Murray State University Athletics
MSU Basketball Travels to SEMO
1/26/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Murray State
(8-11) (6-5 OVC)
at
Southeast Missouri
(8-11) (6-6 OVC)
Saturday 7:30 p.m.
Show Me Center
Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Murray State Racers take on the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks for the second time this season Saturday at the Show Me Center where the Racers have won three straight. In the first meeting between the two teams on Jan. 8, SEMO ran away with a 96-85 win. Since then, the Racers played well at Austin Peay but couldn't hang on in a 68-59 loss in Clarksville, Tenn Jan. 16...They Defeated UT-Martin on Jan. 20 at home 78-65 in a splendidly played game at the RSEC and then lost 63-52 at Cookeville Tuesday to Tennessee Tech.
MSU needs a win to stay in the race for the Ohio Valley Conference regular season title and a home quarterfinal tournament game. The Racers are 8-11 overall and 6-5 in league play, good for a tie for fifth place with Morehead State.
Bruce Carter continues to lead the way for Murray State with a 14.9 per game scoring average and he's pulling down a team-best 6.5 rebounds per game. Shawn Witherspoon, the OVC's Preseason Player of the Year seems to be feeling better after battling a foot injury all season and has scored 11.5 per game in the last three contests and is 64 points from joining the MSU 1,000-Point Club.
Southeast has never swept the regular-season series with the Racers since joining the OVC for the 1991-92 season. The Redhawks hit a last second shot Wednesday at Morehead State and got out of town with a 61-59 win to move to 7-13 overall and 6-6 in the OVC. Brandon Foust was named OVC Newcomer of the Week for the second straight week. Southeast Missouri ranks 35th nationally in 3-pointers made per game (8.3) and 39th nationally in steals (8.9/game)...the Redhawks also lead the Conference in blocks (3.85/game) and rank second in scoring average (70.5).
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 started Tuesday with a game at Tennessee Tech. After today's game at SEMO, the Racers bus to Birmingham Sunday where they'll face Samford Monday. Thursday, MSU is back at home to face Austin Peay before hitting the road again for Alabama and a game at Jacksonville State a week from tonight. All told, MSU will travel approximately 3,000 miles in the month of January.
In conference only stats there are some Racer players that rank among the best in the OVC.
Bruce Carter
6th Off. Rebounds 2.58
5th Rebounds 6.8
7th Scoring 14.6
8th Def. Rebounds 4.17
13th FT% .725
Tyler Holloway
8th Minutes Played 34.4
10th 3PT Made 2.08
13th FG% .481
14th Scoring 13.8
Ed Horton
9th Steals 1.50
13th Assists 2.92
S. Witherspoon 13th Blocked Shots 0.64
SEEN IT ALL: Now that the Racers have played Tennessee Tech, they have seen every team in the OVC once. In one case, the Racers are already finished with Eastern Illinois, MSU played them Nov. 25 and Jan. 2 and winning both to sweep the season series.
HALFTIME RUN: MSU has seen many a game this season turn on if they have the lead at the half time break or not. In games when they have the lead at the break, the Racers are 6-3 while they are 1-8 when they trail. On a similar note: the Racers are 7-1 when they have the lead at the five-minute mark of the second half and 1-10 when they trail.
SEMO'S LAST GAME: The Red Hawks won Wednesday night on the road at Morehead State 61-59. Michael Rembert's tip in with one-second remaining gave Southeast the win. It appeared the Eagles would take the lead when Quentin Pryor went in for a go ahead layup with 11-seconds remaining, but Brandon Foust blocked the shot and David Johnson brought down the rebound giving the Redhawks a chance for the final shot. Rembert, who didn't start because of a foot injury, came off the bench to score 18 points and pull down seven rebounds for the Redhawks who are now 8-13 overall and 6-6 in the OVC. He was the only Southeast player in double figures.
THE SEMO-MSU SERIES: The Racers lead the all-time series 49-17 and have won their last three trips to the Show Me Center. The Last SEMO win at home came during the 2002-2003 season. The Racers are 19-7 all-time at SEMO.
THE NEED FOR THREE: The Racers rank ninth in the OVC in made three-pointers per game with 5.08. This season when the Racers are making the threes, they have a very good chance of winning. When they don't, it has been a hard thing to overcome. Eight times this season MSU has made less than five threes in a game and have lost seven. The only win game Nov. 25 at home against Eastern Illinois when the Racers went 4-16 and still got the win.SPOON WATCH: Shawn Witherspoon's run to join the Murray State 1000-Point Club has been slowed because a foot injury, but he has picked up the pace....foot or no foot. three game ago he scored 14 points at Austin Peay and came back with 12 against UT-Martin. Spoon scored nine at TTU Tuesday. Currently Witherspoon has 936 career points and is 64 from the magic number.
There are 32 players in the MSU 1,000-Point Club, here are the bottom 10. Bennie Purcell is the first member of the club gaining admission in 1952.
23 Justin Burdine (98-02) 110 1,209 10.9
24 Chris Shumate (99-04) 113 1,193 10.5
25 Jimmy Young (68-71) 78 1,128 14.4
26 Paul King (88-91) 121 1,108 9.1
27 Marcelous Starks (71-74) 75 1,096 14.6
28 Mike Muff (76-78) 51 1,077 21.1
29 Bennie Purcell (48-52) 116 1,054 9.0
30 Mike Coleman (72-74) 50 1,038 20.7
31 Hector Blondet (68-71) 69 1,030 14.9
32 John Namciu (62-65) 66 1,003 15.1
Young, Starks, Muff, Coleman, Blondet and Namciu all played before the three-point shot.
"HOLLOWAY AT THE LINE": That phrase certainly is a comforting sound for the MSU team. The MSU sophomore debuted seventh in free throw shooting in the NCAA Division-I rankings Jan. 16. He has since slipped to 33rd but is still having a great season at the line hitting 48-55 for .873. In his MSU career, he is 76-88 .864. While he is still in the early part of his 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 recent troubles can be directly linked to not getting to the free throw line enough. In the last two losses to Austin Peay and Tech, the Racers made it to the line only 26 times while the opponent shot 46. The result is a 35-15 deficit in made free throws.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, and 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.
THE RANKINGS STORY: The Ratings game is always an interesting topic in college basketball. Here are all the RPI rankings for OVC teams and MSU opponents this season:
Southern Ill. 14-5 9
Tennessee 14-5 18
San Diego State 11-6 82
Samford 10-8 122
St. Mary's (CA) 8-9 138
Austin Peay 9-6 142
Tenn. Tech. 9-9 157
Illinois-Chicago 8-11 172
Eastern Ky. 8-8 191
Murray State 6-9 236
Tennessee St. 8-10 240
Morehead St. 8-8 260
SE Missouri 6-13 300
UT-Martin 4-16 311
Jack. State 4-13 315
Eastern Ill. 4-16 330
Records for teams include only those games against D-I opponents. There are 336 teams in the rankings.
Here are the rankings for OVC teams according to the Blue Ribbon Power Poll.
184 Tennessee Tech
203 Austin Peay
206 Samford
233 Murray State
234 Tennessee State
236 Eastern Kentucky
279 SE Missouri
284 Morehead State
217 UT-Martin
332 Jacksonville State
335 Eastern Illinois
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.
RACERS RADIO ON GORACERS.COM: All Murray State games on the Racer Radio Network can be heard goracers.com. the broadcasts are free. You can access to the games by clocking on the icon on the front page....look for the microphone.
OVC VIDEO STREAMING: 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.
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.
