Govs want to turn fortunes around at Eblen
Austin Peay returns to road site where seniors have never won
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The Governors seniors will attempt to remove that rather large Golden Eagle from their backs today when they travel to Cookeville for a 7:30 p.m. contest against Tennessee Tech at the Hooper-Eblen Center.
Austin Peay has not won in the Eblen Center since the 1997-98 season, accounting for five straight losses, but the Govs did win the big one last year in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship, a 63-57 victory at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville.
But that doesn't mean they want this one any less.
"I don't want to end my career never having won at Tech," senior Rhet Wierzba said. "Adrian (Henning), Josh (Lewis) and I have never won there. It is one of those things that we can't go through our careers without winning at Tech."
And when Austin Peay (10-7, 7-0) has wanted something in conference play this season, they have been able to go on the road and get it.
The Govs have won six straight road games dating back to last season, and in the process ended a seven-game losing streak against Eastern Illinois Jan. 10 at Lantz Arena with a 60-53 victory.
But today's game has a few more subplots than that.
Call it a rubber match of sorts, but when a winner is proclaimed at the end of tonight's 117th meeting, a 58-58 game tie will be broken.
Las Vegas couldn't even choose a favorite in this one, as the line reads as a "pick", but maybe the Govs can tilt the scale with head coach Dave Loos' 19-14 record against Tech (9-8, 3-3) during his tenure at Austin Peay.
But the coach isn't taking his chances with the numbers. He knows the Golden Eagles bring a lot to the table and victories in Cookeville are hard to come by.
"It's been a while since we have won at Tech," Loos said. "This team concerns me because they're one of the highest scoring teams in the conference, so they have the ability to put some points on the board.
"They push it really well in transition and some teams like that have hurt us, so transition defense will be big in not giving them any easy baskets."
The Golden Eagles come into the contest with the conference's second-highest scoring offense, averaging 78.3 points per game, just 3.2 points shy of first-place Murray State (81.5).
Leading the way for Tennessee Tech is 6-foot-6 forward Willie Jenkins, who averages 20.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while senior Cameron Crisp, a preseason First-team All-OVC selection, averages 13.9 points per game.
"Jenkins is one that is going to be a tough matchup," Loos said. "He can not only go out on the perimeter, but he can really get to the rim and he is athletic and aggressive."
Crisp on the other hand has drawn the attention of guards Corey Gipson and Wierzba whose job it will be to guard him tonight.
"He's a good solid point guard," Gipson said. "He has good point-guard height at 6-4 and he can shoot and penetrate.
"He has good court awareness and you just have to be on point when you are guarding that."
The Govs have been "on point" all season as their defense currently ranks 16th in the nation in points allowed per game (58.9), one spot ahead of Duke (59.1) and just three spots behind Louisville (58.7).
Following this game, the Govs will have to turn around and play Tennessee State on the road Thursday.
"I know that both of these games are probably going to be our two toughest road tests that we have so far," Henning said. "Especially with the winning streak, they are going to be really geared up to beat us."
Loos agreed.
"We've ask an awful lot of these guys," Loos said. "But if we can do well this week, we would have ourselves positioned nicely because just about all of our games are at home after that."
Austin Peay returns to road site where seniors have never won
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Governors seniors will attempt to remove that rather large Golden Eagle from their backs today when they travel to Cookeville for a 7:30 p.m. contest against Tennessee Tech at the Hooper-Eblen Center.
Austin Peay has not won in the Eblen Center since the 1997-98 season, accounting for five straight losses, but the Govs did win the big one last year in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship, a 63-57 victory at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville.
But that doesn't mean they want this one any less.
"I don't want to end my career never having won at Tech," senior Rhet Wierzba said. "Adrian (Henning), Josh (Lewis) and I have never won there. It is one of those things that we can't go through our careers without winning at Tech."
And when Austin Peay (10-7, 7-0) has wanted something in conference play this season, they have been able to go on the road and get it.
The Govs have won six straight road games dating back to last season, and in the process ended a seven-game losing streak against Eastern Illinois Jan. 10 at Lantz Arena with a 60-53 victory.
But today's game has a few more subplots than that.
Call it a rubber match of sorts, but when a winner is proclaimed at the end of tonight's 117th meeting, a 58-58 game tie will be broken.
Las Vegas couldn't even choose a favorite in this one, as the line reads as a "pick", but maybe the Govs can tilt the scale with head coach Dave Loos' 19-14 record against Tech (9-8, 3-3) during his tenure at Austin Peay.
But the coach isn't taking his chances with the numbers. He knows the Golden Eagles bring a lot to the table and victories in Cookeville are hard to come by.
"It's been a while since we have won at Tech," Loos said. "This team concerns me because they're one of the highest scoring teams in the conference, so they have the ability to put some points on the board.
"They push it really well in transition and some teams like that have hurt us, so transition defense will be big in not giving them any easy baskets."
The Golden Eagles come into the contest with the conference's second-highest scoring offense, averaging 78.3 points per game, just 3.2 points shy of first-place Murray State (81.5).
Leading the way for Tennessee Tech is 6-foot-6 forward Willie Jenkins, who averages 20.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while senior Cameron Crisp, a preseason First-team All-OVC selection, averages 13.9 points per game.
"Jenkins is one that is going to be a tough matchup," Loos said. "He can not only go out on the perimeter, but he can really get to the rim and he is athletic and aggressive."
Crisp on the other hand has drawn the attention of guards Corey Gipson and Wierzba whose job it will be to guard him tonight.
"He's a good solid point guard," Gipson said. "He has good point-guard height at 6-4 and he can shoot and penetrate.
"He has good court awareness and you just have to be on point when you are guarding that."
The Govs have been "on point" all season as their defense currently ranks 16th in the nation in points allowed per game (58.9), one spot ahead of Duke (59.1) and just three spots behind Louisville (58.7).
Following this game, the Govs will have to turn around and play Tennessee State on the road Thursday.
"I know that both of these games are probably going to be our two toughest road tests that we have so far," Henning said. "Especially with the winning streak, they are going to be really geared up to beat us."
Loos agreed.
"We've ask an awful lot of these guys," Loos said. "But if we can do well this week, we would have ourselves positioned nicely because just about all of our games are at home after that."
