Southeast Missouri (20-10, 15-4 OVC) at Eastern Illinois (11-19, 7-12 OVC)

Game Information
Date: Saturday, March 1, 2025
Tip-Off: 3:30 p.m., CT
Location: Charleston, Ill.
Facility: Lantz Arena (5,400)
Series: SEMO leads, 38-31
Last Meeting: SEMO 79, EIU 72 | 12/19/24 | Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Last Meeting in Charleston: EIU 75, SEMO 57 | 2/15/24

Head Coaches
Southeast Missouri: Brad Korn (73-83 overall; 73-83 at SEMO; 46-46 OVC) 
Eastern Illinois: Marty Simmons (321-333 overall; 39-85 at EIU; 23-50 OVC)

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Game Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF) 

2024-25 Ohio Valley Conference Champions
•    With its 83-68 win at SIU Edwardsville Thursday, Southeast Missouri won its first outright Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title and locked up the OVC Tournament's #1 seed for the first time in program history.
•    It is SEMO's second OVC Championship in three years under Head Coach Brad Korn. The Redhawks won the OVC Tournament crown in 2022-23. 

Regular-Season Finale
•    Southeast Missouri finishes up its 31-game regular-season slate at Eastern Illinois Saturday. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m., CT at Lantz Arena.
•    SEMO is on the road for its regular-season finale for the third-straight year.
•    The Redhawks look to close out the regular-season with a win for the second year in a row after beating Southern Indiana, 70-66, to end the 2023-24 campaign.
•    SEMO goes for a sweep of EIU after beating the Panthers, 79-72, in Cape Girardeau on Dec. 19.

Series Notes
•    Saturday marks the 70th meeting between Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois.
•    SEMO started its 20-game Ohio Valley Conference season and will end league play against EIU.
•    The Redhawks hold a 38-31 advantage in the all-time series. 
•    SEMO won seven of the last eight matchups between these teams and is 11-3 against the Panthers in the previous 14 games of the series.
•    The Redhawks left Charleston, Illinois with a win in three of their last four games at Lantz Arena.
•    Brad Korn is 7-1 all-time against EIU as SEMO's head coach.

Another One for the Trophy Case
•    The Redhawks won their second Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title in program history and first in 25 years.
•    Southeast Missouri's 1999-2000 team was the last to win the league's regular-season crown prior to this year.
•    SEMO shared the 1999-2000 OVC regular-season crown with Murray State and won the OVC Tournament as the #2 seed that season.
•    Next week, the Redhawks head to the OVC Tournament for the first time as a #1 seed and get a double bye to the semifinals on Mar. 7.

OVC Tournament Scenarios
•    The eight reams who will compete in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament include Southeast Missouri, Lindenwood, Little Rock, Morehead State, SIU Edwardsville, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and UT Martin.
•    SEMO is the #1 seed, while SIUE or Little Rock will be #2.
•    The #3 seed could go to either SIUE, Little Rock or Tennessee State.
•    There is also a chance Little Rock or TSU could be the #4 seed.
•    Meanwhile, the #5, #6, #7 and #8 seeds are up for grabs between Tennessee Tech, Lindenwood, Morehead State and UT Martin.

See You in Evansville
•    This year will be the Redhawks fourth Ohio Valley Conference Tournament appearance in five years under Head Coach Brad Korn.
•    The Redhawks are the #1 seed for the first time in their program's history.
•    This year's OVC Tournament will be played Mar. 5-8 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

One Regular-Season Game Left
•    The Redhawks are 15-4 in Ohio Valley Conference play with just one regular-season game left.
•    Southeast Missouri is one win away from going undefeated during the second half of league play. SEMO is currently 9-0 since the second half of OVC play began on Jan. 30.
•    The Redhawks have home wins over UT Martin (90-79, Jan. 30), Tennessee State (89-87, Feb. 1), Tennessee Tech (83-69, Feb. 15), Western Illinois (87-66, Feb. 20) and Lindenwood (74-58, Feb. 22), and road victories at Morehead State (80-51, Feb. 6), Southern Indiana (79-74, Feb. 8), Little Rock (57-45, Feb. 11) and SIU Edwardsville (83-68, Feb. 27) during that stretch.     

