The OVC Championship is Set

Night three of the OVC Tournament did not disappoint. Of all six tournament games now, five of them have had final margins within 10 points. As we head into the title game tonight, let’s recap the madness from Friday’s late-night extravaganza in Evansville.

Tennessee State leads UT Martin from buzzer-to-buzzer

After last night, it is clear that coming into the championship game, no one looks more unstoppable than the Tigers. Aaron Nkrumah and Travis Harper II combined for 33 points as Antoine Lorick dropped a 13-point double-double as well on their way to a 68-55 win over a UT Martin team with high expectations headed into conference play. The Tigers took its first lead a 5-3 and never looked back, winning the matchup despite their second-lowest scoring against an OVC opponent all season.

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“We knew that they were going to come ready to play,” Tigers head coach Nolan Smith said. ”If we came out mentally weak, then this could have been a very different game. When you see a team the week before, you can definitely come out and mentally relax, but it’s tournament time, and these two guys beside me [Aaron Nkrumah and Dante Harris] were ready, mentally. They got the team ready, and again, we started the game the way we really wanted to start and then just kept plugging away.“

As for UT Martin, a season of apparent destiny ends at the hands of Smith’s squad. While the Skyhawks did not lift a trophy in the OVC, they inched one step closer to contention, and they stole the hearts of an entire nation with their wins earlier in nonconference. Head coach Jeremy Shulman found a new way to success. In a college basketball environment that has occupied itself with the transfer portal and focusing on the poaching of players from other programs, Shulman gets on a plane and takes a trip to Europe. There, he has found diamond after diamond that has slowly developed his program into the way it is. It is apparent that the Skyhawks will be back here, still looking for…

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Publish date : 2026-03-07 16:24:00

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