It has been nearly two months since the 2020-21 season began, and the men’s basketball teams of the OVC have been finding mixed results in the time of COVID.

Every team in the conference except Southern Illinois-Edwardsville has played at least four conference games so far, with Belmont, Eastern Kentucky, Morehead State and Tennessee Tech each playing six OVC games.

Southern Illinois-Edwardsville has only played one conference game this season back on Dec. 18 and has been dealing with COVID-19 issues ever since.

The technically sit in second place in the standings with their 1-0 conference record, but Belmont leads the way with a 6-0 conference record and overall record of 12-1, having won its last nine games overall.

The Bruins have the third-ranked offense and defense in the conference and lead the OVC in scoring margin at +12.4 points per game.

They are also the only team in the OVC to have two players in the top-10 in scoring, with Nick Muszynski (15.9 points per game) ranking sixth and Luke Smith (14.8 points per game) ranking ninth.

Eastern Kentucky has the second-most conference and overall wins in the OVC with a conference record of 5-1 and overall record of 11-2.

The Colonels have the most prolific conference in the conference, averaging 81.3 points per game.

Tre King leads Eastern Kentucky in points per game (17.2) and rebounds per game (8.2), which both rank third in the conference.

Eastern finds themselves around the middle of the OVC standings at this point as the only team in the conference with .500 conference record. The Panthers are 2-2 in OVC play and 5-6 overall, sitting in seventh place.

Eastern has the OVC’s second-leading scorer in senior Josiah Wallace, who is averaging 17.5 points per game. As a team, the Panthers are tied for fifth in the OVC in scoring, averaging 72.8 points per game.

The Panthers have the third-best team three-point percentage in the OVC, shooting 35.2 percent from beyond the arc.

Tennessee Tech is currently bringing up the rear in the OVC with a conference record of 1-5 and overall record of 1-12.

The Golden Eagles are ranked 11th in both offense and defense and have the worst scoring margin in the OVC at -14.8 points per game.

On an individual basis, the OVC’s top player is once again Austin Peay’s Terry Taylor.

The reigning OVC Player of the Year, Taylor leads the conference in scoring and rebounding, averaging 21.2 rebounds per game and 11.4 rebounds per game. He is the only player in the OVC to be averaging more than 10 rebounds per game.

He also leads the conference with 36.5 minutes per game.

Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].