Morehead State men’s basketball is one game away from another trip to the NCAA Tournament
Morehead State men’s basketball is just one game away from another trip to the NCAA Tournament.
The Eagles are a perfect 2-for-2 so far in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament: Morehead State defeated SIU Edwardsville 78-63 on Thursday night in the quarterfinals before going on to defeat UT Martin 84-78 in the semifinals on Friday night.
Fifth-year guard and OVC Player of the Year Riley Minix led the way for Morehead State with 26 points in Friday night’s win over the Skyhawks. Graduate student guard Kalil Thomas also had a strong scoring night, going a scintillating 7-for-10 on 3-pointers as part of a 23-point effort. Thomas, who had a season-high scoring total), also had a double-double with 10 rebounds.
By making seven 3-pointers, Thomas set a new Morehead State single-season record for made 3s. As a team, the Eagles made a season-best 16 3-pointers in the win.
Morehead State, the No. 3 seed in the OVC Tournament, will face No. 1 seed Little Rock in Saturday night’s championship game at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
This is the third time in the last four years that Morehead State will play in the OVC Tournament title game.
“You want to be playing your best basketball at the end of the year. I think the way you do that is you just focus on getting better, each and every game,” Morehead State head coach Preston Spradlin told the Herald-Leader last month about what it takes to make a run through the OVC Tournament.
Morehead State has made the NCAA Tournament eight times in program history. The Eagles were most recently a part of March Madness in 2021, losing as a No. 14 seed in the first round to West Virginia.
By being on the doorstep of another appearance in the NCAA Tournament, Morehead State is extending a generational run of success for the program. The Eagles have won at least 20 games in each of the last four seasons. No NCAA Division I men’s basketball program in Kentucky has won as many games as Morehead State has (93) since the start of the 2020-21 season.
The Eagles are now 25-8 overall this season, with a 16-4 record (including this week’s OVC Tournament) against conference opponents. The 25 wins are tied for the most in one season by a Morehead State squad, along with the 1983-84 and 2010-11 teams.
Both of those past Morehead State teams won the OVC Tournament and qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
Morehead State and Little Rock played only once during conference play this season: The Trojans defeated the Eagles, 69-68, on Feb. 15 in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Little Rock enters Saturday’s championship showdown on a 10-game winning streak.
Morehead State won a share of the OVC’s regular-season championship this season after winning the league’s regular-season title outright last year.
Both of these league titles have come under the direction of Spradlin, who is now in his eighth year as Morehead State’s head coach. Spradlin was previously a graduate assistant and the assistant director of basketball operations at Kentucky.
Spradlin is paid $260,000 annually, and his current contract runs through June 2027.
According to Spradlin’s contract — which was obtained Tuesday by the Herald-Leader via the Kentucky Open Records Act — several monetary bonuses for Spradlin were triggered by the Eagles’ strong play this season.
Because Morehead State’s conference regular-season winning percentage was above 70%, Spradlin will earn an extra $2,500.
Because Morehead State won the OVC regular-season championship, Spradlin will earn an extra $5,000.
And according to the contract, Spradlin would earn a $30,000 bonus for competing in the NCAA Tournament.
According to BracketMatrix, Morehead State projects as a No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament if the Eagles are able to knock off the Trojans on Saturday night.
Riley Minix, Drew Thelwell lead the way for Morehead State
Morehead State’s sustained success this season is all the more remarkable given the slew of injury issues the Eagles have dealt with.
Fifth-year guard Mark Freeman — the preseason OVC Player of the Year — is set to miss the entire season due to a wrist injury, and Morehead State has had to frequently shift its starting lineup due to player injuries.
But two near constants for the Eagles have been Riley Minix and Drew Thelwell.
Minix, the OVC Player of the Year, is averaging a double-double this season. He’s had a points-rebounds double-double in 10 of the last 11 games and has scored at least 20 points in 11 of Morehead State’s last 12 games.
Minix, a fifth-year player, was formerly a standout at Southeastern University in Florida, where he scored more than 2,000 points, secured more than 1,000 rebounds and was named an NAIA All-American.
Thelwell, a senior guard, is the all-time wins leader in Morehead State history. His arrival in Morehead as part of the Eagles’ 2020 recruiting class coincided with this current run of on-court success.
Thelwell is averaging more than six assists per game, and he ranks in the top 10 in the nation in both total assists and assists per game.
During Friday’s win over UT Martin, Thelwell set a new single-season Morehead State record for assists.
Next game
No. 3 Morehead State vs. No. 1 Little Rock
What: OVC Tournament championship game
Where: Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.
When: 8 p.m. EST Saturday
TV: ESPN2
Records: Morehead State 25-8, Little Rock 21-11
Series: Little Rock leads Morehead State 2-1
Last meeting: Little Rock beat Morehead State 69-68 on Feb. 15 in Little Rock, Ark.
