Saturday, March 1st, 8:30 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Show Me Center (6,972) -- Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Television: none. Home Record: JSU 6-9, SEMO 7-5. Away Record: JSU 0-12, SEMO 4-12. Neutral Record: JSU 0-1, SEMO 1-1. Conference Record: JSU 4-15, SEMO 7-12. Series Record: JSU leads, 6-2.

GAME NOTES: Teams that won't be making a postseason appearance this season wrap up their respective campaigns at the Show Me Center tonight, as the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks host the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in an Ohio Valley Conference tilt. After back-to-back victories in mid-February, Jacksonville State seemed poised to right its uncontrollable ship. Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, the team followed up that success with two straight losses, including an 80-64 loss at Eastern Illinois on Thursday night. Many of JSU's frustrations have come on the road, where the Gamecocks have dropped all 13 of their contests. Meanwhile, Southeast Missouri State has experienced a complete bust of a season. The Redhawks opened OVC play with six straight victories in convincing fashion. However, injuries and poor defense decimated the Redhawks and the squad completely unraveled. SEMO has lost 13 of its last 14 games, and its 68-62 loss to Samford on Thursday handed them a season-high seven-game losing skid. Back on December 20th, when SEMO looked poised for a strong season, the Redhawks defeated the Gamecocks on a last second shot for just their second win in eight meetings against JSU.

Jacksonville State was able to put up relatively big points (71.9 ppg) in its tumultuous season, but its defense allowed opponents to shoot 46.5 percent from the floor while netting 77.4 ppg. Nick Murphy leads the Gamecocks in scoring with 12.7 ppg. However, he shoots just 51.7 percent from the free throw line, which was lower than his field goal percentage (53.4 percent). Will Ginn, who recorded 15 points, six rebounds and six assists in the recent loss, paces the squad in three-pointers with 67 trifectas en route to averaging 10.8 ppg. J.J. Wesley is a solid scoring option as well, netting 10.6 ppg. DeAndre Bray isn't much of a scorer, but his outstanding assist-to-turnover ratio (177 assists-to-58 turnovers) ranks among the national leaders.

When healthy, Southeast Missouri State is a fine offensive ball club. Unfortunately, the squad is also a sieve of a defensive team no matter who is on the floor. The Redhawks have given up 82.1 ppg, which is five points more than the next worst league member. Four of the top five scorers have all missed some sort of action this season. Jaycen Harring, who is back in the lineup and was the only Redhawk to find his way into double figures with 18 points in the latest loss. He is averaging 13.4 ppg, while hitting 50.4 percent from the field. When not in foul trouble, Roderick Pearson is a nice offensive threat, as his 10.3 ppg and team-high 104 assists shows. Kenard Moore has chipped in 9.9 ppg as well, but the Redhawks have simply not been able to stop their opposition from putting up huge point totals.

This will be a shootout as both teams are poor on the defensive end. Jacksonville State has shown a little more fire in recent games and, even though this is SEMO's home finale, the Gamecocks will likely finish on a high note.

Predicted Outcome

Jacksonville State 85, SE Missouri State 80