Murray State University Athletics
Popeye Comes Home-Racers Host UTM
1/19/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Tennessee-Martin
(5-15) (3-7 OVC)
at
Murray State
(7-10) (5-4 OVC)
Saturday 7:30 p.m.
RSEC
Murray, Ky.
The Murray State Racers take on the Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks for the first time this season and find themselves with a losing skid of two after suffering a 68-59 loss Tuesday in Clarksville, Tenn. against Austin Peay. The Racers looked like they may run away with the game after they built a 17-point lead in the first half. However, APSU cut it to 10 before half time and then took the lead for good with about 11 minutes left in the game. MSU has lost two straight (to Southeast Missouri and Austin Peay) after they won two straight road games at Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State. Currently, the Racers have a winning streak against every OVC team except for Samford and SEMO, UT-Martin has never defeated the Racers in the Regional Special Events Center in 16 tries. UTM joins Jacksonville State and Tennessee State as teams that have never won in the building.
The Skyhawks lost at home to OVC leader Austin Peay Thursday 75-60, the Govs never trailed and led at half 44-35. UTM outrebounded APSU 32-27 and had seven steals. Cleve Woodfork led the way for the Skyhawks with 16 points, Bubba Tolliver added 13 and Gerald Robinson 11. UTM has three wins this season in the OVC; at Jacksonville State (70-69) Dec. 9, home against Tennessee State (73-65) Jan. 6 and Eastern Illinois at home (67-43) Jan. 11. The Skyhawks have now lost two straight after winning two straight. In the pre-conference portion of their schedule, the Skyhawks played some tough teams including: Cincinnati, Southern Miss, Arkansas State and Evansville.
The Racers are playing in their ninth season in the RSEC and come into this game with a record of 102-17 for a winning percentage of .857. MSU comes home after losing here Dec. 21 to Samford (55-44) and Jan. 8 to SE Missouri (96-85). MSU needs a win tonight to avoid their first-ever three-game home losing streak in the RSEC. Only twice before has MSU lost two straight at home: The first came in 2002 when Gardner-Webb and Eastern Illinois beat the Racers and again in 2005 Southeast Missouri and Tennessee Tech beat the Racers at home. In each instance the Racers won the next game to stop the streak at two straight.
POPEYE COMING BACK: One of the all-time greats at Murray State, Popeye Jones, is back with the Racer Nation for tonight's game. Popeye was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame along with five others in the class of 2007 in a banquet at the Curris Center Friday night. Popeye played at Murray State from 1989-1992 and still ranks as the racers best all-time rebounder and second all-time scorer. After his time in Murray, Popeye enjoyed a 10-year career in the NBA with Dallas, Toronto, Boston, Washington and Golden State.
NICE RUN: Bruce Carter ended a very good seven game run with a sub-par contest at Austin Peay. He broke a string of seven straight games with scoring in double figures when he went 3-11 from the field and fouled out with 1:27 left in the game. Carter is hitting the boards and has led the Racers in that category in the last four games.
SPOON WATCH: Shawn Witherspoon's run to join the Murray State 1000-Point Club has been slowed because a foot injury, but came up with a good game Tuesday at APSU when he scored 14 points on 6-11 shooting, it was his first double-figure scoring game since he has 18 at Eastern Kentucky Dec. 7. Currently Witherspoon has 915 career points and is 85 from the magic number.
"HOLLOWAY AT THE LINE": That phrase certainly is comforting sound for the MSU team, because as mentioned on page one, Tyler Holloway is getting the chance to show the nation the kind of free throw shooter he is. The MSU sophomore debuted this week as the seventh best free throw shooter in NCAA Division-I rankings. Here is the top-10.
