Murray State University Athletics
MSU Looking For Fourth Straight Win At JSU
2/3/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Murray State
(11-11) (9-5 OVC)
at
Jacksonville State
(6-17) (4-10 OVC)
Saturday 7:30 p.m.
Matthews Arena
Jacksonville, Ala.
The Murray State Racers travel to Jacksonville State Saturday with a season-best three-game winning streak in tow. The Racers dominated the second half against APSU Thursday and turned it into a 77-68 victory at home to push their record in the Ohio Valley Conference to 9-5 and 11-11 overall. MSU owned the boards in the second half against the Govs 23-7 and ended up accomplishing three things that no opponent had before against APSU. The win ended the Govs 11-game winning streak, MSU outrebounded them 39-23 (APSU was 9-0 when winning that category), beat the Govs in field goal percentage (APSU was 9-0 when out-shooting their opponents) and made it to 77 points (APSU was 11-0 when holding opponents to under 70 points).
The Racers are rolling on the strength of their defense. In the last five games opponents are shooting a paltry .376 (96-255) against MSU and .292 (31-106) from three-point range.
The Gamecocks enter today's game with an OVC record of 4-10 and an overall mark of 6-17. JSU has league wins over Southeast Missouri (road) and Eastern Kentucky, Morehead State and Tennessee State to build a three-game home win streak. JSU has played many close games this season, however have come up on the short end. In games that have been decided by five points or less, the Gamecocks are 3-7. JSU is led by All-OVC Preseason First Team selection Courtney Bradley who is the fifth leading scorer in the league with 15.9 points per game, he is fourth in rebounding with 6.9 per game. JSU's last time out was a 73-59 road loss at Eastern Illinois. Senior Harold Crow poured in a career-high 24 points, but a 21-4 Eastern Illinois run to open the second half did the Gamecocks in.
GAME NOTES
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 .416 from the field against MSU.
BREAK EVEN MARK: After losing three straight games in California to start the season, MSU has been battling to get a good run going. Now that they have their first three-game win streak of the season, MSU is also at the .500 mark (11-11) for the first time this season.
THE JSU-MSU SERIES: The Racers lead the all-time series 6-0 since Jacksonville State joined the OVC in the 2004-05 season. This will be the Racers third game at Pete Matthews Arena after having won there (77-61) and (91-72). In the first meeting between the two in Murray Dec. 19 the Racers managed to survive and win a 72-71 overtime game.
In that game at the RSEC, newcomer Kevin Thomas made his debut after a knee injury had caused him to miss the first 11 games of the season. Thomas scored 12 points and hit two free throws with 5.9 seconds left to seal the Racers win. Bruce Carter and Ed Horton each led the Racers with 16 points. Courtney Bradley led JSU with 22 points and 14 rebounds. At the time, the Racers home win streak was 15.
HALFTIME RUN: MSU has seen many a game this season turn on if they have they 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 3-7 when they trail...The Racers trailed at Samford Monday by three and came back to win and they did the same Thursday against Austin Peay.
HOLLOWAY AT THE LINE: Tyler Holloway is the best free throw shooter in the OVC this week hitting 50-57 this season (.877). Holloway was ranked 37th nationally at the beginning of the week but has dropped out because he doesn't have the 2.5 attempts needed to be ranked. 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 80-90 (.888). The record is currently held by Greg Coble who hit .850 of his shots (147-173) from 1989-1991.
HOME COOKING: With their win against Austin Peay Thursday, the Racers continued one of the best home court advantages in the country. Playing in their ninth season in the Regional Special Events Center, MSU is now 104-17 all-time in the arena and 6-2 this season. The Racers are 45-8 at the RSEC in the last four seasons.
SPOON WATCH: Shawn Witherspoon is moving closer to joining the Murray State 1000-Point Club. His nine points at Austin Peay Thursday means he has 974 career points and is 26 from the magic number.
Witherspoon has enjoyed a career at MSU that will be remembered not by the numbers he has accumulated but by the leadership he has shown.
Here are some of his accomplishments:
He has scored in 95 straight games. The last time he failed to score was Jan. 26, 2004 during his freshman season. Witherspoon has scored in 112 of his 117 games as a Racer.
Has turned in 26 games of 14 points or more.
Career best scoring game came during his sophomore season Jan. 6, 2005 at home against Morehead State when he pumped in 33 against Morehead State.
Witherspoon has seven career double-doubles and nine career games of 10 rebounds or more.
He has has started in 52 of the last 53 games.
As a freshman in 2003-04, was part of the MSU team that won its first eight games in route to a 28-6 season and won the OVC Tournament marking MSU's 12th trip to the NCAA Tournament where they played and lost a first round game in Columbus, Ohio against Final Four team Illinois.
As a junior in 2005-06, he was part of the MSU team that went 24-7, won the program's 20th OVC regular season title and 13th OVC Tournament title. In the NCAA Tournament first round in Dayton, Ohio...the Racers took defending champion North Carolina to the wire before losing 69-65. Witherspoon was playing a brilliant game with five points and four rebounds when he broke a bone in his foot eight minutes into the first half.
Witherspoon has helped the Racers to a 51-15 record (.772) in the OVC during his time here. The Racers are also 45-8 record (.849) at the Regional Special Events Center during his time as a Racer.
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. Eastern Illinois at Loyola University Chicago
Here is the schedule for the rest of the OVC
Eastern Kentucky at Youngstown State
Jacksonville State at Chattanooga
Bowling Green at Morehead State
Evansville at Samford
Louisiana Tech at Southeast Missouri
Loyola College (Md.) at Tennessee State
Northwestern State at Tennessee Tech
Saint Peter's at UT Martin
Austin Peay at Akron