20 Wins
•    With its 83-68 win over SIU Edwardsville (Feb. 27), Southeast Missouri picked up its 20th victory of the season.
•    That win gave Brad Korn his most in a season as SEMO's head coach. 
•    Korn has led the Redhawks to 19 or more victories in two of his five years at the helm. SEMO went 19-17 overall and won the OVC Tournament in 2022-23.
•    Both of Korn's 19 or more win teams won an OVC title.
•    Korn's 2024-25 team was 10-10 midway through the season when it ripped off 10-straight wins to win this year's OVC regular-season title outright.
•    It is SEMO's first 20-win season in 25 years (24-7, 1999-2000) and just the third in program history during the school's NCAA Division I era. The Redhawks other 20-win season was in 1998-99 (20-9).
•    SEMO now has two winning seasons since Korn took over as head coach.

15 Conference Victories
•    With a win at Eastern Illinois Saturday, Southeast Missouri will break a program record for most Ohio Valley Conference wins in a season.
•    The Redhawks' 15 OVC victories, the most under Head Coach Brad Korn, are tied with the 1998-99 (15-3) for most in program history.
•    SEMO reached double-digit conference wins for the fifth time in program history.
•    It is also the second time in three years where SEMO won 10 or more OVC games with Korn as its head coach.
•    The Redhawks conference seasons with 10 or more wins include 1997-98 (10-8), 1998-99 (15-3), 1999-00 (14-4), 2022-23 (10-8) and 2024-25 (15-4).
•    SEMO is 16-4 in its previous 20 conference games dating back to last year's season-ending 70-66 win at Southern Indiana.
•    The Redhawks have not lost an OVC game since Jan. 23 (72-68, at Lindenwood).
•    SEMO began the 2024-25 season with a 3-0 record in OVC play marking the first time it won three-straight games to start a conference season since 2011-12.
•    The Redhawks won only four OVC contests in 2023-24.

What a Turnaround
•    The Redhawks went from finishing 10th in the Ohio Valley Conference and missing the league's postseason tournament in 2023-24 to winning the outright OVC regular-season title and claiming the #1 seed in the league's postseason tournament.
•    Southeast Missouri was 9-22 overall and 4-14 a year ago.
•    This season, the Redhawks are 20-10 and 15-4.
•    In terms of wins, SEMO's +11 margin is its biggest one-year turnaround since the Redhawks went from going 5-24 in  2015-16 to 15-18 in 2016-17 (+10).
•    In OVC play, the Redhawks' +11 jump in wins is their best one-year turnaround in conference play in program history.

Record Winning Streak in NCAA Division I Era
•    Southeast Missouri remains the hottest team in the Ohio Valley Conference.
•    With its 83-68 win over SIU Edwardsville (Feb. 27), SEMO extended its winning streak to 10 games.
•    SEMO is one of seven teams in the nation on winning streaks of nine or more games in NCAA Division I basketball.
•    Yale (12 games), High Point (11 games), Central Connecticut State (11 games), UC San Diego (10 games), Chattanooga (10 games) and Montana (10 games) are the others.
•    The 10-game winning streak is the longest in SEMO's NCAA Division I era. This year's team surpassed the 2004-05 squad for the record. The 2004-05 team previously won seven in a row.
•    The Redhawks finished February undefeated at 8-0.
•    SEMO began its current winning streak with a 72-51 road victory at Western Illinois (Jan. 25).
•    A victory Saturday, will give the Redhawks their first 11-game winning streak since the 1989-90 team won 11 games in a row under then-Head Coach Ron Shumate.
•    SEMO joined the NCAA Division I ranks in 1991-92.

