2020–21 Belmont Bruins men's basketball team

2020–21 Belmont Bruins men's basketball
2020–21 Belmont Bruins men's basketball
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	18–1 (12–0 OVC)
Head coach	Casey Alexander (2nd season);
Associate head coach	Brian Ayers
Assistant coaches	Sean Rutigliano; Tyler Holloway;
Home arena	Curb Event Center
	Seasons ← 2019–20 2021–22 →

2020–21 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Belmont	18	–	2	.900	26	–	4	.867
Morehead State †	17	–	3	.850	23	–	8	.742
Eastern Kentucky	15	–	5	.750	22	–	7	.759
Jacksonville State	13	–	6	.684	18	–	9	.667
Austin Peay	10	–	10	.500	14	–	13	.519
Murray State	10	–	10	.500	13	–	13	.500
Southeast Missouri State	9	–	11	.450	11	–	16	.407
SIU Edwardsville	7	–	12	.368	9	–	17	.346
Eastern Illinois	6	–	14	.300	9	–	18	.333
UT Martin	6	–	14	.300	8	–	16	.333
Tennessee Tech	5	–	15	.250	5	–	22	.185
Tennessee State	3	–	17	.150	4	–	19	.174

† 2021 OVC tournament winner

The 2020–21 Belmont Bruins men's basketball team represents Belmont University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bruins, led by second-year head coach Casey Alexander, play their home games at the Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tennessee as members of the Ohio Valley Conference.

Previous season

The Bruins finished the 2019–20 season 26–7, 15–3 in OVC play to finish in a tie for the OVC regular season championship. They defeated Eastern Kentucky and Murray State to be champions of the OVC Tournament. They earned the OVC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. However, the NCAA Tournament was cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

Roster

2020–21 Belmont Bruins men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
C	0	Even Brauns	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	250 lb (113 kg)	Fr	Iowa City, Iowa
G	1	Mitch Listau	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	So	Waunakee, Wisconsin
G	2	Grayson Murphy	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	RS Jr	Franklin, Tennessee
G	3	Luke Smith	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	RS Jr	Knoxville, Tennessee
F	10	Caleb Hollander	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Jr	Nashville, Tennessee
F	11	Michael Shanks	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	RS Fr	Bentonville, Arkansas
G	12	EJ Bellinger	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	So	St. Peters, Missouri
G	20	Tate Pierson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Brentwood, Tennessee
F	21	Derek Sabin	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	RS So	Slinger, Wisconsin
G	22	Ben Sheppard	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	Atlanta, Georgia
G	24	JaCobi Wood	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Cleveland, Tennessee
F	25	Frank Jakubicek	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Fr	Cary, Illinois
C	33	Nick Muszynski	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Jr	Pickerington, Ohio
F	42	Rilee Epley	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	So	Newburgh, Indiana

Head coach

Casey Alexander (Belmont)

Assistant coach(es)

Brian Ayers (Lipscomb)
Sean Rutigliano (Cortland State)
Tyler Holloway (Murray State)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: December 8, 2020

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
November 26, 2020* 4:00 pm, ESPN3	vs. Howard DC Paradise Jam	W 95–78	1–0	Washington Convention Center Washington, D.C.
November 27, 2020* 1:00 pm, ESPN3	vs. George Mason DC Paradise Jam	W 77–67	2–0	Washington Convention Center Washington, D.C.
November 28, 2020* 11:00 am, ESPN3	vs. Queens (NC) DC Paradise Jam	W 73–61	3–0	Washington Convention Center Washington, D.C.
December 5, 2020* 4:00 pm, ESPN+	Samford	L 83–96	3–1	Curb Event Center Nashville, TN
December 8, 2020 6:30 pm, ESPN+	Tennessee State	W 79–64	4–1 (1–0)	Curb Event Center (250) Nashville, TN
December 12, 2020* 7:00 pm, ESPN+	at Lipscomb Battle of the Boulevard	W 81–71	5–1	Allen Arena Nashville, TN
December 16, 2020* 6:30 pm, ESPN3	Kennesaw State	W 64–53	6–1	Curb Event Center Nashville, TN
December 18, 2020 6:30 pm, ESPN+	at Tennessee State	W 88–63	7–1 (2–0)	Gentry Center (224) Nashville, TN
December 21, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN+	at Evansville	W 72–63	8–1	Ford Center Evansville, IN
December 30, 2020 6:00 pm, ESPN+	Murray State	W 68–55	9–1 (3–0)	Curb Event Center (756) Nashville, TN
January 2, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	at UT Martin	W 90–69	10–1 (4–0)	Skyhawk Arena (165) Martin, TN
January 7, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+	Southeast Missouri State	W 77–66	11–1 (5–0)	Curb Event Center (271) Nashville, TN
January 9, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	UT Martin	W 89–69	12–1 (6–0)	Curb Event Center (141) Nashville, TN
January 14, 2021 8:00 pm, ESPN+	at Tennessee Tech	W 88–67	13–1 (7–0)	Eblen Center (589) Cookeville, TN
January 16, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	at Jacksonville State	W 98–91	14–1 (8–0)	Pete Mathews Coliseum (516) Jacksonville, AL
January 21, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+	Eastern Illinois	W 79–66	15–1 (9–0)	Curb Event Center (247) Nashville, TN
January 23, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	SIU Edwardsville	W 114–62	16–1 (10–0)	Curb Event Center (244) Nashville, TN
January 28, 2021 7:30 pm, ESPNU	at Austin Peay	W 81–76	17–1 (11–0)	Dunn Center (603) Clarksville, TN
January 30, 2021 7:30 pm, ESPN+	at Murray State	W 72–71	18–1 (12–0)	CFSB Center (1,290) Murray, KY
February 4, 2021 7:30 pm, ESPN+	at Eastern Illinois			Lantz Arena Charleston, IL
February 6, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+	at SIU Edwardsville			First Community Arena Edwardsville, IL
February 11, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+	Eastern Kentucky			Curb Event Center Nashville, TN
February 13, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	Morehead State			Curb Event Center Nashville, TN
February 18, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+	Jacksonville State			Curb Event Center Nashville, TN
February 20, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+	Tennessee Tech			Curb Event Center Nashville, TN
February 25, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+	at Eastern Kentucky			McBrayer Arena Richmond, KY
February 27, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN+	at Morehead State			Ellis Johnson Arena Morehead, KY
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central.

Source^[2]

References

^ "NCAA cancels March Madness tournaments, all other winter and spring championships". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
^ "2020-21 Belmont Men's Basketball Schedule". Belmont Bruins. Retrieved December 8, 2020.

[1] "NCAA cancels March Madness tournaments, all other winter and spring championships". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-12-08.

[2] "2020-21 Belmont Men's Basketball Schedule". Belmont Bruins. Retrieved December 8, 2020.

[1]

[2]

v t e Belmont Bruins men's basketball
Venues	Striplin Gym (1964–2001) Nashville Municipal Auditorium (2001–2003) Curb Event Center (2003–present)
Rivalries	Lipscomb
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25