Murray State University Athletics
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Racers Travel To The Windy City
11/27/2006 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Murray State
at
Illinois-Chicago
Tuesday 7 p.m.
UIC Pavilion
Hoffman Estates, Ill.
The Murray State Racers are taking to the road this week and begin with a game Tuesday at Illinois-Chicago in the second meeting in the series. The Racers have won two of their last three games after an 0-3 start with wins over Belhaven and Eastern Illinois and a loss to Southern Illinois in the middle.
The Racers scored a 53-50 Saturday victory over EIU in their first-ever Ohio Valley Conference game in November. It was the Racers 100th win all-time at the Regional Special Events Center in their ninth season of games there. For only the fifth time since 1979, the Racers had a game in which no MSU player made it to double-figures in the scoring column.
After the game with the Flames in Chicago, the Racers play Friday in Knoxville against the Tennessee Vols.
The Racers and Flames are meeting for only the second time. Their first meeting came last season in Murray as part of the ESPN Bracket Buster series. The Racers won a close game 72-68. This season UIC is 2-4 and coming off a split of games in the Chicago Challenge. Friday UIC defeated Florida A&M 75-57 and lost Saturday to Jackson State 71-68. JSU is coached by Tevester Anderson who coached the Racers from 1998 to 2003. UIC also has losses to Davidson (100-89), Bradley (81-72) and Miami (OH) (72-61). The Flames are led by Othyus Jeffers who leads the team in scoring (15.0 ppg) and rebounding (9.3 rpg). Josh Mayo scores 13 points per game and T.J. Gray tosses in 10.3 ppg. UIC has forced their opponents into 96 turnovers and have more steals and blocked shots than their opponents.
As Murray State Head Coach Billy Kennedy continues to experiment with different combinations, the Racers are finding out more and more about how best to operate. Through six games, MSU has seen nine different players make at least one start, Shawn Witherspoon and Tyler Holloway have started every game. Witherspoon has made 37 straight starts dating back to last season. MSU has four players (Witherspoon, Holloway, Horton, and Carter) who average of 25 minutes or more per game.
