EKU basketball in position to use its home court advantage to reach the NCAA Tournament

Wednesday night inside Baptist Health Arena was everything it promised to be for the Eastern Kentucky men’s basketball team. And perhaps it was also a preview of what could still be to come for the Colonels.

With a 90-82 win over Florida Gulf Coast in front of a rocking crowd of 4,066 fans clad in white T-shirts in Richmond — as well as a national TV audience watching on ESPNU — EKU tightened its grip on the top spot in the ASUN Conference standings.

Now 13-10 overall this season and 9-1 in ASUN contests, the Colonels hold a two-game lead atop the conference table with just six league games to go.

And in the ASUN Conference, that means something extra.

The entirety of the postseason ASUN Tournament is held at campus sites, with the higher seed hosting. If EKU is able to win the conference outright, that means the road to an NCAA Tournament bid will roll through Richmond.

“It’s an unbelievable home court advantage,” EKU head coach A.W. Hamilton said postgame. “These guys have been lights out at home the last two years. Last year, we led the league in attendance for the first time in school history. This year we’re leading the league in attendance. ... They are Richmond’s team.”

Since taking over as EKU’s head coach ahead of the 2018-19 season, Hamilton has helped make Baptist Health Arena (formerly known as Alumni Coliseum) a fortress: Eastern Kentucky is 64-20 (76.2%) in home games under Hamilton, who claimed his 100th overall victory at EKU on Wednesday night.

The Colonels are now 6-0 in ASUN home games this season.

This figures to be a good omen for a team that — should EKU go on to win the ASUN regular season title — would then need to win three consecutive home games to win the ASUN Tournament and secure a spot in March Madness for the first time since 2014.

“It was electric. It was a lot of fun playing out there,” said senior wing Devontae Blanton, who led EKU with 24 points in Wednesday’s win. “I couldn’t even hear coach calling plays. It meant a lot. (The fans) coming out, showing support, it meant a lot to us. We came out with a lot of energy because of them.”

Even without the postseason ramifications, claiming a conference regular season championship would be a big deal in its own right in Richmond: The Colonels haven’t done so since winning the Ohio Valley Conference regular season crown in the 1978-79 season.

Isaiah Cozart continues monster season in another Eastern Kentucky win

EKU’s most recent home triumph Wednesday over FGCU was the latest example of how the Colonels have gone from falling short of lofty preseason expectations to surging at the right time.

Isaiah Cozart — EKU’s do-it-all, fifth-year forward — put together another impressive night with 21 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. Cozart, who is averaging a double-double, is the NCAA leader in blocks this season and also ranks highly in the following categories:

▪ Fourth in offensive rebounds per game (4.14).

▪ Seventh in field goal percentage (63.76%).

▪ 17th in rebounds per game (9.9).

Wednesday marked Cozart’s 10th double-double in 22 games this season.

“Cozart has gotten into the best shape of his life,” Hamilton said of the Madison Central High School grad, who averaged 23.9 minutes per game last season but has bumped that average up to 31 this season.

“It’s his commitment in the offseason. He did the work, he didn’t need any motivation to do it.”

With a closeout block on a baseline 3-point attempt in the final seconds of the first half, Cozart passed Nick Mayo for the top spot on EKU’s career blocks leaderboard. Remarkably, Cozart achieved this feat in less than two full seasons at EKU (Cozart spent the first three seasons of his college career at Western Kentucky).

Cozart now has 179 blocks as a Colonel and 200 for his entire college career.

“I mean, it’s crazy. If you told me two years ago when I was first entering the transfer portal, you tell me all this stuff: Breaking the season record for blocks, breaking the (all-time) shot blocking record, the first triple-double in school history. I would have laughed in your face,” Cozart said.

“Honestly, I would have never believed you.”

EKU’s next game could determine ASUN Conference winner

With only six league games to go, the Colonels are again facing the expectation that they will be dancing for the first time in a decade.

According to BracketMatrix, EKU is overwhelmingly expected to win the ASUN Tournament.

The Colonels are the second-highest ranked ASUN team according to KenPom: EKU checks in at No. 182 in the country, behind only Lipscomb at No. 167. But it’s actually Stetson (7-3 in ASUN play), that is closest to EKU in the league standings.

Eastern Kentucky visits Stetson on Saturday afternoon for the teams’ only regular season meeting this season. It’s a game that will go a long way in determining both the ASUN regular season champion, and which school will be best positioned for a trip to the Big Dance.

“Honestly, all the time,” Blanton, EKU’s senior guard, said when asked if he thinks about playing in the ASUN Tournament at home. “We want to play in front of everybody. We want to play in front of Richmond.”

Next game

Eastern Kentucky at Stetson

When: 4:45 p.m. Saturday

Where: J. Ollie Edmunds Center in Deland, Florida

TV: ESPN+ (online only)

Radio: WCYO-FM 100.7

Records: Eastern Kentucky 13-10 (9-1 ASUN), Stetson 15-10 (7-3)

Series: Stetson leads 2-1

Last meeting: Eastern Kentucky won 85-70 on Jan. 14, 2023, in Richmond