Murray State University Athletics
MSU Hosts TTU - Goes For Six Straight Victories
1/23/2008 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Tennessee Tech
(9-11) (6-4 OVC)
at
Murray State
(10-7) (6-3 OVC)
Thu. 7:30 p.m.
Regional Special
Events Center
Murray, Ky.
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INSIDE THE SERIES
Overall: Racers lead 112-44
@ Murray: Racers lead 65-8
@ Cookeville: Racers lead 41-35
Neutral: Racers 6-1
OVC Tournament: Racers lead 7-0
First Meeting: 1930 MSU won 61-21
Last Meeting: 2007 MSU won 60-56
Trend: Home team has won the last four meetings.
TTU has won two of the last three meetings.
Billy Kennedy vs TTU: 1-1
Mike Sutton vs MUR: 4-5
This game marks the 156th meeting with TTU, MSU's longest running series. It began long before 1948 when the two programs were part of the original make-up of the league. MSU first met Tech in 1930 and they have played every season since 1947. The Racers lead the series 112-44 and have a 65-8 edge at home. MSU has won six of the last 10 games.
The Racers are still in control of a rare four-pack of stat categories in the OVC. In league games, MSU leads in field goal percentage (.499), and three-point percentage (.422) and in defense of those categories, FG defense (.410) and three-point defense (.313). MSU has rocketed to 19th in the nation in overall field goal percentage (.487).
If MSU can defeat the Golden Eagles, head coach Billy Kennedy will match his longest winning streak in 10 seasons as a head coach. Kennedy, who also coached at Centenary for two seasons and six at Southeastern Louisiana, won six straight during the 2004-05 season at SLU with victories over Lamar, Texas State, Texas-San Antonio, Nicholls State, Stephen F. Austin, and Louisiana-Monroe.
GAME NOTES
TERRIFIC TRIO:
Together they're one senior, one junior, and one sophomore and they've led the Racers' in scoring this season in 15 of 17 games. Bruce Carter, Tyler Holloway, and Danero Thomas have combined to lead MSU in scoring 34 times over the last two seasons.NEARLY AUTOMATIC: In OVC games, the Racers have three players ranked in the top six in free throw shooting. Tyler Holloway (.885) is ranked 3rd, while Kevin Thomas (.864) is ranked 4th, and Danero Thomas (.829) is ranked 6th. MSU (.749) is tied with Austin Peay for tops in league games.
FIRST TIME THROUGH THE BATTING ORDER: This game marks the end of the first trip through the conference for MSU. It's the second season in the last three in which Tech has been the last team the Racers have played in the first half of the OVC season. In fact, a couple of times MSU has played some teams in the OVC twice before playing Tech for the first time.
A WIN MEANS: The Racers are 11-7 overall and 7-3 OVC) and have won six straight and have set a new record long win streak in Billy Kennedy's 10 years of being a head coach. Kennedy will be 27-21 at MSU. The Racers will be 113-44 all-time against TTU and 66-8 in Murray. The Racers will be 113-22 (.837) all-time in the RSEC and will have won five straight home games.
A LOSS MEANS: The Racers are 10-8 and have snapped a five game winning streak. The Racers are 6-4 in the OVC.
MSU's four-game home winning streak is over and they are 112-23 (.829) in the RSEC.
RANKING THE FIELD:
The Rating Percentage Index (RPI) is one of the formulas used by the NCAA in rate college basketball.The night the Racers started their current five-game winning streak on Jan 5th, they were 315th in the RPI. They have jumped 119 spots all the way to 196th this week.
There are currently 341 teams in NCAA D-I. The rankings do not count wins or losses against non-D-I teams. As of Jan. 23.
RANK TEAM REC
72 Mississippi State 13-5
97 Western Kentucky 12-5
112 Austin Peay 12-7
123 Chattanooga 10-7
128 Belmont 11-7
139 Rider 13-6
196 Murray State 8-7
235 Morehead State 7-9
245 SE Missouri State 9-9
250 Tennessee State 6-10
265 UT-Martin 6-12
278 Arkansas State 6-10
281 Eastern Kentucky 6-10
296 Samford 6-10
308 Tennessee Tech 7-11
340 Jacksonville State 2-14
341 Eastern Illinois 1-17
K.T. DOUBLE-DOUBLE:
Kevin Thomas had his first double-double at Murray State Jan. 10 in the Racers 82-70 win over Austin Peay. Thomas had 14 points and 10 assists, to become the first Racer to get a double-double with points and assists since 2003 when Adam Chiles did it against Southern Mississippi.FREE THROW STREAK: Tyler Holloway's free throw shooting streak reached 19 overall and 16 straight in OVC games before he missed with 1:47 left Jan. 5th at home against Tennessee State. Greg Coble's 1990 MSU record 33 consecutive made free throws is safe again. Holloway's run was the best since Antonio Henderson made 29 straight in the 2001-02 season.
CLOSE CALLS: The Racers are only a few ticks on the clock from being better off in the OVC, but have three tough losses by a combined five points. MSU lost at home Dec. 5 on a three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left with Eastern Kentucky. Dec. 20, the Racers were the vicitm of that strange finish at Samford in a 65-54 loss and then let an overtime game slip away at Eastern Illinois 83-80 on Jan.3rd.
CAREER NUMBERS: Tyler Holloway is one his way to becoming the 34th member of the MSU 1,000-Point club. He has 675 points in 77 career games. He will play a a minimum of 12 games yet this season and another 29 when he is a senior in 2008-09, giving him an excellent chance to make it.
Danero Thomas is only 45 games into his MSU career but has already scored 364 points.
Marvin Williams grabbed his 100th career rebound Dec. 20 at Samford and needs two more to reach 150.
Bruce Carter zoomed past the 500 career milestone at SEMO on Jan. 7 and is approacing 600.
Tony Easley has 32 career blocks and is on pace to break the MSU top-10. He needs to get to 87 which is Popeye Jones (1988-92).
Ray George passed 250 points in his career Jan. 15 against Indiana South Bend.
Kevin Thomas has 75 career assists.
SPEAKING OF STREAKS: Over the years, the Racers have put together some outstanding streaks. But even as good as the Racers have been, they still have a bad streak like all teams do. The Racers' Jan. 5th win over Tennessee State means MSU hasn't had a five-game losing streak since the 1991-92 season.
