How Tennessee State basketball is building a foundation it hopes can win the OVC

The bus powered up the hill to the Gentry Center on the campus of Tennessee State at 1:30 a.m., completing a four-hour trek from Cape Girardeau. A tired group of players disembarked with the regrets of an 85-63 loss at Southeast Missouri.

Their coach, Penny Collins, told his team he wanted them back on the practice court the next morning at 11:45. And there they were, not only present but attentive and working hard. “Considering how late we got back and this is 11:45, I thought they had great energy,’’ Collins said.

It's moments like these that give Collins hope after a discouraging loss. Hope that his Tigers can still finish this season strongly and build a foundation for what could be a much better season in 2022-23. Maybe even compete for an Ohio Valley Conference championship.

Putting aside that the overcrowded transfer portal can sometimes change the course of a team’s future in either direction, Tennessee State has a solid group of five that should return. The quintet is swingman Carlos Marshall, guard Marcus Fitzgerald, dangerous shooter Dedric Boyd, talented forward Christian Brown (who’s out for this season with a broken foot), and hulking big man Emmanuel Dowuwona.

“This is my fourth year, and with that nucleus coming back, that’s the first time we’ll have that much firepower coming back,’’ Collins said. “Every year we’ve had to reload, every year. The first year we had a lot of the previous staff’s players, they graduated. Second year, we brought in nine new guys, we won 18 games but then COVID just stripped us. We only had three seniors but three guys opted out because of COVID. Carlos Marshall didn’t play last year because of hip surgery. We had such a struggle bus season last year we brought in a new team this year.

“Next year will be the first time we’ll have a strong corps back and when you have returnees, that’s when special things can happen.’’

First, Collins wants to finish this season strong.

“My goal is to finish in the top four, top five, make the conference tournament,’’ he said. “That’s the No. 1 goal. Then see if we can make some noise.’’

The Tigers (8-11) have been inconsistent, which Collins attributes to chemistry problems with a new roster, but he still likes his team.

“I’m still optimistic about this year,’’ he said. “We’re actually one of the teams talented enough and big enough to beat anybody. We can beat anybody, but the curse is we can beat by anybody.’’

Something else will be different next season, Belmont and Murray State will no longer be in the OVC. It presents opportunity for an experienced team.

About an hour east of Nashville, there’s a coach who has similar feelings to Collins.

Tennessee Tech’s John Pelphrey has a young group of transfers and recruits that he hopes will be a contender in the OVC next season. It’s been painful at times (a 5-12 record) as the Golden Eagles work their way toward that.

“I wish I had magic dust where I could speed this thing up,’’ Pelphrey said. “There just wasn’t a lot of resources when we got here. We knew that. I appreciate (athletics director) Mark Wilson and (president) Dr. (Phillip) Oldham to let me do this the way I want to. We’re not going to cut corners. I’m not looking to slap band aids on this thing and have to do that every year.

“I want to have a program where there’s player development because in college basketball when you get old and stay old, you have a chance to be good year in and year out. We’re going through the school of hard knocks here.’’

Every important player on this season’s team is eligible to return next season. That group is led by two guards Jr. Clay (11.6 ppg) and Keishawn Davidson (10.7) right now, but the upside of two transfers, Mamoudou Diarra and Daniel Ramsey, could make a bigger difference next season.

Diarra is a 6-9 forward who transferred from Cincinnati and has an inside/outside, athletic game that has potential to have a greater impact than he has had this season. Ramsey is a 6-9 transfer from Xavier who has shown some excellent inside scoring ability. He just hasn’t done it consistently enough.

Pelphrey is resolute in his approach that comes with his extensive experience that includes head coaching jobs at Arkansas and South Alabama plus two stints as an assistant to Billy Donovan at Florida. He knows what a good basketball team looks like. Right now, he sees his own team as being in the developmental stage.

“It's going to happen,’’ he said. “This group gives me a lot of energy. They always show up, they let me coach them. I want this so bad for them and I do think we’re getting closer. We’re getting better.’’

Joe Sullivan can be reached at josephsullivan1974@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeSullivan

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How TSU basketball is building a foundation it hopes can win the OVC