free throw percentage (.885) during his first year with the Redhawks in 2023-24.
•    He ranked fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference in assists and sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.52).
•    Stacker ranked fourth on the team in scoring with 7.4 points per game and topped the Redhawks in steals (29) and blocks (15).

NCAA Division I Experience
•    Eight players on this year's roster have NCAA Division I playing experience.
•    Returnees Rob Martin, Marqueas Bell, TJ Biel, David Idada, Mason Hanback, Braxton Stacker and BJ Ward all played with the Redhawks in 2023-24. Teddy Washingon, Jr., who played one season at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, is the other.
•    Transfers Troy Cole, Jr. (Highland CC), Saxton Hoepker (Southwestern Illinois College), Elliot Lowndes (John A. Logan College), Brendan Terry (Pensacola State College) and Damarion Walkup (Olney Central College), along with freshman Jay Reynolds (Cape Central H.S.) make their NCAA Division I basketball debuts in 2024-25.

Against the Missouri Valley Conference
•    Southeast Missouri is 134-279 all-time against the Missouri Valley Conference.
•    SEMO has played Missouri State (147 games) and Southern Illinois (120 games) the most out of the MVC.
•    The Redhawks are 46-74 against SIU, 0-2 vs. Drake, 8-14 vs. Evansville, 2-10 vs. Bradley, 1-7 vs. Illinois State, 1-3 vs. Indiana State, 55-92 vs. Missouri State, 21-65 vs. Murray State and 0-12 vs. Belmont.
•    Bradley is one of two MVC schools on SEMO's 2024-25 schedule. SEMO will also travel to Murray State on Dec. 8. 

Year Five for Korn
•    Brad Korn is in his fifth year as Southeast Missouri's head coach.
•    Korn's position at SEMO is his first as a head coach.
•    He led the Redhawks to their first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance in over two decades during the 2022-23 campaign.
•    SEMO became the first #5 seed to win the OVC Tournament winning four games in four days along the way.
•    Korn is 53-73 overall and 31-42 in the OVC.
•    He was hired as the seventh head coach in SEMO's NCAA Division I era on Mar. 23, 2020.

Byrd Joins Coaching Staff
•    DJ Byrd was hired as an assistant coach to complete Southeast Missouri's staff for the 2024-25 season.
•    Byrd was briefly at Barry University last summer before arriving in Cape Girardeau.
•    Prior to that, he was on the men's basketball staff at Mercer University for five years.
•    Byrd worked as a graduate assistant from 2017-19 at Purdue with 2019 NABC National Coach of the Year Matt Painter.
•    A former standout as a player at Purdue, Byrd saw action in 130 career games and scored 880 points along the way. 
•    He made 195 three-pointers, ninth-most among Boilermaker career leaders.
•    Byrd was the Big Ten Conference Sixth Man of the Year in 2012 helping lead Purdue to three NCAA Tournaments (2010, 2011, 2012).
•    In 2010, the Boilermakers won the Big Ten Championship and advanced to the Sweet 16 before falling to the eventual NCAA National Champion Duke Blue Devils.

November Games
•    Southeast Missouri will play seven games in November, its first month of the 2024-25 season.
•    After Bradley, SEMO travels to SEC member Vanderbilt (Nov. 10) before returning to Cape Girardeau for its home-opener against Crowley's Ridge College (Nov. 13).
•    The Redhawks also host Chattanooga (Nov. 17) and Kansas City (Nov. 30) and play two games in Conway, Arkansas vs. Central Arkansas (Nov. 21) and UNC Asheville (Nov. 22).
•    SEMO is 10-13 all-time in November games under Head Coach Brad Korn.

About Bradley
•    Bradley was tabbed the preseason favorite in the Missouri Valley Conference for this upcoming 2024-25 campaign.
•    BU received 46 first-place votes and 597 points in the overall voting.
•    The Braves finished third in the MVC regular-season race a year ago and were last picked to win the league in 1999-2000.
•    Duke Deen was selected as the MVC Preseason Player of the Year.
•    Darius Hannah joined Deen on the MVC Preseason First-Team and Zek Montgomery was a Preseason Second-Team selection for BU.
•    The Braves went 23-12 overall and 13-7 in MVC action last season.

2024-25 Schedule
•    Southeast Missouri will play 31 games, including 15 at the Show Me Center in 2024-25.
•    SEMO's non-conference slate is comprised of 11 matchups, eight of which are against NCAA Division I opponents.
•    The Redhawks begin the season with back-to-back road games at Missouri Valley Conference member Bradley (Nov. 4) and Southeastern Conference member Vanderbilt (Nov. 10).
•    SEMO hosots NAIA affiliate Crowley's Ridge College (Nov. 13) in its home-opener. Crowley's Ridge is one of three non-Division I teams making trips to Cape Girardeau along with St. Mary of the Woods (Dec. 15) and Westminster (Dec. 29).
•    The rest of the Redhawks non-conference slate features games at Central Arkansas (Nov. 21), Lipscomb (Dec. 5) and former Ohio Valley Conference foe Murray State (Dec. 8), a neutral site contest against UNC Asheville (Nov. 22) in Conway, Arkansas and home matchups with Chattanooga (Nov. 17) and Kansas City (Nov. 30).
•    SEMO opens its 20-game OVC schedule at home prior to Christmas against Eastern Illinois (Dec. 19) and SIU Edwardsville (Dec. 21).
•    For the second-straight year the league membership includes 11 teams (Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, Little Rock, Morehead State, SEMO, SIU Edwardsville,
Southern Indiana, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, UT Martin  and Western Illinois).
•    In 2024-25, the Conference schedule switches to a true round-robin slate of 20 games (after being 18 games a season ago).