Former UTM men’s basketball standout Mike Meschede will be honored as an Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Basketball Legend at the league’s championship tournament in Evansville, Ind. on March 4-7.
Meschede joins Pat Head Summitt (2019), Jared Newson (2018), Jasmine Newsome (2017), Lester Hudson (2016) and Heather Butler (2015) as past UT Martin representatives who have been spotlighted as OVC Basketball Legends.
A 6-4, 200-pound shooting guard, Meschede played at UTM from 1984-88 under head coach Tom Hancock. He improved his scoring total in every season, concluding his stellar career with 1,729 points – which stood as the most in the history of UTM men’s basketball for 28 years.
Meschede’s best season came during his senior campaign in 1987-88, when he averaged 23.7 points per game while helping lead the Pacers to a 20-8 overall record and Gulf South Conference championship with a 12-4 mark. He was a two-time All-GSC first teamer (1986-87, 1987-88) and was the league’s Player of the Year in 1987-88.
The Merrillville, Indiana, native still holds the program record for most three-pointers made in a single game (10 out of 14 against Mississippi College on Jan. 16, 1988). Meschede also ranks in the career top-10 in free throws made (415, second), field goals made (575, third), steals (154, fourth), assists (257, ninth) and three-point field goals made (144, 10th).
Meschede was inducted into the UTM Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995 before passing away after a hard-fought battle with renal cancer at the age of 47 in 2013.
The OVC began its tradition of recognizing men’s and women’s basketball legends from each of its member institutions in 2015 as a new group of 12 legends are announced each year. The legends are recognized through signage, public address announcements and a game program feature story during the conference tournament every year.
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