SIU returns home for their home opener after a disappointing loss at Little Rock against the school with the best chant in the country, "Let's Go Peay!"
In come the Governors of Austin Peay University in Clarksville, TN. The Governors are coached by first year head coach Nate James who was hired away from Duke where he was an assistant since 2009. James comes into a bit of a rebuilding situation at Austin Peay but the Governors are expected to move into a brand new downtown stadium in 2023 and Clarksville is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. The Governors will also move from the Ohio Valley Conference to the Atlantic Sun Conference next year.
Austin Peay started the season Tuesday at home against NAIA opponent UT Southern and beat them by 7.
Meet the Governors:
Last season Austin Peay massively underachieved in Matt Figgers' last year with the program. Austin Peay brought back one of the best mid-major players in the country in Terry Taylor and had high expectations starting the year #139 in KenPom but finished the season just 14-13 and 10-10 in the OVC and finished #211 in KenPom. This led to Matt Figgers leaving the program for UT Rio Grand Valley and Nate James coming in.
Austin Peay is forced to deal with a likely rebuilding season this year. Terry Taylor decided to forego the extra COVID year for professional basketball and their other star guard Jordyn Adams transferred to Lamar. The Governors were picked 6th of 10 teams in the preseason Ohio Valley Conference media poll and 7th of 10 teams in Three Man Weave's Ohio Valley preseason preview. KenPom has Austin Peay 310th of 358 D1 teams and has SIU winning 77-63.
The Governors' leading scorer in their first game of the season was 6'5 Redshirt Senior Tariq Silver. People that follow Saluki recruiting will recognize this name because SIU showed interest in him two years ago when he was a JUCO player at Tallahassee Community College. Before that, Silver started his college career at Eastern Michigan where he played 23 games and averaged 3.1 points per game. At Tallahassee, he averaged 12.1 points per game while shooting 45% from 3 and was ranked as the 17th best JUCO player in the country. Passing up on SIU, Silver went to Oregon State where he only averaged 7.4 minutes per game for an Oregon State team that went to the Elite Eight. After 1 season at Oregon State, Silver ends up at Austin Peay in the town he was born. In the first game of the season against UT Southern, Silver scored 20 points on 6-7 shooting and a perfect 3-3 from 3 and he did this in only 24 minutes.
The best player returning from last year's Austin Peay team is likely 5'10 Venezuelan Junior guard Carlos Paez. Paez last season averaged 8.9 points per game with excellent shooting from behind the arc. Paez was 98th in the country last season in 3 point shooting (35-82, 42.7%) and was 2nd in the Ohio Valley Conference during conference play. He's also an excellent free throw shooter going 47-53 (88.7%) good for 29th in the country and was 1st in the Ohio Valley Conference during conference play. In the first game of the season against UT Southern, Paez scored 12 points on 3-8 shooting and added 4 assists and 2 steals.
The Governors feature a very impressive Freshman in 6'10 Center Elijah Hutchins-Everett. Hutchins-Everett is a 3 star recruit out of Orange, NJ that had offers from Penn State, Miami, and DePaul. 247 has him ranked as the 33rd Center in this year's Freshman class and actually had Crystal Ball predictions that he would choose Penn State. Hutchins-Everett started the first game of the season for Austin Peay and scored 17 points on 6-13 shooting and 8 rebounds. He even hit two three pointers so he seems extremely polished for a Freshman big man and could give our bigs some trouble.
Another well-traveled player on this Austin Peay team is 6'7 Forward Cameron Copeland. Copeland started his collegiate career at North Florida where he averaged 2.2 points per game in limited minutes. He then transferred to College of Charleston where he averaged 5.6 points per game in increased minutes. This season, Copeland is playing for his third team in three seasons and he got off to a good start on Tuesday scoring 18 points on 7-15 shooting and added 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
Links:
PeayMania Message Board (A ghost town)
Bryan Mullins Press Conference 11/11
Bryan Mullins interview with Mike Reis
Time to put the train back on the tracks. Go Dawgs.
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
@dawgbytes Let's hope for the best. Watching that LR game made me want to cancel my ESPN subscription.
I had Austin Peay in my College Pool last year so I watched a lot of games. They were NOT a good basketball team. I can't say I am familiar with the changes they've implemented, but SIU SHOULD win this game by 10+pts. It will be interesting to see what the line is. KENPOM has SIU winning 77-63, which sounds about right to me.
This is a MUST win after the UALR loss and the expected beating they'll take from Colorado.
I had Austin Peay in my College Pool last year so I watched a lot of games. They were NOT a good basketball team. I can't say I am familiar with the changes they've implemented, but SIU SHOULD win this game by 10+pts. It will be interesting to see what the line is. KENPOM has SIU winning 77-63, which sounds about right to me.
This is a MUST win after the UALR loss and the expected beating they'll take from Colorado.
I don't think Colorado is the juggernaut folks seem to think they are. Montana State took them to overtime at Colorado in their 1st game Tuesday night. They have a very good freshman class, but lost a lot of players and their best in coming transfer left over the summer.
While I don't disagree with you (I have Colorado #7 in the PAC-12), after watching the exhibition and first game, many people can say that SIU isn't worth of being in the top half of the MVC and have no shot against Colorado.
Colorado is really tough on D and has ranked in the top 40 in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency standings in each of the past three seasons under Boyle. While not overall TALL, they have length and are athletic as you would imagine a PAC-12 team to be.
Colorado will likely be a 10pt favorite in that game.
@insaluki If the line is 10, I'm taking Southern and the points! We are better than we showed on Tuesday. Hopefully, we clean up the TO's and play better Friday. Hard to beat anyone when you turn the ball over 23 times. There were some positives Tuesday regarding rebounding and FT shooting. Both areas of weakness last year. If we have better PG play, and less turnovers we can compete with a lot of folks.
Until we hear otherwise I suppose we should expect that Trent will not be playing.
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
Until we hear otherwise I suppose we should expect that Trent will not be playing.
They *should* win this one without Trent so might be worth giving him the week off and making sure he's ready for Colorado. Mullins said he had 3 good days of practice and he tweaked it in warmups on Tuesday.
Seeing SIU favored by 14 and the over/under at 139.5
Here's Mike Reis with Trent Brown:
Considering the start to the season, this is a must win for The Dawgs if they want to be relevant in the college basketball world. Mullins & Co, need these guys to step up their games.
Time to put the train back on the tracks. Go Dawgs.
And send APU back on the last train to Clarksville? 🙄 😬
Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
Time to put the train back on the tracks. Go Dawgs.
And send APU back on the last train to Clarksville? 🙄 😬
Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
Ah yes, a blast from the past! Good one! 😎
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
If Trent Brown's back is still bothering him at game time sit him. I'm sure Mullins is thinking long term with him.
