Murray State University Athletics
Murray State Welcomes APSU To RSEC
1/31/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Austin Peay
(14-6) (11-1 OVC)
at
Murray State
(10-11) (8-5 OVC)
Thursday 7:30 p.m.
RSEC
Murray, Ky.
Murray State Racers can post their first three-game winning streak of the season if they can handle the Austin Peay Governors at the Regional Special Events Center. The two meet for the second time after the Govs overcame a 17-point deficit to beat the Racers in Clarksville, Tenn. (68-59) Jan. 16. Since then, MSU has picked itself up and won three of the last four games. MSU has won the last two games against APSU at the RSEC, the Govs last win in the building came Jan. 11, 2003 (66-63). The Racers are 39-8 all-time against the Govs in Murray. The Racers recent surge is from playing better defense. Even in a loss at Tennessee Tech Jan. Jan. 23, MSU still held TTU to .339 from the field. They followed that with holding Southeast Missouri State to .271 from the field Saturday. In the last three games opponents are shooting a minuscule .329 from the field against the Racers (53-161) and .276 from three-point range (21-76).
The Racers continue a tough five game stretch and are in good shape after three games of this segment. For the second time this season, the Racers have won back to back games away from home. Monday's 57-51 win at Samford followed an 85-67 victory Saturday at Southeast Missouri State. The Racers also pulled off two straight road wins Jan. 2 at Eastern Illinois (73-62) and Jan. 4 (86-83) in overtime at Tennessee State. As MSU plays the 22nd game of their season, they have 10 wins: five have come at home and five have come on the road.
Austin Peay trailed by 13 points, 41-28, at the half, at Southeast Missouri Monday but stormed back for a 75-73 win. Junior Todd Babington hit a three-pointer with 17 seconds left to put APSU ahead for good. Sophomore Drake Reed scored a game-high 23 points for his 16th double-figure game this season. The Govs 11-game winning streak is the third longest streak in the country, trailing only Wisconsin (17) and Florida (12). The Governors have not lost since dropping an 80-75 decision to Evansville Dec. 18. APSU plays at Tennessee State Saturday.
GAME NOTES
BE BOLD WEAR GOLD: Fans are encouraged to wear their gold to the game against Austin Peay.
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.
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.MSU GAME DAY AUDIO: College Basketball fans can hear every game the Racers play for free! Visit the home of the Racers goracers.com.
BRACKETBUSTER CHALLENGE:
The Murray State Racers were given their 2007 O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters assignment Monday with a game at Rider University. The game is a road contest for MSU Saturday, Feb. 17 in Lawrenceville, N.J., Rider will return the game to MSU's Regional Special Events Center in the 2007-08 season. The game time will be announced later.The Rider Broncs are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletics Conference and are 12-9 overall this season, 6-5 in league play. This will be the Racers third BracketBusters game, after winning at Rice in 2005 and winning at home against Illinois-Chicago in 2006.For the second straight year all 11 OVC schools are participating in the event, which is now in its fifth year of existence.
MSU JUMPS IN IN FG% DEFENSE:
In an Incredible leap, the Racers jumped from 132nd in the nation last week in field goal percentage defense to 76th this week thanks to their effort against SEMO and Samford. Opponents are shooting .414 from the field against MSU.AUSTIN PEAY RANKINGS:
The Govs rank 39th in the nation with 8.6 steals per game.THE APSU-MSU SERIES:
The Racers lead the all-time series 67-36 and have won seven of eight against the Govs in the RSEC. APSU's only win in the building came in 2003 by the score of 66-63.FRESHMAN FIRE:
Danero Thomas came off the bench and provided a nice boost to the Racers at SEMO Jan. 27. He ended the game with a career-best 16 points on 5-6 shooting, incuding 3-4 from three-point range.As a group, Danero Thomas, Marvin Williams, Daniel Ard, Tony Easley and George Fotso are combining for 2.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. MSU freshman are playing 12.3 minutes per game
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 7-3 while they are 2-7 when they trail...The Racers trailed at Samford Monday by three and came back to win.SPOON WATCH:
Shawn Witherspoon is moving closer to joining the Murray State 1000-Point Club. His 15 points at Samford Monday means he has 965 career points and is 35 from the magic number.HOLLOWAY AT THE LINE:
Having not gone to the line at all in the last two games means Tyler Holloway's numbers haven't changed. Currently he is 48-55 this season (.873) and is ranked 37th nationally. 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, he is 76-88 (.864). The record is currently held by Greg Coble who hit .850 of his shots (147-173) from 1989-1991.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.STREAKS AND SUCH:
At the moment, the Racers have winning streaks (more than two) over Five OVC squads (UTM, Morehead State, Jacksonville State and Eastern Illinois). MSU's best win streak is 12 over UT-Martin. The Racers lost their last meeting with Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky and won their last meeting with SEMO and Samford.BILLY KENNEDY QUOTES:
Kennedy opening statement
We're excited to be playing better, and excited to be a home again. Austin Peay has shown that they're the most stable team in the league, they've started the same five all year and they're well coached. Monday was the first time I felt good about our team in almost all areas. We're starting to develop some chemistry and toughness. Our players have had a chance now to go through almost a whole season being coached and they're starting to believe in what we're doing. Our rebounding is still not where we need to be and we're still working on that.
Comment on Austin Peay, they're the hottest team in the OVC.
With Austin Peay, it all starts with Fernandez Lockett and Drake Reed, they're two guys who can post up, drive it and shoot it as well. When you have that ability, it's a tough match up. Their point guard play has been great and Babington is a great shooter.
Coach Loos has been around and he knows how to handle this league. They are the best team in the league on both ends of the floor.
Talk about the first meeting with the Govs, a 68-59 loss Jan. 16.
They (Austin Peay) were more aggressive than we were, Their defensive intensity was tremendous in the second half and we didn't handle it very well. I think we've matured since then and hopefully we've grown from that.
How to you see the development of Ray George?
Ray hasn't had the luxury of being able to play in preseason games and practices: being coached and being taught. He came in at midseason when every game is big and he's had to learn on the run. His attitude Monday (when he didn't play very much in the second half at Samford) was great and that gives us a chance to finish strong.
Comment on the status of
We had yesterday off after a brutal trip and he's getting his strength back and he's is going to be fine. He didn't start at Samford but still ended up playing 33 minutes, we'll probably bring him off the bench.
What are your thoughts about the Racers ESPNU Bracketbusters Assignment?
I'm the worst at looking ahead; I just go one day at a time and one game at a time. I know Rider has a great post player that averages 20 points and 10 rebounds a game, he's very good. They're a good team. It's so far away right now; we're concentrating on what's next. February in
What are your thoughts on this month of being on the road so much?
The league is like that, everyone has to deal with the schedule and the travel. We've played better on the road and our team is really playing well away from home. We have developed a tight bond by being on the road so much and that has helped us.
You pushed all the right buttons as a coach at Samford, how does it feel when it all works out as you planned?
A lot of it had to do with our guys being flexible and being able to adjust. I don't like playing zone it bothers me some because I'm a man-to-man coach. Samford was a little tired and they only play six guys and we tried to make them shoot threes, we did a good job. We were in a stretch when we got the ball inside and got to the line. We learned some thing that night; we still have to throw it inside because it makes our offense work better.
