Preseason All-OVC Team & Predicted Order of Finish
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Eastern Illinois men's basketball has been selected to finish seventh in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll released on Tuesday at the conference media day at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. Junior guard
Josiah Wallace was named to the preseason All-OVC team.
EIU returns one of the most veteran squads in the nation as head coach
Jay Spoonhour will feature the only NCAA Division I squad in America that does not have an underclassman. EIU returns four starters from last season's team that was sixth in the league standings. The Panthers have been picked to finish as high as third in preseason magazine polls released earlier this month.
Junior guard
Josiah Wallace is one of those four starters after having led the team in scoring last season earning first team All-OVC accolades. Wallace averaged 15.5 points per game last season as he was named to this year's preseason All-OVC team.
He will be joined by backcourt teammates
Mack Smith and
Shareef Smith while seniors
Rade Kukobat and
JaQualis Matlock will anchor the post for EIU.
Mack Smith was one of the top 3-pointer shooters in the league last season and enters the 2019-20 season as the NCAA active leader in consecutive games with a 3-pointer made. Smith has knocked down at least one 3-pointer in 49 straight games.
Belmont was selected as the preseason league favorite receiving 17 of 24 first place votes. Murray State collected the other seven first place votes to rank second in the poll. Jacksonville State, Austin Peay, UT Martin, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Illinois and Morehead State were selected third through eighth as the top eight teams qualify for the OVC Tournament on March 4-7 at the Ford Center in Evansville. Tennessee State, SIUE, Southeast Missouri and Tennessee Tech were the final four schools in the preseason poll.
Austin Peay's Terry Taylor was named the OVC Preseason Player of the Year. The remainder of the OVC preseason team included Jomaru Brown (EKU), Tevin Brown (MUR), Jr. Clay (TTU), Carnell Cowart (MUR), Quintin Dove (UTM), Grayson Murphy (BEL), Nick Muszynski (BEL), Craig Randall II (UTM), Jordan Walker (MORE) and
Josiah Wallace (EIU).
EIU will host Missouri St. Louis on Wednesday, Oct. 30 for the Panthers lone exhibition game. The regular season opens on the road for the Panthers with games at NCAA National Runner-Up Texas Tech and Big Ten Conference member Wisconsin. The regular season home opener is Tuesday, Nov. 12 against Chicago State. The OVC season begins on Jan. 2 as the Panthers will play four straight on the road to open the year.
