EKU Snaps Belmont Win Streak with Coach Pulling Double-Duty for Men's and Women's Team

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The second-longest winning streak in college basketball was snapped Thursday night in Richmond. Eastern Kentucky upset Belmont 81-67, ending the Bruins’ 30-game OVC win streak and giving the Colonels a school record 14th conference victory of the season.

Wendell Green’s 22 points led all scorers, Louisville native Curt Lewis added 15 and former Lexington Christian Academy standout Tre King finished with 14 points and 7 rebounds for the Colonels. EKU is now one of only a handful of schools in America with 20 wins this season and they’ve done it with a roster that’s made up mostly of Kentucky kids.

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“It was incredible,” said Corbin Maynard. “If I thought we’d be up 18 at halftime, and I said that, I would be completely out of my mind. I didn’t expect us to come out like that.”

Maynard is another Louisville native, yet he typically watches the games from the sixth seat down from head coach A.W. Hamilton as the Colonels’ director of basketball operations. This season that job title has given him more duties than a typical director of ops. Before the men’s team defeated Belmont Thursday night, Maynard was tasked to serve as the only assistant coach for the EKU women’s team.

Samantha Williams’ entire assistant coaching staff was sidelined by coronavirus contact tracing protocols. Searching for help on the sideline, EKU gave Maynard 24 hours to prepare to coach a new team. The first course of action: learn everyone’s names.

“One of the first things I did was I got out the roster and took a sheet of paper and wrote down all of their numbers and names. I knew the majority of them, but when you’re not coaching them and watching as closely, you don’t really memorize the names.”

He essentially had 24 hours to remember everyone’s name, learn EKU’s plays and consume the Belmont scouting report. As game time approached, one worry crossed his mind, would they even listen to him? After all, he’s just the basketball ops guy from a team they only see in passing.

“I was really impressed with how attentive they were to every word I said. They looked me right in the eye. I’m not saying that our men don’t, but stepping over from the other side, if I was a player it would be hard for me to see the coach that just got on staff from five hours before try to coach me up on something I’ve been doing for months. Why would I listen to them? But I was impressed with the women and their ability to focus.”

Unfortunately, the short-handed EKU women’s team was able to defeat Belmont, falling 77-59 at McBrayer Arena. Bria Bass scored her 1,000th career point in the penultimate game of the regular season.

The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically college athletics since March 2020. Teams across the country have been forced to adapt in unprecedented ways. Despite the circumstances, the Eastern Kentucky Colonels are thriving in their final Ohio Valley Conference season.

EKU will put a bow on the regular season Saturday at McBrayer Arena against Tennessee State, beginning with the women’s team at 4 pm ET, followed by tip-off in the men’s game at 7 pm ET.