Murray State University Athletics
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MSU Set For UTC Holiday Tournament
12/27/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Murray State
(5-4) (2-2)
at
UT-Chattanooga
(7-4) (3-0)
Saturday 7pm cst
Dr. Pepper Holiday Classic
McKenzie Arena
Chattanooga, Tenn.
After a Christmas break, the Murray State Racers get back on the floor at the Dr. Pepper Holiday Classic hosted by Tennessee-Chattanooga. The Racers will take on the host Mocs Saturday evening at 8 p.m. EST after the Belmont Bruins and the Wright State Raiders tangle in the first game of the day at 6 p.m. EST. Sunday's third place and championship games are set for the same times. All games are at McKenzie Arena.
The Racers are coming off a controversial finish at Samford on Dec. 20 when the Bulldogs hit a three-pointer for a 65-64 win. The controversy stemmed from the fact that the clock never started when there was four-tenths of a second remaining. After a long huddle, the officials ruled the shot was good. The bitter pill dropped the Racers to 5-4 overall and 2-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The tough ending erased an impressive comeback for the Racers after being down by 13 points at the beginning of the second half.
The Mocs are 7-4 and have won their last three games against the College of Charleston, Elon, and Asbury.
The series between UTC and MSU began in 1963 with a 79-60 victory for the Racers at old Racer Arena. Since that first game, the two have only played four other times with Murray State building a 4-1 lead. The last time they played was a home-and-home series at the start of the 2001-02 season, when each team won at home.
The Bruins are 7-5 after splitting a pair of games against OVC opponents with a win over Tennessee State and a loss to Austin Peay. Wright State is 6-3 and have won three straight including the last time out against Cal State-Fullerton. The Racers are 4-0 against Belmont and haven't met since 1998 and 0-1 after a 1990 loss to Wright State.
GAME NOTES
BLAST FROM THE PAST:
It is a rare thing to see two teams play a home-and-home series these days, but the Racers and Mocs did just that in 2001.The first game (11-29-01) was contested at MSU's court where the Racers led from start to finish in a 72-63 win. Justin Burdine, who ended his MSU career by joining the 1,000-Point Club led the Racers with 21 points. James Singleton, who most recently played with the NBA's Clippers scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds. UTC was led by Neil Ashby's 20 points.
Game two happened in Chattanooga (12-22-01) where the Mocs made a split of the two games with a 71-58 win, also leading from the opening tip. The Mocs' lead grew to 25 points in the second half.
Toot Young scored 25 for the Mocs. MSU got 12 from Antoine Whelchel.
Looking back to the Racers' team from the 2001-02 season, they had quite a team that had four players who eventually put themselves in the MSU 1,000-Point Club (Cuthbert Victor, 1,485 points, Antoine Whelchel, 1,325 points, Justin Burdine, 1,209 points, and Chris Shumate, 1,193 points) James Singleton also finished a two-season stint as one of the best rebounders in MSU history.
RANKING THE FIELD: The Rating Percentage Index (RPI) is one of the formulas used by the NCAA in rate college basketball. There are currently 341 teams in NCAA D-I. The rankings do not count wins or losses against non-D-I teams. As of Dec. 27.RANK TEAM REC
45 Wright State 6-3
98 Austin Peay 6-6
125 Western Kentucky 6-4
137 Rider 8-4
142 Chattanooga 5-4
156 Mississippi State 7-5
189 Belmont 6-5
219 SE Missouri State 7-5
235 Eastern Kentucky 4-6
252 Tennessee State 1-7
255 Murray State 4-4
274 UT-Martin 3-7
286 Morehead State 3-7
295 Arkansas State 4-6
306 Samford 3-5
320 Tennessee Tech 2-8
340 Jacksonville State 0-9
341 Eastern Illinois 0-10
HOLLOWAY AND THE THREE: Take a look at the all-time three point shooters at Murray State and how Tyler Holloway ranks.
MSU CAREER MADE 3-POINT SHOTS
1. Frank Allen 1989-93 251
2. Don Mann 1986-89 204
3. Justin Burdine 1998-02 198
4. Marcus Brown 1993-96 173
Paul King 1987-91 173
6. Chris Shumate 1999-04 170
7. Rick Jones 2002-04 133
8. Antoine Whelchel 2000-04 124
9. William Moore 1994-95 123
10. Tyler Holloway 2005- 114
11. Aaron Page 1996-00 107
12. Aubrey Reese 1997-00 105
MSU CAREER 3-POINT PERCENTAGE
1. Jeff Martin 1986-89 .449
2. Don Mann 1986-89 .421
3. Cedric Gumm 1990-94 .418
4. Chris Shumate 1999-04 .412
5. De'Teri Mayes 1996-98 .411
6. Terence Brooks 1987-89 .404
7. William Moore 1994-95 .403
8. Paul King 1987-91 .402
9. Tyler Holloway 2005- .394
10. Rick Jones 2002-04 .393
11. Justin Burdine 1998-02 .349
DISPUTED FINISH: When the Racers played at Samford Dec. 20, little did they know by the end of the night they would be part of one of the most controversial finishes in OVC history. It was a perfect storm of events that led to the final play. With 36 seconds remaining and the Racers in front by four points. they fouled Trey Montgomery who hit his three-pointer and made the free throw for a rare four-point play. After making two clutch free throws with 2.7 seconds left for a two-point MSU lead, Bruce Carter stole the inbounds pass and thought he had dribbled out the clock. Officials put four-tenths of a second on the clock, leading to Travis Peterson's heroics. Peterson caught the inbounds pass and drilled a three for the apparent game winner, only there was one important thing that didn't happen....the clock never started! After a long huddle, the officials counted the shot for a 65-64 Samford win. Some say there will forever be time left because the horn never sounded. Less than 24 hours later, the OVC mandated replay monitors for all league members to be installed by Jan. 5th.
CAREER NUMBERS: Tyler Holloway is one his way to becoming the 34th member of the MSU 1,000-Point club. He has 592 points. Assuming he plays at least 21 games yet this season and another 29 when he is a senior in 2008-09, he'll make it given his scoring history.
Danero Thomas is only 38 games into his MSU career but has already scored 261 points.
Marvin Williams grabbed his 100th career rebound Dec. 20 at Samford.
Bruce Carter needs only 54 points to reach 500 career points at MSU.
IF THERE IS OT:
MSU hasn't had an overtime game yet this season, but played four last season going 2-2. MSU is 21-13 in overtime games since 1983. The Racers have played 11 overtime games in OVC play since 2000 and are 5-6.MSU's most famous overtime game came in 1990 against Michigan State in Knoxville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. That game is still the only time a #16 seed has taken a #1 seed into overtime.
