Murray State University Athletics
Murray State Meets Arkansas State - First Since 1996
11/25/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Arkansas State
(1-3)
at
Murray State
(2-1)
Monday, Nov. 26
7p.m. RSEC
Live Video: OVCsports.tv
Live Radio: GoRacers.com
Live stats: GoRacers.com
The Murray State Racers play their second of a two-game home stand when they welcome the Indians of Arkansas State to the Regional Special Events Center for the 29th meeting in the series. The game will mark the first time ASU has played in the RSEC and the first time they've played in Murray since 1995 when the Racers won the game 94-82 at Racer Arena. MSU holds a 20-8 lead in the all-time series which began with a MSU road win in 1928. ASU has won three of the last five meetings. They have not met since 1996 when MSU lost in Jonesboro 70-69 in the Citizen's Bank Classic. The Racers are 26-5 at the RSEC since 2000 in non-conference games and have won four straight since losing to Southern Illinois in 2005.
Arkansas State is 1-3 overall after a 74-60 home win Tuesday over OVC member Eastern Illinois. Adrian Banks scored 22 and Ryan Wedel added 18 for the Indians. ASU has losses to Utah Valley State (67-63), Tulsa (75-69), and Memphis (84-63). ASU was picked to finish third in the Sun Belt's west division and received two first place votes. Banks was selected to the All-Sun Belt Preseason First Team.
The all-time career three point list will soon be making room for junior Tyler Holloway. He made his first six before missing this season and he hit two against Avila on Friday and now has 101 for his MSU career. Aubrey Reese (1997-00) is in 11th place and has 105 and 10th place Aaron Page (1996-00) has 107. Holloway is also ranked 10th among active OVC players. Frank
Allen is still tops in all-time made three pointers at MSU with 251 from 1989-93.
GAME NOTES
THE NUTT'S AND MSU:
Dickey Nutt brings the ASU Indians to Murray State, the same place his brother Houston built the Racer football program into a champion in the 1990's and is now the head coach at Arkansas. Another Nutt brother, Dennis is a scout with the Charlotte Bobcats and was in attendance for the Racers' home opener with Rider Nov. 10.GOLD, SILVER, BRONZE:
It is very early in the season, but it is still worth noting the Racers currently have the top three in field goal percentage in the OVC. Tony Easley is ranked first (11-15 .733), Kevin Thomas second (10-15 .667) and Tyler Holloway third (10-16 .625).REBOUND STREAK:
Bruce Carter has grabbed at least two rebounds in all 33 games he's played in a Murray State uniform. Danero Thomas has a string of four straight games in which he has at least five rebounds.LEADING THE WAY:
Danero Thomas led the Racers in scoring in the first three games of the season, and he's been the top rebounder twice.CRITICAL TIME:
The five minute mark of the second half has been key for the Racers. MSU is 16-3 when they have the lead with five minutes left over the last two seasons.OVC PREDICTIONS:
MSU's start to the Ohio Valley Conference season is coming fast. They have games at home against Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State on Dec. 5th and 8th. The Racers were picked fourth in the OVC preseason poll of the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Austin Peay was the choice to win the regular season title with 19 first place votes, followed by Eastern Kentucky (one first place vote) and Tennessee Tech (two first place votes). The Racers were 2-4 against the trio last season. Southeast Missouri was selected 5th, with Tennessee State (6th), Samford (7th), Eastern Illinois (8th), Jacksonville State (9th), Morehead State (10th) and UT-Martin 11th. MSU will also travel to Jacksonville State and Samford before Christmas.WHAT A STREAK:
One story line in the 07-08 season will be Murray State's push to ensure another winning season. MSU currently has 20 straight years of winning hoops which is tied for fourth in the nation with Connecticut. The Racers share the same neighborhood with first place Syracuse (37 years), Oklahoma (27 years) and Kansas (24 years). MSU hasn't had a losing season since the 1986-87 campaign.HOME COOKIN:
With the Racers' win over Rider, they have now won 18 straight home openers and have fashioned quite a home court advantage at the RSEC. In its 10th season of games, MSU is 107-21 for a winning percentage of .835.OVC teams are 16-6 at home this season.
WHISTLE HAPPY:
Amazingly, the Racers were whistled for 29 fouls in their season opener against Rider. It was the second most fouls called on MSU in the 10 years of play in the RSEC. The most came in MSU's battle with Austin Peay in 2001 when the Racers were called for 32 fouls. The record for an opponent in the RSEC is 36 for Eastern Kentucky in 2003.ASKA SIGNS WITH MSU:
6-7 Ivan Aska signed this week to join the Racers in 2008-09 as a freshman. Aska is a senior at Boyd Anderson High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. He averaged 12 points and 11 rebounds per game last season as a junior.SANDERS EARNS OVC HONOR:
MSU junior Tarod Sanders was voted by the league's sports information directors as the OVC's Newcomer of the Week Nov. 12. Sanders came off the bench and supplied great defense and 10 points in the Racers' 66-65 win over Rider.SIMMONS JOINS TEAM:
Picasso Simmons of Gallatin, Tenn. has joined the MSU team as a walk-on student-athlete. He'll wear number 14.MILES JOINS MSU:
Guard Isaac Miles transferred to Murray State last summer after an outstanding freshman season at Creighton. He will sit out the 2007-08 season under NCAA transfer guidelines and be eligible to play as a sophomore in 2008-09. In his first season at Creighton in 2006-07 he averaged 6.1 points per game along with 2.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists and was selected as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference's All-Freshman team.THEY'RE BACK:
For only the sixth time since 1978, all 11 head coaches return in OVC men's basketball. The other years in which every coach returned were 1978-79, 1993-94, 1994-95, 2001-02 and 2004-05.OVC VIDEO STREAMING:
OVC member institutions received great reviews in the first year of offering live streaming video. All OVC games and many out of conference games are again offered to fans and media with live video and home team announcers audio at www.ovcsports.tv.LIVE AUDIO:
All MSU games can be heard on the Racer Radio network and also on GoRacers.com. Neal Bradley handles the play by play with Josh Perigo and Nathan Higdon sharing analyst duties.
