EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Little Rock is one game away from playing for an OVC Tournament title and its first NCAA Tournament berth since the 2015-16 season. Standing in its way is No. 1 seed Southeast Missouri. The teams split two meetings in the regular season.
Little Rock (19-13) knocked off SEMO 73-71 on a last-second shot by
Johnathan Lawson in January. The Redhawks (20-11) returned the favor with a 57-45 win at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock in February.
Friday night's game can be heard on 106.7 Buz2 with Ray Tucker on the call and will also be televised on ESPNU with Robert Ford handling play-by-play duties Richie Schueler providing analysis.
LAST TIME OUT
Little Rock held off a pesky UT Martin club in an 82-77 win in an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinal game Thursday night at the Ford Center.
The Trojans shot 29-of-58 (50%) from the field and 11-of-22 (50%) from the three-point line.
Senior LSU transfer
Mwani Wilkinson came out hot scoring 17 of his game-high 29 points in the first half. He was 7-of-12 from beyond the arc. Junior
Johnathan Lawson hit 3-of-6 from the three-point line on his way to 21 points. Lawson also totaled 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 5 steals. Senior forward
Tuongthach Gatkek recorded another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. He also dished out 5 assists.
2025 OVC Basketball Championship Schedule/Results
First Round: Wednesday, March 5
Game 1: No. 5 Tennessee Tech (15-16) vs. No. No. 8 UT Martin 70, No. 5 Tennessee Tech 67
Game 2: No. 6 Lindenwood 73 #7 Morehead State 65
Quarterfinals: Thursday, March 6
Game 3: No. 4 Little Rock 82, No. 8 UT Martin 77
Game 4: No. 3 Tennessee State 69, Lindenwood
Semifinals: Friday, March 7
Game 5: #1 Southeast Missouri (20-11) vs.#4 Little Rock (19-13) 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
Game 6: #2 SIU Edwardsville (20-11) vs. #3 Tennessee State 9:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Championship: Saturday, March 8
Game 7: Semifinal Winners, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)
OVC Tournament Information
Tournament Central |
Bracket
IRON MAN
Junior star guard
Johnathan Lawson played all 40 minutes in a win over UT Martin Thursday night. Lawson has played 40 or more minutes in five games this season. He is No. 7 in the nation in minutes played averaging 37.1 per game.
WALKER HOBBLING
The Trojans have had their fair share of injuries this season with two players lost for the year and two others missing significant time. But, Thursday night in a win against UT Martin, it was the Trojans' coach that was hobbling.
Darrell Walker, a former NBA veteran, limped through a good part of the game after feeling a twinge of pain in his Achilles tendon. ESPN+ viewers watched as he limped to the broadcast location across the court following the game. Despite the pain, Walker continued to coach and didn't sit much as his normal routine.
Graduate transfer
Mwani Wilkinson was also limping late in the game after hitting the court hard. However, he finished the game and is expected to play tonight.
THE SERIES
The teams have split six meetings since Little Rock joined the OVC three years ago. However, the Trojans have won three of the past four games after dropping a pair of losses in its inaugural season in the league.
SCOUTING REPORT: SEMO
The Rednawks finished the season red-hot winning 10 straight games before losing at Eastern Illinois in the final game of the regular season after they had already clinched the regular-season OVC title and No. 1 seed in the tournament. The streak was the longest for SEMO since the 2004-05 team won seven in a row.
The 20 wins is the most victories for the Redhawks in 25 years. SEMO's 20-11 overall record and school-record 15 OVC wins is even more impressive considering the Redhawks finished 10
th in the league last season. Thanks to the impressive turnaround, SEMO head coach Brad Korn was selected as the OVC Coach of the Year.
All-OVC selection Rod Martin leads SEMO with 14.5 points per game. He's also dished out a career-high 142 assists. Blytheville, Ark., native Teddy Washington, Jr., is averaging 14.4 ppg. The OVC All-Newcomer selection also leads the Redhawks in rebounds ( 5.4 per game), steals (56) and three-pointers made (57). Big man Brendan Terry, who is 6-7, 215 pounds, chips in 11 ppg and 4.3 rpg and leads the team in blocks with 23.
