Tennessee State (19-9, 13-5 OVC) vs. Southeast Missouri (18-11, 13-5 OVC)

Game Information
Date: Thursday, February 26, 2026
Tip-Off: 7:30 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Facility: Show Me Center (7,000)
Series: SEMO leads, 32-31
Last Meeting: SEMO 91, TSU 82 | 12/20/25 | Nashville, Tenn.
Last Meeting in Little Rock: SEMO 89, TSU 87 (OT) | 2/1/25

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Coaches
Tennessee State: Nolan Smith (19-9 overall; 19-9 at TSU; 13-5 OVC)
Southeast Missouri: Brad Korn (92-96 overall; 92-96 at SEMO; 59-52 OVC)

Thursday Night Clash
•    Southeast Missouri (18-11, 13-5) and Tennessee State (19-9, 13-5), which are tied for first in the Ohio Valley Conference standings, meet Thursday. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m., CT at the Show Me Center.
•    SEMO and TSU are in a three-way tie for first atop the OVC leaderboard with Morehead State.
•    The Redhawks return home for their final two games of the regular-season after being on the road for their previous four contests.

What We Know
•    With a victory over Tennessee State Thursday, Southeast Missouri will guarantee itself the #1 or #2 seed and get a double bye in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament for the second-straight season.
•    SEMO can win the OVC regular-season title outright and claim the #1 seed in the league's postseason tournament with two wins and one Morehead State loss.
•    SEMO's win at Little Rock (Feb. 21) secured the Redhawks a top-four seed in this year's eight-team OVC Tournament.
•    Six teams have clinched a spot in the OVC Tournament field, including SEMO, Lindenwood, Morehead State, SIU Edwardsville, Tennessee State and UT Martin. The final two spots will go to either Eastern Illinois, Little Rock or Tennessee Tech. 
•    Southern Indiana and Western Illinois are eliminated.
•    This year will be the Redhawks 20th OVC Tournament appearance in program history and fifth in six years under Head Coach Brad Korn.

Series Notes
•    Southeast Missouri and Tennessee State hook up for the 64th time to finish off their home-and-home series Thursday.
•    SEMO holds a slight 32-31 edge in the all-time series.
•    The Redhawks won eight of their last 11 meetings with the Tigers.
•    TSU has lost in four of its last five trips to the Show Me Center.
•    SEMO is 19-12 against the Tigers on its homecourt.
•    Thursday will be the first time in 68 days since the SEMO and TSU last met.
•    The Redhawks defeated the Tigers, 91-82, in Nashville, Tennessee on Dec. 20, 2025.

Nine of 10
•    The Redhawks won nine of their last 10 games and enter the final leg of the regular season on a three-game winning streak.
•    Southeast Missouri is on a winning streak of three or more games for the fourth time this season.
•    SEMO's longest winning streak was six games from Jan. 20-Feb. 7.
•    The Redhawks beat Lindenwood (73-61, Feb. 14), UT Martin (56-53 OT, Feb. 17) and Little Rock (70-65, Feb. 21) on the road during their current winning streak.

Second-Straight Winning Season
•    At 18-11 overall and 13-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference, the Redhawks have put together their second-straight winning season.
•    Southeast Missouri went 21-12 overall and 15-5 in league play en route to winning the OVC regular-season title outright and earning the #1 seed in the OVC Tournament in 2024-25.
•    SEMO is in position to win the OVC regular-season crown outright and lock up the #1 seed again. 
•    In order to win the OVC regular-season title outright, the Redhawks will need to win their last two games and Morehead State will need to lose one of its final two contests.
•    If that happens, Brad Korn will become the first head coach in program history to win back-to-back OVC regular-season championships.
•    SEMO last had a winning season in back-to-back years during the 2012-13 (17-16) and 2013-14 (18-14) campaigns.
•    Korn led the Redhawks to a winning season for the third time in four years.
•    Overall, it is the 11th winning season in SEMO's NCAA Division I era (since 1991-92).

Five Sweeps
•    Southeast Missouri completed its fifth two-game sweep of an Ohio Valley Conference opponent with its 70-65 win at Little Rock (Feb. 21).
•    It marked the first time SEMO beat Little Rock on the road in back-to-back seasons with Brad Korn as its head coach.
•    SEMO also swept Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Southern Indiana and UT Martin in those home-and-home series this year.
•    A win Thursday will give Korn his most OVC sweeps in a season as the Redhawks head coach.

Korn vs. Tennessee State
•    Brad Korn is 9-3 against Tennessee State as Southeast Missouri's head coach.
•    Korn has defeated TSU the most of any Ohio Valley Conference opponent.
•    Korn's teams beat the Tigers twice in a season in 2021-22 and 2024-25.

