Editor: The following is part of a press release from letsgopeay.com.
(Clarksville, TN) —After a first season which featured a third-place turnaround and Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year honors, Austin Peay State University head men’s basketball coach Matt Figger has announced the 2018-19 schedule for the Govs.
The 13-game non-conference schedule will feature two in-season tournaments and the longest stretch of road games in program history—a 30-day, seven-game, four-state, two-country jaunt from November 9-December 8. That precedes the 18-game gauntlet that is the 2019 OVC schedule, which will likely see the Govs pegged as one of the favorites this season after an 11th-place prediction last year.
“It’s a schedule that will challenge us to learn to play on the road,” Figger said. “That was something our guys didn’t handle well early on last year, and I felt like this year in order to compete for a league championship, we need to go out and learn to win on the road. Unfortunately, we don’t have as many games as I’d like in the nonconference, but we play neutral-site games and road games so we’ll be tested from that standpoint; to be able to win the league, you’ve got to win road games.”
With no exhibition games on the slate, the Govs will jump right into it by hosting Oakland City in the regular season opener, November 6—the third consecutive season the Mighty Oaks have been the Govs home-opening opponent and second time in six seasons they’ve been the first regular-season opponent for Austin Peay.
Then begins the odyssey. November 9, the Govs journey to Starkville to face Mississippi State, a 25-win and NIT semifinalist team under Ben Howland.
November 12 marks the beginning of the Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic, with the Govs taking on American Athletic foe USF in Tampa, Florida. They’ll move on to Montego Bay, Jamaica for the November 16-18 contests, facing Central Connecticut to open their stay in the tournament and Campbell—the first of two contests against the Fighting Camels this season. The Jamaica Classic closes out in Athens, Ohio, November 24, with a contest at Ohio.
The Govs wrap up November and begin December with an Alabama road trip, taking on Troy and Alabama A&M in return trips for a pair of games during the 2017-18 season. Austin Peay is a combined 5-0 all-time against the Trojans and Bulldogs.
December 8 will herald Austin Peay’s first homestand, sandwiching two games around exam week. The Govs host first-time opponent Calvary, before welcoming Purdue Fort Wayne to the Dunn Center.
The Govs make a return to the Tampa-St. Petersburg area December 21-22 for Eckerd College’s St. Pete Shootout; the first contest will be a rematch against Campbell, while the December 22 contest will be against either Liberty or Alabama State.
Austin Peay closes out its non-conference schedule with its second trip to face an SEC squad when the Govs travel to Arkansas, the lone team on Austin Peay’s non-conference schedule to advance to the NCAA Tournament last year. Now in the eighth season under head coach Mike Anderson, the Razorbacks return SEC All-Freshman honoree Daniel Gafford, who should provide a worthy opponent to OVC Freshman of the Year Terry Taylor, he averaged 11.8 points and 6.2 rebounds, shooting 60.5 percent from the floor.
The beginning of 2019 also marks the beginning of the league schedule—for the first time since 2015-16, all OVC contests will be played after the start of the New Year.
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As we near the closing of the portal window, we've reached 1900. Some of them never to play college basketball again, earn a college degree and some to play at a much lower level than they did last season.
I guess we'll be seeing this in a @RacersHoops uniform this year. Glad AJ is staying in the @ValleyHoops.