1. A.J. Graves Butler 82-83 .988
2. Derek Ravivio Gonzaga 62-65 .954
3. Blake Ahern Missouri St. 62-66 .939
4. Jerry Crouch Bradley 42-45 .933
5. Sean Singletary Virginia 102-110 .927
A. Eitutavicius American 51-55 .927
7. Tyler Holloway Murray St. 46-50 .920
Jaycee Carroll Utah St. 46-50 .920
9. Matt McCraw Air Force 41-45 .911
10. DaShaun Wood Wright St. 80-88 .909
ZarryonFereti St. Bon. 50-55 .909
John Griffin Bucknell 40-44 .909
However, after that high ranking, Holloway experienced something he's never done in a MSU uniform when he went 0-2 from the line. Holloway is now 46-52 this season for .885. In his MSU career, he is 74-85 .871. While he is still in the early part of the time at MSU, Holloway stands a very good chance of setting the career FT percentage mark at MSU. The record is currently held by Greg Coble who hit .850 of his shots (147-173) from 1989-1991.
GETTING TO THE LINE: The Racers broke a three-game string in which they had made at least 10 free throws in a game. The Racers only made seven against APSU.
DANERO THOMAS RETURNS: MSU freshman guard Danero Thomas is back with the team after missing the APSU game because of personal reasons.
KEVIN THOMAS OUT FOR SEASON: MSU junior Kevin Thomas is now out for the season after his comeback from knee surgery did not advance as expected. Thomas missed the first 11 games of the season after surgery, but had a wonderful debut as a Racer when he scored 12 points against Jacksonville State Dec. 19. However, his knee did not improve and he played only 29 minutes over the next three games and scored only two points leading to the decision to shut him down for the season. Thomas will take a medical redshirt and have two seasons yet to play for MSU.
WILLIAMS IN THE GAME: MSU freshman Marvin Williams got into the game at APSU and ended with 15 minutes on the floor with four points and three rebounds. It was his first action since Dec. 19.
BY GEORGE: Newcomer Ray George made his first start in the APSU game since joining the team at the semester. He dished out six assists and scored 11 points.
MSU ON ESPNU AGAIN: The Racers appear on ESPNU again Tuesday when they travel to Cookeville to take on Tennessee Tech. The tip time is 6 p.m.
MSU-UTM HISTORY: The Racers and Skyhawks are meeting for the 32nd time with the Racers holding a 29-2 advantage in the series that began in 1979.
1979 Home Won 75-65
1981 Away Won 59-58
1993 #Home Won 92-66
1993 Away Won 100-74
1994 Home Won 99-70
1994 Away Won 80-77
1995 Away Won 81-68
1995 Home Won 107-75
1996 Away Won 80-68
1996 Home Won 87-81
1997 Away Won 80-68
1997 Home Won 88-69
1998 Away Won 67-56
1998 Home Won 94-66
1999 Home Won 87-58
1999 Away Lost 73-74
2000 Away Won 94-79
2000 Home Won 90-72
2001 Home Won 76-69
2001 Away Lost 80-73
2002 Home Won 90-76
2002 Away Won 92-74
2003 Home Won 93-75
2003 Away Won 80-59
2004 Home Won 94-70
2004 Away Won 77-44
2005 Away Won 96-70
2005 Home Won 80-56
2006 Away Won 79-73
2006 Home Won 81-63
2006 1Home Won 65-52
THE RANKINGS STORY: The Ratings game is always a interesting topic in college basketball. The Racers dropped from 190th in the Rating percentage Index (RPI) to 241 following their loss to Southeast Missouri. Here are all the RPI rankings for OVC teams and MSU opponents this season:
Southern Ill. 11-4 14
Tennessee 13-3 17
San Diego State 9-5 90
Samford 9-7 128
Austin Peay 7-6 147
St. Mary's (CA) 5-9 166
Tenn. Tech. 7-9 204
Illinois-Chicago 7-9 149
Eastern Ky. 7-7 171
Murray State 5-9 241
Morehead St. 7-7 245
Tennessee St. 6-10 233
UT-Martin 4-14 299
SE Missouri 6-11 300
Jack. State 3-12 325
Eastern Ill. 4-14 326
Records for teams include only those games against D-I opponents. There are 336 teams in the rankings.
