The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team has several things going for it heading into the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
First, the No. 4-seeded Golden Eagles have already defeated both of their potential first-round matchups, No. 5 seed Southeast Missouri (14-15, 9-7) and No. 8 Eastern Kentucky (16-15, 7-9). Second, they know they can compete with the OVC's best after Saturday's narrow loss to No. 9-ranked and top-seeded Murray State (28-1, 15-1). Third, they have arguably as much tournament experience as anybody in the field after making a championship appearance last year and semifinal appearance the year before.
"I think tournament experience certainly helps," Golden Eagles head coach Steve Payne said. "You have to play well, but I think assuming you're playing well and everything else is in order, tournament experience definitely counts.
"I thought in the championship game last year, we played our hearts out against Morehead," he continued. "Now they had a great team and we played really hard, but I thought they played like a team that had been in that game a couple times before, and they had. We played like a team that was in that game for the first time. Hopefully we'll get back to that game; certainly I don't think there will be anybody else that has more tournament experience than our guys this year."
To get there, Tech (18-12, 9-7) must not only eventually get past the Racers, it must avoid looking forward to that potential semifinal matchup and take care of business against its quarterfinal opponent on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium.
"That's one of the things in our staff meeting (Sunday) afternoon that we talked about," Payne said. But the Murray game is over with. ... If we look ahead to Murray again, we won't be playing Murray. Somebody else will. We're not good enough to look past anybody. It really is about the next practice today, having a good practice today and improving our team. You've gotta take every day every second at a time, and if you don't, somebody else will be there."
Payne said the Redhawks and Colonels both present unique challenges.
"With SEMO, you've got a good, strong power game and guards that can really shoot the basketball," Payne explained. "They score from pretty much all over the floor and from all positions on the floor."
"Eastern Kentucky runs that spread and drives and shoots and cuts," he added. "They're a challenge to defend, and they play the different defenses. I thought in our game here, their 3-2 zone really bothered us in the first half, then we kind of got it figured out in the second half and they went back to their 1-3-1 and we struggled with it a little. There's definitely some special things you have to worry about with them."
EKU beat SEMO 63-59 in Richmond, Ky. in the teams' lone regular-season battle.
Tech, meanwhile, beat SEMO 77-62 in Cookeville in their only meeting, and swept Eastern Kentucky 82-65 on the road and 74-67 at home.
Payne feels his team is showing signs of what it can do, but needs to put it all together this weekend.
"If I had my options, I'd rather be 28-1 with a berth in the NCAA Tournament like (Racers coach) Steve (Prohm) is," he quipped. "But I do think we're playing better. I don't think our team has reached its peak or played at its best level yet. Every time we go back and watch film, there's some things we see that we think, 'Man, this would be easy to us to improve. It's time for us to do it.'
"I've told our guys all year in speeches, 'We've got time. We're not where we want to be. We have time. Keep working.' Now that message is, 'Hey, it's time. If you want to be the best and play to our potential, there's a sense of urgency about that and it doesn't need to wait until game time.'"
Payne has high hopes for the tournament.
"I think we're positioned well, and I think we'll go out and make a good run," he said. "I don't know what the tournament holds for us, but I do think we'll play well in however many games we get to play, and I think we'll be an awful tough out for anybody."
First, the No. 4-seeded Golden Eagles have already defeated both of their potential first-round matchups, No. 5 seed Southeast Missouri (14-15, 9-7) and No. 8 Eastern Kentucky (16-15, 7-9). Second, they know they can compete with the OVC's best after Saturday's narrow loss to No. 9-ranked and top-seeded Murray State (28-1, 15-1). Third, they have arguably as much tournament experience as anybody in the field after making a championship appearance last year and semifinal appearance the year before.
"I think tournament experience certainly helps," Golden Eagles head coach Steve Payne said. "You have to play well, but I think assuming you're playing well and everything else is in order, tournament experience definitely counts.
"I thought in the championship game last year, we played our hearts out against Morehead," he continued. "Now they had a great team and we played really hard, but I thought they played like a team that had been in that game a couple times before, and they had. We played like a team that was in that game for the first time. Hopefully we'll get back to that game; certainly I don't think there will be anybody else that has more tournament experience than our guys this year."
To get there, Tech (18-12, 9-7) must not only eventually get past the Racers, it must avoid looking forward to that potential semifinal matchup and take care of business against its quarterfinal opponent on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium.
"That's one of the things in our staff meeting (Sunday) afternoon that we talked about," Payne said. But the Murray game is over with. ... If we look ahead to Murray again, we won't be playing Murray. Somebody else will. We're not good enough to look past anybody. It really is about the next practice today, having a good practice today and improving our team. You've gotta take every day every second at a time, and if you don't, somebody else will be there."
Payne said the Redhawks and Colonels both present unique challenges.
"With SEMO, you've got a good, strong power game and guards that can really shoot the basketball," Payne explained. "They score from pretty much all over the floor and from all positions on the floor."
"Eastern Kentucky runs that spread and drives and shoots and cuts," he added. "They're a challenge to defend, and they play the different defenses. I thought in our game here, their 3-2 zone really bothered us in the first half, then we kind of got it figured out in the second half and they went back to their 1-3-1 and we struggled with it a little. There's definitely some special things you have to worry about with them."
EKU beat SEMO 63-59 in Richmond, Ky. in the teams' lone regular-season battle.
Tech, meanwhile, beat SEMO 77-62 in Cookeville in their only meeting, and swept Eastern Kentucky 82-65 on the road and 74-67 at home.
Payne feels his team is showing signs of what it can do, but needs to put it all together this weekend.
"If I had my options, I'd rather be 28-1 with a berth in the NCAA Tournament like (Racers coach) Steve (Prohm) is," he quipped. "But I do think we're playing better. I don't think our team has reached its peak or played at its best level yet. Every time we go back and watch film, there's some things we see that we think, 'Man, this would be easy to us to improve. It's time for us to do it.'
"I've told our guys all year in speeches, 'We've got time. We're not where we want to be. We have time. Keep working.' Now that message is, 'Hey, it's time. If you want to be the best and play to our potential, there's a sense of urgency about that and it doesn't need to wait until game time.'"
Payne has high hopes for the tournament.
"I think we're positioned well, and I think we'll go out and make a good run," he said. "I don't know what the tournament holds for us, but I do think we'll play well in however many games we get to play, and I think we'll be an awful tough out for anybody."
