Murray State University Athletics
Racers At Home Vs EKU-Witherspoon Nears 1,000
2/7/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Eastern Kentucky
(13-9) (8-6 OVC)
At
Murray State
(12-11) (10-5 OVC)
Thu. Feb. 8, 2007
7:30 p.m.
RSEC
Murray State Racers face off with the Colonels of Eastern Kentucky in the first game of three straight at home in the Regional Special Events Center. The Racers have been away from home in seven of their last 10 games, but still managed to fashion a 7-3 mark in that stretch and find themselves at 10-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference, tied with Tennessee Tech for third place. The Racers have inched over the .500 mark for the first time this season at 12-11 This will be the second meeting between the Racers and Colonels after EKU scored a 72-66 overtime win in Richmond Dec. 7. MSU began its winning streak Jan. 27 with a 85-67 win at Southeast Missouri State. Then it was a 57-51 road win at Samford Jan. 29, followed by a home 77-68 victory over Austin Peay. Saturday the Racers made their second trip to Alabama in a week and defeated Jacksonville State 63-61. The Racers are rolling on the strength of their defense. During the current winning streak opponents are shooting a paltry .377 (81-215) against MSU and .300 (27-90) from three-point range.
The Colonels enter the game with an 8-6 OVC mark and have won their last three. EKU broke a three game losing streak Jan. 29 when they thumped UT-Martin at home 94-57, then followed with a road win at Morehead State 69-61 and another home win Saturday over Tennessee Tech in a game that was decided in double overtime after 11 ties and 13 lead changes. At the start of the second extra session, the Colonels recorded the first seven points to establish an 89-82 cushion with 1:17 remaining.
The Racers are 104-17 (.858) in nine seasons of play in the RSEC and are 6-2 here this season. The Racers had the nation's 11th best winning streak snapped by Samford Dec. 21 and are 30-7 here in the last three campaigns. The Racers are 8-0 all-time against EKU in the RSEC. The Colonels join Tennessee State and UT-Martin as teams that have never won in the building.
MSU JUMPS IN IN FG% DEFENSE:
In an Incredible leap, the Racers jumped from 132nd in the nation two weeks ago in field goal percentage defense to 81st this week. Opponents are shooting .377 from the field against MSU during the winning streak.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 prolonged winning streak of the season, MSU is also above the .500 mark (12-11) for the first time this season.THE EKU-MSU SERIES:
It was a wild game the first time the Racers and Colonels met in Richmond Dec. 7. MSU battled EKU into overtime before falling 72-66 at McBrayer Arena. The Racers had the game nearly put away until EKU's Mike Rose hit a tying three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. The Racers started the game with the hot hand and hit six of their first 11 shots and carried a 33-23 lead into the half. The second half started with an EKU run that cut the MSU lead to one with 13:00 left and from that point forward it was a close game.HALFTIME RUN:
MSU has seen many a game this season turn on if they have they lead at the half time break or not. However, it hasn't mattered much lately as the Racers have overcome three straight games to get wins after trailing at the half. They trailed by three and defeated Samford, and then came back to beat Austin Peay after trailing by two at the half and did the same after falling behind by three against Jacksonville State.GETTING TO KNOW YOU:
Junior Ray George has proved a quick learner after joining the team Dec. 19. George led the Racers in scoring for the first time in Saturday's game at JSU with 16 points on 6-9 shooting, he has scored in double figures in six of his 12 games at MSU.DOWN THE STRETCH:
The Racers are known for clutch wins late in the season. Since 2000, the Racers are 33-14 in February in OVC regular season games for a winning percentage of .702.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 per game 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 78-90 (.867). The record is currently held by Greg Coble who hit .850 of his shots (147-173) from 1989-1991.SPOON WATCH:
Shawn Witherspoon is moving closer to joining the Murray State 1000-Point Club. His 15 points at Jacksonville State Saturday means he has 989 career points and is 11 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 96 straight games. The last time he failed to score was Jan. 26, 2004 during his freshman season. Witherspoon has scored in 113 of his 118 games as a Racer.
Has turned in 27 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 53 of the last 54 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 52-15 record (.776) 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 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 is 6 p.m. central time.The Rider Broncs are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletics Conference and are 12-11 overall this season, 6-7 in league play. Rider dropped a Iona 69-57 game Saturday and also Monday in a 79-78 loss to Marist. Rider's next game is Friday at home against Manhattan.
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, Tennessee State and Eastern Illinois). MSU's best win streak is 12 over UT-Martin. The Racers lost their last meeting with Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky and won their last meeting with SEMO, Austin Peay and Samford.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.RACER FREE GAME DAY AUDIO: All basketball fans listen to the Racers FREE game day audio for each MSU game. Click on the link http://www.goracers.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=6700&KEY=&DB_OEM_ID=6700&DB_LANG=&IN_SUBSCRIBER_CONTENT= and enjoy the game!