February Games
•    The Redhawks are 5-1 in February with home wins over Morehead State (Feb. 5) and Southern Indiana (Feb. 7), a road loss at SIU Edwardsville (Feb. 12) and road victories at Lindenwood (Feb. 12), UT Martin (Feb. 17) and Little Rock (Feb. 21).
•    Four of Southeast Missouri's February games were decided by double-digits.
•    Since 2024-25, SEMO has gone 13-1 in February.
•    SEMO went undefeated (8-0) for Head Coach Brad Korn's best February record a year ago. 

Late Free Throws Seal Win at Little Rock
•    Southeast Missouri made four free throws in the final 30 seconds to nail down its 70-65 road win at Little Rock (Feb. 21).
•    LR pulled within three (66-63) when BJ Ward split two free throws. After Ward missed his second shot, Blaize Sagna stole the ball, was fouled and made two free throws with 22 seconds on the clock. Brendan Terry scored SEMO's last point of the game on a free throw nine seconds later.
•    It was the third-straight game where the Redhawks attempted more free throws than their opponent.

Balanced Scoring
•    Four players averaged double figures in Southeast Missouri's final two road wins of the season at UT Martin (Feb. 17) and Little Rock (Feb. 21).
•    Brendan Terry averaged 12.5 points, BJ Ward scored 11.5, Luke Almodovar averaged 11 and Marqueas Bell averaged 10.5 in those contests.
•    Five different players scored double figures in a game for the second time this season when Almodovar put up 13 points, Bell had 12, Terry and Braxton Stacker added 11 apiece and Troy Cole, Jr. pitched in 10 against the Trojans.

Board Certified
•    The Redhawks outrebounded their opponent in eight of their last nine games.
•    Southeast Missouri's +12 rebounding margin (38-26) vs. Southern Indiana (Feb. 7) is its largest of the season to date.
•    SEMO leads the Ohio Valley Conference in rebounding defense with 32.1 per game.

Bringing the Defense
•    Southeast Missouri has held opponents to 65 points or less in four of its last five games.
•    Opponents averaged 63.6 points per game against the Redhawks during that stretch.
•    SEMO allowed just 61 points at Lindenwood (Feb. 14), 53 at UT Martin (Feb. 17) and 65 at Little Rock (Feb. 21) in its previous three matchups.
•    The Redhawks are allowing 67.5 points per game in Ohio Valley Conference play this year.

Winning Road Record
•    With its 70-65 victory at Little Rock (Feb. 21), Southeast Missouri finished with a winning record on the road for the second-straight season.
•    SEMO went 8-7 in 2024-25 and 2025-26 marking the first time the Redhawks posted winning records on the road in back-to-back seasons since 1998-99 (9-4) and 1999-2000 (7-5).

Cole, Jr. Notches Season-High
•    Troy Cole, Jr. came off the bench to register new season-highs in points and rebounds when he finished with 10 points and seven boards at Little Rock (Feb. 21).
•    Cole, Jr. shot 5-of-7 from the field in 22 minutes.
•    It was the first time he scored double figures this season.
•    Cole, Jr. now has seven double-digit scoring games in his career. 

13 OVC Wins
•    The Redhawks picked up their 13th Ohio Valley Conference win with a 70-65 road victory at Little Rock (Feb. 21).
•    For the third time, Southeast Missouri has won 10 or more OVC games with Brad Korn as its head coach.
•    SEMO also went 10-8 in 2022-23 and 15-5 in 2024-25 against league opponents.     
•    The 15 OVC wins last season were a SEMO program record.
•    SEMO (13-5), Tennessee State (13-5) and Morehead State (13-5) all have 13 wins heading into the final week of OVC play.

About Tennessee State
•    Tennessee State has won nine of its last 12 games and comes to Cape Girardeau on a two-game winning streak.
•    TSU recently beat SIU Edwardsville by 27 (80-53) in a nationally-televised ESPNU game on Feb. 21.
•    The Tigers lead the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring offense (81 ppg), free throw percentage (.755), steals (9.4 spg) and turnover margin (+2.64).
•    TSU has forced 414 turnovers (14.7 per game), the most in the league.
•    Individually, Aaron Nkrumah and Travis Harper II are first and third in the OVC in scoring with 17.7 and 17.3 points a game, respectively.
•    Harper II tops the league in free throw percentage (.851) and Nkrumah is first in steals (77), as well.
•    Meanwhile, Dante Harris is first in the OVC in assist/turnover ratio (2.58).