Following Purdue’s 98-45 victory over the Bulldogs of Samford, they look to continue their domination as Mackey Arena welcomes the Morehead State Eagles who enter Friday with a 1-1 record. For the second straight year, Morehead State was predicted to finish first in the Ohio Valley Conference. They won the conference regular season title in 2023, going 14-4 but losing in the first round of the conference tournament. 

Players to watch : 6’7 Senior Forward Riley Minix is a transfer from Southeastern University Fire, which is an NAIA school. Minix dominated at that level averaging 20.7 ppg in his four years with the Fire including averaging 25.4 ppg and 13.6 rpg in 2022-2023. 

6’3 guard Drew Thelwell was the only active player on the Eagles roster picked on the preseason All-OVC team. He averaged 11.1 ppg last season, and went for 13 points, 8 assist and 7 rebounds against Alabama in their season opener. 

Player we won’t see : Senior guard Mark Freeman was picked as the OVC preseason player of the year, yet he won’t see the court this year as it was announced in late October that Freeman would miss the whole season with a wrist injury. Freeman averaged 15 ppg last season, and was expected to play an even bigger role this season. 

Their first two games : Morehead State opened their season on the road at #24 Alabama and left with a 105-73 loss. They followed that up with a home win over NAIA opponent Shawnee State by a score of 96-40. 

What will work : High ball screens will set up many opportunities, as they gave Alabama way too many open shots by poorly switching or going underneath the ball screens that Alabama set. Being a very active ball screening team, I believe Purdue will score and score easily. While Morehead State seems to be a highly athletic team, they do lack the size to keep up with the Boilermakers.

Look for Braden Smith to score highly if he’s confidently shooting threes off of the high ball screen. If that’s not there I believe the pick & roll will be open all night. As soon as the defense drops to cover Zach Edey, Smith will be open if he wants to take the shot off the first dribble.

Where to watch : 7:00 pm EST TV : Big Ten Plus   Radio : 96.5 WAZY

Betting Odds : Purdue -26.5 Over/Under 138.5

Best Bet : Over 138.5