CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (ESPN CLARKSVILLE) — 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 Nov. 9-Dec. 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, Nov. 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. Nov. 9, the Govs journey to Starkville to face Mississippi State, a 25-win team under Ben Howland a year ago that returns Quinndary (second-team All-SEC) and Nick Weatherspoon (All-Freshman) from their run to the NIT semifinals.
Nov. 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 Nov. 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—in the second game. The Jamaica Classic closes out in Athens, Ohio, Nov. 24, with a Thanksgiving weekend contest at Ohio.
The Govs wrap up November and begin December with an Alabama road trip, taking on Troy (Nov. 29) and Alabama A&M (Dec. 1) 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.
Dec. 8 will herald Austin Peay’s first homestand, sandwiching two games around exam week. The Govs host first-time opponent Calvary, Dec. 8, before welcoming Purdue Fort Wayne (formerly IPFW and Fort Wayne before a recent rebrand) to the Dunn Center for a Dec. 15 contest.
The Govs make a return to the Tampa-St. Petersburg area Dec. 21-22 for Eckerd College’s St. Pete Shootout; the Dec. 21 contest will be a rematch against Campbell, their opponent from the first on-site game of Jamaica Classic, while the Dec. 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, Dec. 28—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 lost linchpin players in Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon, but 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. The Govs open up with a pair of home games against Eastern Kentucky (Jan. 3) and Morehead State (Jan. 5) before embarking on a four-game road trip to face Southeast Missouri (Jan. 10), UT Martin (Jan. 12), SIU Edwardsville (Jan. 17) and Eastern Illinois (Jan. 19).
The Govs welcome a pair of visitors from Nashville to open January’s final week, with Tennessee State (Jan. 24) and Belmont (Jan. 26) set to make the trek up Interstate 24. Austin Peay then takes to the road again to visit Tennessee Tech (Jan. 31) and Jacksonville State (Feb. 2).
After spending so much time on the road in the season’s early going, February will see the Govs at home for five of their eight contests. After returning from Jacksonville State, five of Austin Peay’s next six games will be in the Dunn Center—SIUE (Feb. 7), Eastern Illinois (Feb. 9), a Valentine’s Day Special against Murray State (Feb. 14), Southeast Missouri (Feb. 21) and UT Martin (Feb. 23). The Govs Feb. 16 trip to Morehead State will be their first journey to Johnson Arena since 2016.
Austin Peay closes out the regular season with trips to Eastern Kentucky, Feb. 28, and Murray State, March 2, the latter to close out the basketball portion of the Heritage Bank Battle of the Border. The 2019 OVC Men’s Basketball Championship will once again be at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, March 6-9.
Below is a brief summation of the non-conference schedule. Be sure to keep up with everything happening around Austin Peay at LetsGoPeay.com and the official Facebook page of Austin Peay athletics, as well on Twitter and Instagram (@letsgopeay).