Murray State University Athletics
MSU Prepares For Its Road Showdown With No. 18 Pittsburgh On Saturday
12/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
For the second-straight game, the Murray State men's basketball team will put its perfect record on the line against a fellow unbeaten team as the 8-0 Racers will battle 18th-ranked Pittsburgh of the Big East Conference on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT in the Pittsburgh Holiday Hoops Classic at the Petersen Events Center in the Steel City.
MSU enters the game following its dramatic 68-64 home win on Wednesday night over previously unbeaten Southern Illinois, while Pittsburgh is 9-0 after its 79-51 win over Chicago State the same evening.
The Panthers, ranked 18th in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll, enter the game with a 29-game home winning streak, while posting a perfect 23-0 record in the newly opened Petersen Events Center having dispatched of such foes as Syracuse, Connecticut and Georgetown last season.
"Size wise, we'll struggle to match up with Pittsburgh," said first-year MSU head coach Mick Cronin. "Size is usually the biggest difference in programs like ours and the bigger schools, so I think that'll be our biggest disadvantage. That and the fact that Pittsburgh hasn't lost in their new building."
The Racers, ranked No. 3 in the latest ESPN Mid-Major Top 10 poll behind only Gonzaga and Creighton, used its full-court pressure defense to fuel a furious second half rally in the win over SIU after trailing by as many as 15 points with less than 16 minutes left in the game.
"You're never out of a game when you play the way that we play," said first-year MSU head coach Mick Cronin. "Our kids know it and believe in it. Our full-court press was the difference in the game (against SIU). We forced some turnovers that led to some easy baskets, and I knew that we were going to have to do that to have a chance at winning."
Leading the way for MSU during the Racers' perfect start is the front court tandem of Cuthbert Victor and Kelvin Brown.
Victor, a 6-foot, 5-inch senior forward from St. Croix, Virgin Islands, leads the nation in rebounding at 11.8 per game and is fourth in the nation in field-goal percentage at 75.6 percent after scoring 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and pulling down a game-high 15 rebounds against the Salukis on Wednesday night.
"Cuffy continues to play really big for us," Cronin said. "He has truly been a force over the last few games and there's no doubt he's one of the best player's in the nation so far this season."
The 20-year-old Victor is an amazing 62-of-82 from the field on the season and has made more field goals than any other top-10 player has attempted. In his last three games, Victor is averaging 26.6 points per game and 14.3 rebounds per game while shooting 29-of-39 (74.3%) from the field.
But Victor isn't the Racers' only threat around the basket. He is joined by Brown, a 6-7 junior forward from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., who is in his first year at MSU after transferring from Fort Scott Community College.
Brown is averaging 15.6 points per game and 5.1 rebounds per game while becoming one of the Racers' key scoring options early on. He showed his big-time potential in leading MSU past Conference USA's TCU Horned Frogs with a 22-point, 7-rebound performance in the Racers' first road win of the season on Dec. 3.
The combination of Brown and Victor will truly be tested by the strong, physical play of Pittsburgh on Saturday, and Cronin knows the Racers will have to match the Panthers toughness.
"They're going to really get after us and defend us with a lot of physical pressure," Cronin said. "SIU came at us with a very similar style, and we didn't do a good job with it in the first half. Fortunately, our guys turned up their intensity and answered the physical play for us to get the win. That should really prepare us for what we will see on Saturday.
"For us to have a chance to knock off Pittsburgh, we're definitely going to have to play with all-out intensity and a lot of toughness for 40 minutes."
Following the game with the host Panthers, MSU will close out the Pittsburgh Holiday Classic against Georgetown College on Monday at 3 p.m. CT at the Petersen Events Center.
The MSU Sports Network's live broadcasts of the games at the Pittsburgh Holiday Classic can be heard here at GoRacers.com by Clicking Here.
