The Parity in the Ohio Valley Conference

Protecting Home Court

(St. Louis, MO) – Surprising Lindenwood University is 3-0 in league play but there is amazing parity in the Ohio Valley Conference. Six other teams are 2-1 and every night is a dog fight in the OVC.

During Thursday’s five games the home teams won each game. Those seven teams that are 2-1 or better each have earned a road victory. The league’s bottom four teams are winless during road conference games.

In the perils of an eleven team conference, there are scheduling nightmares. Southern Illinois Edwardsville and Lindenwood are currently playing three games in a six-day span. While SIUE’s are all at home and Lindenwood has two at home and one is the short drive to Edwardsville, Illinois, the wear and tear on players is real.

Each OVC team will face similar dilemmas.

Thursday night we watched Southern Indiana’s Kaden Brown and SIUE’s Ring Malith go down with injuries. While Brown left the game never to return, Malith played through it, but it is feared that he may miss some time. SIUE’s Jack Campion (cover photo) is playing in a mask to protect a fracture.

At Lindenwood, MVP candidate Jadis Jones missed the Lions’ win over Morehead State dealing with some sickness.

Lions Stand Alone

It’s only three games, but the surprising Lions (9-5, 3-0) have proven they can score. They lead the OVC in scoring, field goal percentage and assists. Thursday, without their leading scorer, they tallied 77 points against a stingy Morehead State squad. The Eagles allowed just 62 points per game in their other OVC contests.

Kyle Gerdeman’s team is making threes (.368 in league play) and shutting down its opposition’s long range assaults (.289). Their assist-to-turnover ratio is an OVC best.

What Gerdeman’s team does is compete. The Lions are a resilient bunch that keeps grinding throughout their games. One OVC coach told me that what Lindenwood does isn’t complicated, but they play hard.

After a slow start, last year’s leading scorer and rebounder Anias Futrell has reemerged as a dependable scorer and glass cleaner. Newcomer Milos Nenadic has been everything the Lions have needed in the post. He is an offensive threat, rebounds well and gets his share of blocks.

Gerdeman has a reliable backcourt in Mekhi Cooper and Clayton Jackson. They are each delivering over four assists per game and are two of the league’s top three players in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Prior to missing Thursday’s game, Jones’ name popped up all over the OVC statistical leader board.

Parity in the Ohio Valley Conference

How can you have six teams that are 2-1? Parity. Holding serve at home and stealing road games is the key to success, but it is so difficult to do. Five teams failed at it on Thursday and four of those five are still traveling during Saturday’s next stage of games.

The OVC’s travel partners typically play two on the road, exchanging opponents.

Something will give in the log jam on Saturday as four of the 2-1 teams face one another. Tennessee State (8-5, 2-1) had Thursday off and travels to Little Rock (5-9, 2-1) and after losing its first OVC game, Morehead State (6-8, 2-1) visits SIUE (9-5, 2-1).

Can those road teams prevail?

Southern Indiana and Western Illinois are still looking for their first OVC victory and travel to Lindenwood and Southeast Missouri respectably. When we think of parity, we think of close games too. USI has lost its last two league games by four points each. Eastern Illinois has lost by 8, by 9 and won in overtime accumulating its 1-2 league mark.

The metrics are wild. While Tennessee State is second in scoring the Tigers are the league’s second worst in allowing points. SEMO is third best and third worst in those categories. SIUE is tied for ninth and tenth in scoring but the league’s top defensive team.

It’s only been three games, but parity in the Ohio Valley Conference will be the mantra of this entire league schedule. Injuries, illnesses and stealing a road game or two could decide the fates of these very competitive teams.

Saturday’s other games find EIU (4-9, 1-2) at UT Martin (10-4, 2-1) and Western Illinois (4-10, 0-3) facing SEMO (7-7, 2-1). The parity in the Ohio Valley Conference could be even more pronounced after this weekend’s games.

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