Previewing the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference champion Morehead State Eagles.
No. 14 seed Morehead State will face No. 3 seed West Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday at Lucas Oil Stadium (9:50 p.m. ET).
Morehead State (23-7, 17-3 OVC) is making their eighth tournament appearance and first since 2011. The Eagles are 6-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and have won games in each of their last three appearances.
They upset Belmont to earn the OVC’s automatic bid which is their fifth in school history.
Morehead State have only lost once in the 2021 calendar year. They have won seven games in a row entering March Madness after a loss to Belmont and they had won 12 straight prior to that. Aside from Gonzaga who is undefeated, they are one of the hottest teams entering the tournament.
They are led by freshman Johni Broome who was named OVC tournament MVP after a career high 27 points and 12 rebounds in the final.
His OVC tournament stats included: 19.3 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 1.3 BPG, 58.5 FG%, 83.3 FT%.
The 6-foot-10 forward from Plant City, FL is just the third freshman in OVC tournament history to be named MVP.
Broome was also spectacular all throughout his freshman campaign averaging 13.9 points per game along with 9 rebounds earning the OVC Freshman of the Year honour as well as being named first team All-Conference.
Preston Spradlin is the head coach in his fourth season after spending the majority of the 2016-17 season as interim head coach (after Sean Woods was fired).
Spradlin came to Morehead State after five seasons with Kentucky. He spent two years (2009-11) as a graduate assistant before three years as the assistant director of operations (2011-14).
