Murray State University Athletics
Will This Be MSU's Defining Moment?
1/22/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Murray State
(8-10) (6-4 OVC)
at
Tennessee Tech
(10-9) (6-4 OVC)
Tuesday 6 p.m.
Cookeville, Tenn.
ESPNU & WQWQ
The Murray State Racers take on the Tennessee-Tech Golden Eagles in the first meeting of the season between the two. MSU has faced every other Ohio Valley Conference team except for TTU. After losing back to back games to Southeast Missouri Jan. 8 (96-85) at home and (68-59) at Austin Peay Jan. 16, the Racers scored a much needed home win Saturday (78-65) over Tennessee-Martin. The Racers placed five players in double-figures for the first time this season and were led by a season-high by Ed Horton who hit his first three three-point attempts in route to 17 points. MSU played perhaps is most complete game of the season in terms of rebounding, defensive pressure and scoring. Freshman Marvin Williams came off the bench and tossed in 15 on 6-7 shooting, his best game to date with the Racers. Shawn Witherspoon added 12 and has scored back to back double-figure games for the first time this season against D-1 opponents. He has 927 career points and is 73 from joining the MSU 1,000-Point Club.
Tennessee Tech comes the game on a serious wave of momentum after they erased an 18-point deficit Saturday in a win at Southeast Missouri (87-80). The trio of Anthony Fisher (22 points), Amadi Mckenzie (20) and Belton Rivers (19) led the charge for TTU. The Golden Eagles have played a tough schedule this season with games against: Kansas State, Ole Miss, Bradley, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
When the Racers saw their 2006-07 schedule last summer, everyone looked to this stretch of games in the month of January and early February as being a brutal test. MSU has but two home games this month and some very tough road games. It starts with today's game at Tennessee Tech. Saturday, the Racers play at Southeast Missouri State before busing to Birmingham Sunday where they'll face Samford on Monday Jan. 29. On Feb. 1, MSU is back at home to face Austin Peay before hitting the road again for Alabama and a Feb. 3 game at Jacksonville State. All told, Murray State will travel approximately 3,000 miles in the month of January and the first week of February. The good news is, if the Racers can survive this stretch of games, they'll be able to enjoy their home court in four of their last five OVC games.
MEDIA VIEWING: OVC member institutions are receiving great reviews in the first year of offering live streaming video. All OVC games are being offered to fans and media with live video and home team announcers audio at www.ovcsports.tv. MSU is again on ESPNU after being on the network last week at Austin Peay. Dave Weekly and Mark Adams will call the action for the MSU-Tech game. The game is also being aired by WQWQ Cape Girardeau.
OVC EARLY BIRD SPECIAL: The Ohio Valley Conference Tournament is set for March 2-3 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tenn. The OVC has announced its "Early Bird Special" offering ticket discounts and free concessions. Check the front page of ovcsports.com for details. The special offer is good through Feb. 20.
BRACKETBUSTER CHANGES: The evolution of the ESPN BracketBusters event continues with the announcement of some changes. The event is being rebranded as the "ESPNU BracketBusters", which will give more attention to the network's new venture ESPNU. The OVC already has several games scheduled for EPSNU this season. ESPNU also announced there will be a one-hour selection show for the BracketBuster airing on ESPNU Jan. 29 at 5 p.m. central time.
The Racers are slated for a road game in the event this season. MSU has played two BracketBuster games and have won both; In 2005 they defeated Rice in Houston, Texas 69-63 and last season defeated Illinois-Chicago at home 72-68. The Racers have split the return games with a 83-65 home win over Rice, and a 74-68 loss at UIC this season.
Here are Billy Kennedy's comments when he met with local media members Monday afternoon.
"Excited to be playing games no matter where they are, we play 10 on the road and 10 on the road, we're focusing on trying to get better as a team."
With four of the next five games on the road, is this a make or break stretch for the Racers?
"If you look at it that far ahead, probably so. Three straight to start on the road, if you can play well on the road you'll gain confidence, I don't know how we'll respond."
Tennessee Tech is playing great basketball right now, but have they flown under the radar somewhat?
"Rivers, Fisher and Mckenzie make them one of the most talented teams in the league, any one of those is capable of getting 20 points a night. I think they're starting to play well at the right time and we'll have our hands full. They control the tempo and they've had some success. We've struggled guarding in the post and hopefully we'll guard well on the perimeter. Those guards have the green light to fire from out there any time. Hopefully we can get back in transition and set our defense and make them run some time off the clock. I think they've got their seniors playing well and they have hit their stride and have established that they have some of the best players in the league. Those three are listed in the top-five in many categories. They've gotten more disciplined on offense and they don't just shoot it from the outside, they're working inside and they are getting comfortable."
Ed Horton had a career best 17 Saturday against UT-Martin, what can you say about his play lately?
"Since he's been able to go over and play the two position his scoring has improved. He's been our most consistent player all year and he plays with more effort than anyone else on the team. When you play hard good things are going to happen. He's a senior and it all seems to be coming together."
Shawn Witherspoon seems to be getting better in playing with his foot injury or it is feeling better, what's your take?
"I think he'll be as close to his best today and tomorrow as he can be. He's averaging 26 minutes a game in conference play, he's not playing the way we all thought he'd play, the injury has had a lot to do with that. His defensive play concerns me. He's not moving like we know he can."
Marvin Williams is getting more playing time, tell us about the freshman and his progress this season.
"Because of his athleticism and size he can make up for mistakes. I was joking with Dave Winder that Saturday was first game that we had more than one dunk in this season and he had two. Marvin can do that and he's getting more confident in what he can do."