Korn  Ranks Second in OVC Wins
•    Brad Korn picked up his 42nd Ohio Valley Conference win when Southeast Missouri beat Little Rock, 57-45, on Feb. 11.
•    With that win, Korn surpassed Dickey Nutt (41-59) for second all-time among SEMO head coaches in OVC wins.
•    Korn is second only to Gary Garner (73-81) in that category with his 46-46 record in OVC games.

Road Show
•    Southeast Missouri is 8-6 in true road games this season.
•    SEMO has its first winning record on the road in 25 years.
•    The Redhawks are on a five-game winning streak away from home, their longest road winning streak in their NCAA Division I era.
•    SEMO's last winning record on the road was 7-5 in 1999-2000.
•    The Redhawks went 24-straight seasons with a losing record on the road prior to this year.

Last 21 Games
•    The Redhawks are 17-4 in their last 21 games.
•    SEMO won 10 games in a row and has scored 80 or more points in six of its last nine outings.
•    The Redhawks won eight of their last 10 games by double figures.

Hot Shooting
•    Southeast Missouri shot 50 percent or better from the field in eight of its last 10 games.
•    SEMO went five-straight games shooting 50 percent or better during Ohio Valley Conference play for the first time since 2011-12.
•    That streak ended when the Redhawks shot 38.3 percent at Little Rock (Feb. 11).
•    SEMO leads the OVC with a .464 field goal percentage.
•    The Redhawks shot 53.7 percent or better in the second half each of their last four games.

Winning Halves
•    The Redhawks have won 11-consecutive halves of basketball over their last six games.
•    Southeast Missouri last lost a half when it trailed Southern Indiana, 36-35, at halftime on Feb. 8.

OVC Sweeps
•    The Redhawks completed their fifth sweep of an Ohio Valley Conference opponent when they beat SIU Edwardsville on Feb. 27.
•     Southeast Missouri also defeated Southern Indiana, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and Western Illinois twice this season. 
•    The Redhawks had only one OVC series sweep in 2023-24 (vs. Southern Indiana).

Martin is Rolling
•    Rob Martin scored double figures in 15-straight games.
•    Martin scored 15 points against Southern Indiana (Jan. 9) and followed that up with 21 vs. Morehead State (Jan. 11), 19 vs. Little Rock (Jan. 14), 13 at Tennessee Tech (Jan. 16), 12 at Lindenwood (Jan. 23), 16 at Western Illinois (Jan. 25), 18 vs. UT Martin (Jan. 30), 22 vs. Tennessee State (Feb. 1), 27 at Morehead State (Feb. 6), 15 at Southern Indiana (Feb. 8), 17 at Little Rock (Feb. 11), 17 vs. Tennessee Tech (Feb. 15), 10 vs. Western Illinois (Feb. 20), 26 vs. Lindenwood (Feb. 22) and a career-high 31 at SIU Edwardsville (Feb. 27).
•    He is SEMO's second-leading scorer with 14.4 points per game through 30 starts this season. Martin also ranks tied for fourth in scoring in OVC play with 16.2 points per game.
•    Martin finished as the Redhawks top scorer a total of 10 times in 2024-25.
•    It is the longest double-digit scoring streak of his career.
•    Martin had 31 points at SIU Edwardsville (Feb. 27) for the first 30-point game of his career. He became the first SEMO player to get over 30 points in a game since Phillip Russell (37, at Little Rock, Feb. 2, 2023).
•    He moved to 10th among SEMO's all-time single-season leaders in steals.

OVC Leader in Turnover Margin
•    The Redhawks are first in the Ohio Valley Conference with a +3.27 turnover margin.
•    Southeast Missouri is committing a league low 10.3 turnovers per game while forcing 13.6.
•    SEMO turned the ball over less than 10 times a total of 14 games this season.
•    The Redhawks had a season-low six turnovers at Western Illinois (Jan. 25).
•    SEMO forced 18 turnovers in its 57-45 win at Little Rock (Feb. 11).

