Murray State University Athletics
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Racers Travel To First Place SEMO In OVC Battle
1/6/2008 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Murray State
(6-7) (3-3 OVC)
at
Southeast Missouri
(11-5) (6-0 OVC)
Thu. 7:30 p.m.
Show Me Center
Cape Girardeau, Mo.
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The Murray State Racers continue their busy start to 2008 with a 7:30 p.m. Monday game against Southeast Missouri State at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
The Racers are coming off a 92-88 home win Saturday over Tennessee State where MSU put five players in double figures and scored the highest point total in 43 games under head coach Billy Kennedy. The previous high score was 86 last season Jan. 4th at Tennessee State in overtime. The previous high in a regulation game was 85 at Southeast Missouri last season.
The Redhawks are one of the teams to beat in the early part of the Ohio Valley Conference race having gone 6-0. Southeast knocked off Eastern Illinois Saturday 82-71 in Charleston, Ill. getting 25 points and 10 rebounds from Brandon Foust.
The Racers and Redhawks have a history that dates back to 1931 and have been one of the best rivalries in the OVC since SEMO joined the league in 1991. MSU leads the all-time series with the Redhawks 41-16 and are 21-7 at SEMO. MSU leads the all-time series with the Redhawks in OVC games 28-7. The teams split their series last season with each winning on the road. MSU has won four straight at SEMO since their last loss in 2003. Before that, the Racers had won nine straight after losing there in 1992.
They have met twice in the OVC Tournament championship game. In 1999, the Racers defeated the Redhawks on Aubrey Reese's memorable buzzer beater 62-61 to send MSU to the NCAA for a third straight year. One year later in 2000, the Redhawks beat Murray State 67-56 to gain their only trip to the NCAA's as a D-I team.
GAME NOTES
HITTING FREE THROWS:
The Racers have moved from 138th in the nation to 115 in the last week in free throw shooting thanks to making 45-of-63 over the last two games. MSU is 191-272 .702 overall this season.HALF TIME STAT:
Getting the lead at half time is big for the Racers. This season they are 6-1 when leading at the break and 0-6 when they trail.WHAT MIGHT'VE BEEN:
The Racers are only a few ticks on the clock from being better off in the OVC, but instead are trying to overcome three tough losses. MSU lost at home Dec. 5 on a shot 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 628 points. Assuming he plays at least 15 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 43 games into his MSU career but has already scored 308 points.
Marvin Williams grabbed his 100th career rebound Dec. 20 at Samford.
Bruce Carter needs only seven points to reach 500 career points at MSU.
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 meant MSU has avoided a five-game losing streak since the 1991-92 season.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.UNDER THE GUN:
Hitting clutch free throws has been a strength of the Racers' team in 2007-08. Starting with the free throws Kevin Thomas hit in the opener against Rider to win the game with less than two seconds left, all of the MSU players have hit them when they have counted the most. Overall, MSU has hit 25-of-30 (.833) from the line inside two minutes when the leading team is ahead by 10 points or less.NEARLY 100:
The 92 points the Racers scored Jan. 5th against Tennessee State is the highest point total in the Billy Kennedy era. MSU fell shy of getting to the century mark and haven't hit 100 since beating Chicago State at home Dec. 13, 2003 and haven't given up 100 since Jan. 2, 2005 at Alabama-Birmingham.ASSIST STREAK:
Tyler Holloway also had a impressive streak going when he had dished out at least one assist in 17 straight games. His streak ended Jan. 3rd at Eastern Illinois. Kevin Thomas has a streak of 13 straight games going.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 be installed by Jan. 5th.CLOSE TO 30:
Tyler Holloway has come very close twice to hitting the 30 point mark in a single game. His 26 on Nov. 26 against Arkansas State was three off his career best of 29 that came last January at Tennessee State. MSU's last 30 point night was 78 games ago on Jan. 6, 2005 when Shawn Witherspoon netted 33 against Morehead State.SIX THREES:
Holloway's six three point baskets against ASU was a career-high. The last MSU player to hit that number was Darnell Hopkins who went 6-of-6 against Eastern Illinois at the RSEC on Jan. 9, 2006.IF THERE IS OT:
MSU played its first overtime game this season Jan. 3rd at Eastern Illinois in an 83-80 loss. MSU played four last season going 2-2. MSU is 21-14 in overtime games since 1983. The Racers have played 11 overtime games in OVC play since 2000 and are 5-7.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.
HOME COOKIN:
With the Racers' win over Rider Nov. 10, 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 109-22 for a winning percentage of .832.Here is how the Racers compare with the rest of the teams in the OVC since the 2003-04 season.
Team 07-08 Since 03-04 Pct.
Murray State 5-1 52-12 .812
Austin Peay 4-1 47-11 .810
Eastern KY 5-3 45-16 .737
Samford 4-3 42-16 .724
Tennessee St. 2-1 32-20 .615
Jacksonville St. 2-3 36-24 .600
SE Missouri St. 6-0 34-25 .576
Morehead St. 4-0 32-25 .561
UT-Martin 4-2 30-24 .555
Eastern Illinois 2-4 25-32 .438
