# 2020–21 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball season

The 2020–21 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2020, followed by the start of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play begins in January 2021 and ended in March 2021.
This was the final season for Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State as OVC members. On January 29, 2021, the ASUN Conference announced that both schools would join that conference on July 1 of that year.

## Preseason Awards

The preseason coaches' poll and league awards were announced by the league office on November 4, 2020.

### Preseason men's basketball coaches poll

| Rank | Team |
| T1. | Austin Peay (9)- 226 |
| T1. | Murray State (10)- 226 |
| 3. | Belmont (5)- 214 |
| 4. | Eastern Kentucky- 173 |
| 5. | Eastern Illinois- 153 |
| 6. | Tennessee State- 139 |
| 7. | Jacksonville State- 124 |
| 8. | Morehead State- 87 |
| 9. | Tennessee Tech- 84 |
| 10. | UT-Martin- 80 |
| 11. | SIU Edwardsville- 48 |
| 12. | Southeast Missouri State- 30 |
| (first place votes) ||

## Honors

| Preseason All-OVC Team | Jordyn Adams, Austin Peay |
| Preseason All-OVC Team | Tevin Brown, Murray State |
| Preseason All-OVC Team | Jomaru Brown, Eastern Kentucky |
| Preseason All-OVC Team | Jr. Clay, Tennessee Tech |
| Preseason All-OVC Team | Tre King, Eastern Kentucky |
| Preseason All-OVC Team | Carlos Marshall Jr., Tennessee State |
| Preseason All-OVC Team | Grayson Murphy, Belmont |
| Preseason All-OVC Team | Nick Muszynski, Belmont |
| Preseason All-OVC Team | Mack Smith, Eastern Illinois |
| Preseason All-OVC Team | Parker Stewart, UT Martin |
| Preseason All-OVC Team | Terry Taylor, Austin Peay |
| Preseason All-OVC Team | Josiah Wallace, Eastern Illinois |
| Preseason All-OVC Team | KJ Williams, Murray State |

## Conference matrix

| | Austin Peay | Belmont | Eastern Illinois | Eastern Kentucky | Jacksonville State | Morehead State | Murray State | SE Missouri State | SIU Edwardsville | Tennessee State | Tennessee Tech | UT Martin |
| vs. Austin Peay | – | 1−0 | 1−1 | 1−1 | 2−0 | 1−0 | 1−1 | 1−1 | 0−2 | 0−2 | 1−1 | 1−1 |
| vs. Belmont | 0−1 | – | 0−2 | 1−1 | 0−2 | 1−1 | 0−2 | 0−1 | 0−2 | 0−2 | 0−2 | 0−2 |
| vs. Eastern Illinois | 1−1 | 2−0 | – | 2−0 | 1−0 | 1−0 | 0−2 | 2−0 | 1−1 | 1−1 | 1−1 | 2–0 |
| vs. Eastern Kentucky | 1–1 | 1−1 | 0−2 | – | 0−2 | 1−1 | 1−0 | 1−1 | 0–1 | 0−2 | 0–2 | 0−2 |
| vs. Jacksonville State | 0−2 | 2−0 | 0−1 | 2−0 | – | 2−0 | 0−2 | 0−1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0−2 | 0−2 |
| vs. Morehead State | 0−1 | 1−1 | 0−1 | 1−1 | 0−2 | – | 0−2 | 0−2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0−2 | 0–2 |
| vs. Murray State | 1−1 | 2−0 | 2−0 | 0−1 | 2−0 | 2−0 | – | 0–2 | 0−2 | 0−1 | 1−1 | 0−2 |
| vs. SE Missouri State | 1–1 | 1−0 | 0−2 | 1−1 | 1−0 | 2−0 | 2–0 | – | 0−2 | 0−2 | 1−1 | 2−0 |
| vs. SIU Edwardsville | 2−0 | 2−0 | 1−1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2−0 | 2−0 | – | 0−2 | 0−1 | 0–2 |
| vs. Tennessee State | 2−0 | 2−0 | 1−1 | 2−0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1−0 | 2−0 | 2−0 | – | 1−1 | 0−1 |
| vs. Tennessee Tech | 1−1 | 2–0 | 1−1 | 2−0 | 2−0 | 2−0 | 1−1 | 1−1 | 1−0 | 1−1 | − | 1−0 |
| vs. UT Martin | 1−1 | 2−0 | 0–2 | 2−0 | 2−0 | 2–0 | 2−0 | 0−2 | 2−0 | 1−0 | 0−1 | – |
| Total | 10−10 | 18−2 | 6−14 | 15−5 | 13−6 | 17−3 | 10−10 | 9−11 | 7−12 | 3−17 | 5−15 | 6−14 |

## All-OVC awards
### Ohio Valley men's basketball weekly awards

* Week
* Nov 30
* Dec 7
* Dec 14
* Dec 21
* Dec 28
* Jan 4
* Jan 11
* Jan 18
* Jan 25
* Feb 1
* Feb 8
* Feb 15
* Feb 22
* Mar 1