Redhawks Fourth in the Nation Defending the Three
•    Southeast Missouri is fourth in the nation in 3-point percentage defense.
•    Opponents are shooting just 28.3 percent from downtown against Southeast Missouri this season.
•    SEMO has held its opponent to five or less 3-pointers made in 19 of its 30 games in 2024-25.
•    The Redhawks are behind Liberty (.272), San Francisco (.274) and Tennessee (.276) in that area.
•    There are a total of 355 NCAA Division I basketball teams.

Five-Straight Double-Digit OVC Wins
•    For the first time this season, Southeast Missouri has posted five-straight double-digit victories over Ohio Valley Conference opponents.
•    SEMO won at Little Rock (57-45, Feb. 11) and SIU Edwardsville (83-68, Feb. 27) and beat Tenneseee Tech (83-69, Feb. 15), Western Illinois (87-66, Feb. 20) and Lindenwood (74-58, Feb. 22) at home.
•    Overall, the Redhawks have 14 double-digit victories in 2024-25.
•    SEMO has won eight of its last 10 games by double figures.
•    It is the first time in SEMO's NCAA Division I era where the Redhawks won five-straight games by double figures.

Major Improvement
•    After finishing 10th in the Ohio Valley Conference in free throw shooting a year ago, Southeast Missouri is second in the      league in that category.
•    Through 30 games, SEMO is shooting 72.5 percent (356-of-491).

Washington, Jr. Delivers
•    Newcomer Teddy Washington, Jr. has scored double figures in 22 of his 29 games.        
•    Washington, Jr. finished with 17 points against SIU Edwardsville (Dec. 21) and had a double-double 28 points and 10 rebounds in his first career Ohio Valley Conference start vs. Eastern Illinois (Dec. 19). He scored 24 points in the second half of that contest.
•    He scored over 20 points five times with 25 vs. Chattanoogs (Nov. 17), a season-high 28 vs. Eastern Illinois (Dec. 19),  Kansas City (Nov. 30) and SIU Edwardsville (Feb. 27) and 21 vs. Tennessee Tech (Feb. 15).    
•    Washington, Jr. turned in a double-double on three occasions with 18 points and 12 rebounds vs. Crowley's Ridge (Nov. 13), 25        points and 10 boards against Chattanooga (Nov. 17) and 28 points and 10 rebounds vs. Eastern Illinois (Dec. 19).
•    Washington, Jr. is Southeast Missouri's leading scorer with 14.6 points per game and tops the Redhawks with 5.4 rebounds per contest, 55 three-pointers made and 55 steals.
•    He ranks ninth in the OVC in scoring and 16th in rebounding. Washington, Jr. is also third in the league in steals.
•    Washington, Jr. ranks eighth among SEMO's all-time single-season leaders in steals.

Year Five for Korn
•    Brad Korn is in his fifth year as Southeast Missouri's head coach and as already led the Redhawks to one Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title (2024-25), one OVC Tournament championship (2022-23) and one NCAA Tournament berth (2022-23).
•    Korn led his 2024-25 team, which was picked seventh in the OVC Preseason Poll, to its first outright OVC regular-season title in program history.
•    Korn's position at SEMO is his first as a head coach.
•    SEMO became the first #5 seed to win the OVC Tournament winning four games in four days along the way during the 2022-23 campaign.
•    Korn is 73-83 overall and 46-46 in the OVC.
•    He ranks third behind Gary Garner (126) and Dickey Nutt (80) in all-time wins during the program's NCAA Division I era. 
•    Korn is second behind Garner (73) in OVC victories.
•    He was hired as the seventh head coach in SEMO's NCAA Division I era on Mar. 23, 2020.
•    Korn has coached in eight NCAA Tournaments -- seven as an assistant coach and one as a head coach -- during his career.