Murray State University Athletics
Racers meet Rice today at 4 p.m. in ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday
2/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
As part of the third annual ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday event, the Murray State Racers will travel to Houston, Texas, to face the Rice Owls of the Western Athletic Conference. Tipoff time is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT.
The Racers (14-10, 9-5 OVC) are coming off a tough 74-68 loss at Tennessee State on Thursday. Trey Pearson had 19 points, seven assists and five rebounds for the Racers on a perfect 4-of-4 from the three-point line. Pearson Griffith followed his career-high game against Tennesee-Martin with his second consecutive strong game, scoring 14 points, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking two shots in only 22 minutes. Darnell Hopkins also came off the bench to score 10 points for the Racers, who led at halftime but allowed 63.2-percent shooting (12-for-19) from the Tigers in the second half.
With a win, Murray State would have taken sole possession of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings, with Samford and Tennessee Tech losing to their opponents Thursday night. However, a loss puts Murray in a tie for third place with Austin Peay, with both teams being just a half-game back from league leaders Samford and Tennessee Tech.
Rice (13-9, 7-6 WAC) is coming off a 73-58 loss to WAC leader Nevada on Wednesday. Michael Harris had team-highs of 15 points and five rebounds for the Owls, while Jason McKreith and Morris Almond had 14 points apiece in a losing effort.
Rice, which was picked as a close second place finisher in the WAC pre-season polls, has struggled throughout the WAC schedule and is now in fifth place. The Owls are led by their skilled post player Harris, the WAC Preseason Player of the Year. Harris is averaging 19.8 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, while shooting 60.7 percent (162-of-267) from the field. Harris's 11.3 rebounds a game is currently ranked sixth in the nation, just 0.1 rebound per game behind cracking the top five.
Harris had 22 points and nine rebounds against defending national champion Connecticut, ranked 13th in the nation at the time, on Dec. 19. Harris also had 25 points and eight rebounds against Syracuse, ranked eighth in the nation at the time, on Dec. 22. Harris needs 96 points and 54 rebounds in the Owls' last six regular-season games (an average of 16.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game) to become Rice's all-time leading scorer and rebounder.
Rice is also led by McKreith, a Pre-Season All-Second Team WAC performer. McKreith is averaging 14.2 points, 5,1 rebounds and 3.8 assists a game. Brock Gillespie also averages 9.7 points a game for the Owls.
For the Racers, Pearson averages 15.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per contest. Hopkins averages 11.2 points a game, while Shawn Witherspoon averages 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds a game. Issian Redding averages 8.0 points and 5.0 rebounds a game, while Keith Jenifer averages 7.1 points and a team-high 4.0 assists a game. In Griffith's last two games, he has averaged 13.0 points and 6.5 rebounds on 63.2 percent shooting (12-for-19), in just 20.0 minutes per game.
