2016–17 Morehead State Eagles men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Morehead State Eagles men's basketball team represented Morehead State University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Eagles, led by interim head coach Preston Spradlin, played their home games at Ellis Johnson Arena in Morehead, Kentucky as members of the East Division of the Ohio Valley Conference. The Eagles finished the season 14–16, 10–6 in OVC play to finish in second place in the East Division. In the OVC tournament they lost to Murray State in the quarterfinals.

2016–17 Morehead State Eagles men's basketball
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Division	East Division
Record	14–16 (10–6 OVC)
Head coach	Preston Spradlin, interim
Assistant coaches	Dylan Howard Derrick Tilmon
Home arena	Ellis Johnson Arena
Seasons ← 2015–16 2017–18 →

2016–17 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
Belmont	15	–	1		.938			23	–	7		.767
Morehead State	10	–	6		.625			14	–	16		.467
Jacksonville State †	9	–	7		.563			20	–	15		.571
Tennessee State	8	–	8		.500			17	–	13		.567
Tennessee Tech	8	–	8		.500			12	–	20		.375
Eastern Kentucky	5	–	11		.313			12	–	19		.387
West
UT Martin	10	–	6		.625			22	–	13		.629
Southeast Missouri St.	9	–	7		.563			15	–	18		.455
Murray State	8	–	8		.500			16	–	17		.485
Austin Peay	7	–	9		.438			11	–	19		.367
Eastern Illinois	6	–	10		.375			14	–	15		.483
SIU Edwardsville	1	–	15		.063			6	–	24		.200
† 2017 OVC tournament winner

On November 22, 2016, Morehead State suspended head coach Sean Woods with pay while the school investigated complaints made against Woods.^[1] Assistant coach Preston Spradlin was named interim head coach.^[2][3] On December 15, two days after Woods was charged with misdemeanor battery in Indiana for allegedly assaulting two of his players during a game versus Evansville, it was announced that Woods had resigned.^[4] It was announced that Spradlin would continue as interim coach while the school conducted a nationwide search for a replacement.^[5][6] On March 16, 2017, Spradlin was named full-time head coach.^[7]

Previous season

The Eagles finished the 2015–16 season 23–14, 11–5 in OVC play to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the East Division. They defeated Murray State in the quarterfinals of the OVC tournament to advance to the semifinals where they lost to UT Martin. They were invited to the College Basketball Invitational where they defeated Siena, Duquesne, and Ohio to advance to the best-of-three finals series against Nevada. In the finals, they lost the CIT championship two games to one.

Preseason

In a vote of Ohio Valley Conference head men’s basketball coaches and sports information directors, Morehead State was picked to finish third in the East Division of the OVC.^[8] Xavier Moon was selected to the All-OVC Preseason Team.^[8]

Roster

2016–17 Morehead State Eagles men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown F 0 Ty'Quan Bitting 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Sr Mount Tabor High School Angelina College Winston-Salem, North Carolina F 1 Treshaad Williams 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Sr Berrien County Northwest Florida State College Nashville, GA G 2 Jordan Walker 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 177 lb (80 kg) Fr Cathedral Indianapolis, IN C 3 Keion Alexander 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) RS Jr Kingdom Prep Academy (GA) Southwest Tennessee CC Brooklyn, NY G 5 Miguel Dicent 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 155 lb (70 kg) Jr Canarias Academy Santo Domingo, DR F 10 Alonzo Chatman 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Fr Morgan Park Chicago, IL G 11 Malik Maitland 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 170 lb (77 kg) So Father Lopez Catholic Daytona Beach, FL F 13 Lamontray Harris 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) So Pleasure Ridge Park Robinson Prep School (NJ) Louisville, KY F 15 Dejuan Marrero 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 230 lb (104 kg) RS Sr Bowman Academy Chipola College Gary, IN F 21 Wes Noble 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) RS So Breathitt County Jackson, KY G 22 Xavier Moon 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Sr Central Coosa Northwest Florida State College Goodwater, AL G 23 Malik Winston 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 194 lb (88 kg) Fr Dundalk Baltimore, MD F 25 Ronnye Beamon 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Hammond Bishop Noll (IN) Kaskaskia College Calumet City, IL G 32 Djimon Henson 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 189 lb (86 kg) Fr Lawrence North Indianapolis, IN F 35 Soufiyane Diakite 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 192 lb (87 kg) Jr Wings Academy Cowley CC (TX) Bronx, NY	Head coach Preston Spradlin Assistant coach(es) Dylan Howard Derrick Tilmon Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt

Schedule and results

^[9]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
11/06/2016* 2:00 pm, OVC Digital Network		Cincinnati Christian	W 106–63		Ellis Johnson Arena  Morehead, KY
Non-conference regular season
11/11/2016* 7:45 pm, OVC Digital Network		Kentucky Christian	W 106–41	1–0	Ellis Johnson Arena (2,865) Morehead, KY
11/13/2016* 4:00 pm, OVC Digital Network		Lipscomb	W 89–75	2–0	Ellis Johnson Arena (1,783) Morehead, KY
11/16/2016* 7:00 pm		at Marshall	L 77–85	2–1	Cam Henderson Center (5,872) Huntington, WV
11/19/2016* 1:00 pm		at Evansville	L 56–69	2–2	Ford Center (3,836) Evansville, IN
11/25/2016* 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra		at Pittsburgh	L 63–76	2–3	Petersen Events Center (7,025) Pittsburgh, PA
11/30/2016* 7:00 pm		Northern Kentucky	L 79–84	2–4	Ellis Johnson Arena (3,110) Morehead, KY
12/03/2016* 2:00 pm, ESPN3		at No. 15 Purdue	L 56–90	2–5	Mackey Arena (13,611) West Lafayette, IN
12/10/2016* 5:00 pm, ESPN3		at Lipscomb	L 84–98	2–6	Allen Arena (1,302) Nashville, TN
12/13/2016* 9:05 pm		at Eastern Washington	L 86–88	2–7	Reese Court (1,046) Cheney, WA
12/17/2016* 2:00 pm		East Tennessee State	L 68–78	2–8	Ellis Johnson Arena (1,812) Morehead, KY
12/19/2016* 7:30 pm		Central Arkansas	W 111–85	3–8	Ellis Johnson Arena (1,505) Morehead, KY
12/22/2016* 7:00 pm, SECN		at Mississippi State	L 76–85	3–9	Humphrey Coliseum (8,328) Starkville, MS
12/28/2016* 7:00 pm		Asbury	W 120–77	4–9	Ellis Johnson Arena (1,023) Morehead, KY
Ohio Valley Conference regular season
12/31/2016 7:00 pm		at UT Martin	L 77–81 ^OT	4–10 (0–1)	Skyhawk Arena (1,730) Martin, TN
01/05/2017 7:45 pm		Eastern Illinois	W 85–75	5–10 (1–1)	Ellis Johnson Arena (1,591) Morehead, KY
01/07/2017 4:15 pm		SIU Edwardsville	W 73–65	6–10 (2–1)	Ellis Johnson Arena (2,531) Morehead, KY
01/12/2017 8:00 pm, ESPNU		Belmont	L 78–84	6–11 (2–2)	Ellis Johnson Arena (3,244) Morehead, KY
01/14/2017 7:45 pm		Tennessee State	W 87–85	7–11 (3–2)	Ellis Johnson Arena (2,858) Morehead, KY
01/19/2017 8:00 pm		at Austin Peay	W 89–82	8–11 (4–2)	Dunn Center (1,767) Clarksville, TN
01/21/2017 7:45 pm		Eastern Kentucky	W 80–54	9–11 (5–2)	Ellis Johnson Arena (5,789) Morehead, KY
01/26/2017 7:00 pm		at Tennessee Tech	L 73–76	9–12 (5–3)	Eblen Center (1,644) Cookeville, TN
01/28/2017 12:00 pm, ASN		at Jacksonville State	W 72–69	10–12 (6–3)	Pete Mathews Coliseum (1,021) Jacksonville, AL
02/04/2017 5:15 pm		at Southeast Missouri State	W 89–81	11–12 (7–3)	Show Me Center (2,919) Cape Girardeau, MO
02/08/2017 7:00 pm		Murray State	W 101–100 ^OT	12–12 (8–3)	Ellis Johnson Arena (4,109) Morehead, KY
02/11/2017 7:00 pm		at Eastern Kentucky	W 67–62	13–12 (9–3)	McBrayer Arena (3,800) Richmond, VA
02/16/2017 9:00 pm, ESPNU		at Tennessee State	L 52–64	13–13 (9–4)	Gentry Complex (3,765) Nashville, TN
02/18/2017 5:00 pm		at Belmont	L 73–89	13–14 (9–5)	Curb Event Center (2,825) Nashville, TN
02/23/2017 9:00 pm, CBSSN		Tennessee Tech	W 73–68	14–14 (10–5)	Ellis Johnson Arena (3,383) Morehead, KY
02/25/2017 4:15 pm		Jacksonville State	L 61–70	14–15 (10–6)	Ellis Johnson Arena (734) Morehead, KY
Ohio Valley tournament
03/02/2017 9:30 pm	(3)	vs. (7) Murray State Quarterfinals	L 69–75	14–16	Nashville Municipal Auditorium (1,001) Nashville, TN
*Non-conference game. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

References

1. "Morehead State suspends coach Sean Woods during investigation". CBSSports.com. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
2. "Morehead St. suspends coach amid complaints". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
3. "Woods suspended indefinitely, Spradlin named interim coach". The Morehead News. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
4. "Sean Woods resigns as Morehead State men's basketball coach". USA TODAY. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
5. "STATEMENT ON FUTURE OF MEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM". Morehead State University Athletics. December 15, 2016. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
6. "Sean Woods resigns as MSU head basketball coach". WKYT. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
7. "Preston Spradlin Named Morehead State Head Basketball Coach". A Sea Of Blue. March 16, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
8. "Belmont Picked As 2016-17 OVC Men's Basketball Favorites; Bruins' Bradds Tabbed Preseason Player of the Year". Ohio Valley Conference. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
9. "2016-17 Men's Basketball Schedule".