Under the Radar Game of the Day – Saturday, January 27th

Western Illinois (13-7, 6-1) at Morehead State (15-5, 6-1) – 3:00 PM ET (ESPN+)

Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky where the hometown Morehead State Eagles host the Western Illinois Leathernecks in a top-2 showdown in the Ohio Valley Conference. Morehead comes into today’s contest having won seven out of their last eight games and has climbed into a tie for first place. Their only stumble was a surprising loss at SIU-Edwardsville two weeks ago. Even without Mark Freeman in the lineup, Riley Minix has emerged as the Eagles’ go-to threat with 18.9 points a game and 8.9 rebounds a game.

Very little was expected of Western Illinois when they abruptly left the Summit League to join the OVC this summer, but the Leathernecks have also vaulted into a first-place tie in the OVC so far. The Leathernecks had won nine straight games overall before Tennessee State halted their winning streak last week. They beat Southern Indiana 73-68 to resume their winning ways; Ryan Myers led the way with 23 points in that game.