EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball returns home to Liberty Arena to start a home weekend Thursday and begin a stretch of six of the next eight games at home to finish January. The home weekend starts with Southeast Missouri State Thursday and concludes Saturday against UT Martin.
 
Both games are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off and will be streamed on ESPN+. All USI games are aired live on ESPN 97.7FM and The Spin 95.7FM. The USI-SEMO matchup will be presented by Tri-State Orthopaedics.

For Saturday, USI Athletics invites USI employees to come support the Screaming Eagles on USI Employee Appreciation Night. USI employees are eligible for up to four (4) free tickets for both games of the doubleheader at Liberty Arena. Additional tickets can be purchased at regular price. Tickets can be ordered online at usi.universitytickets.com.
 
The Screaming Eagles (3-11, 0-4 OVC) hope this critical home stretch at Liberty Arena can get them back on track in Ohio Valley Conference play. USI has been in the last three games, losing by a total of 11 points and had a chance to tie/take the lead in the final 30 seconds of the games.
 
The Eagles are coming off a 0-2 road trip that saw them lose at SIU Edwardsville, 59-55, and at Lindenwood, 83-80. Junior guard Tolu Samuels led the way for the Screaming Eagles on the trip with 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, while senior guard Cardell Bailey and junior guard Sheridan Sharp posted 13.0 points and 12.5 points per game, respectively.
 
For the season, Habib has been posting 16.6 points per game to lead USI in scoring. Bailey is second on the team in scoring with 14.1 points per contest this season and is averaging 16.5 points per outing in the last six games.
 
SEMO (8-7, 3-1 OVC) has won its last three games in the OVC play and has taken six of its last seven overall. The Redhawks lead the all-time series with USI, 8-3, after winning both meetings last season.  
 
UT Martin (11-4, 3-1 OVC) posted a sweep last week and visits Morehead State Thursday before coming to USI. The Skyhawks lead the all-time series with USI, 9-4, after taking both matchups last season.
 
Following this week's home games, USI is on the road to Tennessee Tech January 15 and Tennessee State January 17. The Eagles are back in Liberty Arena versus Eastern Illinois January 22; Western Illinois January 24; Lindenwood January 29; and SIUE January 31.