Murray State University Athletics
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OVC Opener - Racers Host EKU On ESPNU
12/1/2009 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Game 7
Eastern Kentucky
at
Murray State
Thursday 6 p.m. CST
RSEC
Murray, Ky.
ESPNU
The Murray State Racers carry a five-game winning streak into their Ohio Valley Conference opener against Eastern Kentucky Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Regional Special Events Center in a game that will air on ESPNU. MSU-EKU are meeting for the 149th time in their series that started in 1934 before they helped form the OVC in 1948. The Racers have won all of their games since dropping their season opener at No. 12 California on Nov. 9. Murray State has rolled so far in leading the OVC in several defensive categories including scoring defense where they're holding opponents to 58.8 points per game.
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THOMAS STALKS 1000: Senior forward Danero Thomas is closing on becoming the 35th member of the MSU 1,000-Point Club and starts the TWC game needing 21 points to reach the magic mark. His 49 career double-figure scoring games have helped him along, but Thomas has also been a durable player for MSU with appearances in 96 games including 70 starts. He was named to the All-OVC Preseason Team and the All-OVC Second Team as a junior and last week was named to the Coaches vs Cancer Classic Team for the Miami regional. He is the fifth-best active scorer in the OVC.
Sophomore Ivan Aska is already eyeing 500 career points after only 37 career games, he has 407. Aska was the OVC Freshman of the Year last spring and was named to the All-OVC Preseason team. He also earned MVP honors at the Coaches vs Cancer Classic earlier this season.
MAKIN' SHOTS: Through six games, Ivan Aska is making shots at a very high percentage in hitting 34-of-50 (.680) and he's taken more shots than anyone on the team. When the NCAA national rankings come out soon, he'll no doubt rank very high. Aska is third in the OVC, but has more attempts than anyone in the top-9. Teammate Tony Easley is the best in the OVC at .697 on 23-of-33 and Isaiah Canaan is seventh at .583 making 21-of-36 shots.
RSEC ADVANTAGE: The Racers enter the EKU game with a six-game home winning streak. MSU is 36-9 at home in the Billy Kennedy era. One amazing note to the Racers' record in the RSEC is that they have lost back-to-back games only four times in 12 seasons and have never lost three straight in the building. The last time MSU lost three straight games at home was in old Racer Arena in the 1986-87 season. MSU is 93-15 (.861) all-time in OVC games in the RSEC.
The Racers are 10-2 all-time against EKU at the RSEC. When MSU beat the Colonels last spring here in overtime, it snapped a streak of two straight EKU wins on the Racers' home floor. UT Martin and Jacksonville State remain as teams from the OVC who have never beaten the Racers at the RSEC.
FOR OPENERS:
MSU'S BREAD AND BUTTER: If there is one thing you can expect from the Racers, it's hard-nosed intense defense. In MSU's win over TWC (Nov. 28), they set a program record with 25 steals which is the best under coach Billy Kennedy. His MSU teams have now turned in double-digit steals in 21 times in the Kennedy era with 12 of them in league games.
REJECTION WATCH: Against JMU (Nov. 20), Tony Easley became the first Racer to record five blocked shots in a game since Pearson Griffith had eight against UT Martin in 2006. Easley now has 77 in his career which ranks him 11th on the MSU all-time list. Popeye Jones (1988-92) is 10th with 87, while Cuthbert Victor (2000-04) is the leader with 160. Easley is also the third active shot-blocker in the OVC.
EASLEY DOES IT: Tony Easley has already set the MSU single-season field goal percentage record when he hit .689 in the 2007-08 season. He is the second in the OVC in career percentage at .658. MTSU's Warren Kidd set the record of .664 from (1991-93).
THOMAS-1000 POINTS: Danero Thomas starts the night with 979 points and is closing on becoming the 35th member of the MSU 1000-Point Club.
BALANCED SCORING:
EVERYONE CONTRIBUTES: The Racers have 10 players averaging 10 minutes of playing time per game.
DT THE DEFENDER:
MAGIC NUMBER 80 & 60:
CANAAN HOT FT SHOOTING: Freshman Isaiah Canaan is off to a good start in all parts of his game, but is shooting very good from the free throw line particular. So far, he is 23-of-25 (.920). He enters the EKU game having made 10 straight.
The Racers are 4-0 this season when they score 80 points or more and 20-4 in the Billy Kennedy era. When MSU holds opponents to 60 points or less, they're 3-0 this season and 28-5 with Coach Kennedy.Danero Thomas is an excellent defensive player too with 132 career steals which ranks him No. 1 in the OVC among active players. With two more steals he'll move into 10th place on the MSU all-time list. Through the first six games, the Racers have four players averaging double-figures and Tony Easley is close at 9.3 points per game. This is the best for a Racer squad since the 2003-04 season had five: Victor, Brown, Shumate, Whechel and Chiles.Since the 1980-81 season, the Racers are 22-7 in OVC openers. This is the fourth time in the last five seasons MSU has opened league play against the Colonels.
