Murray State University Athletics
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Go West Young Men! Racers vs Vandy In NCAA Tourney
3/15/2010 5:15:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Game 35
(13) Murray State
(30-4)
vs
(4) Vanderbilt
(24-8)
NCAA TOURNAMENT
Thursday 1:30 p.m. CST
HP Pavilion
San Jose, Calif.
CBS
The Murray State Racers will make their 14th appearance in the NCAA Tournament Thursday when they meet the Vanderbilt Commodores at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. in a 1:30 p.m. central time tip. The Racers are 30-4 and the 13th seed in the NCAA West Region and take on a Vandy team that is the 4th seed with a 24-8 mark. The winner of this game will face the winner of 5th seed Butler and 12th seed UTEP on Saturday. The Racers earned their dance ticket March 6 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. when they defeated the Morehead State Eagles 62-51 in the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. MSU has enjoyed a record-breaking season as they've become the first team in school and OVC history to post 30 wins. MSU also enjoyed a 23-game winning streak in OVC regular season games that fell just two short of the league record.
When the Murray State Racers began the 2009-10 season, many thought they would have a good chance in getting to the NCAA Tournament as evidenced by their co-favorite selection in the OVC Preseason Poll with Morehead State. The Racers success came at an amazing rate of not only winning games but winning them by large margins. MSU led the OVC this season in winning margin at 17 points per game and had 13 wins this season of 20 or more points against D-I teams.
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The Racers were the third team in D-I to reach 20 wins after Syracuse and BYU and were the first to 30 when they won the OVC title. MSU lost at WKU Dec. 22 and didn't taste defeat again until Feb. 25 when their 17-game winning streak was ended as the longest in the nation along with Butler. The streak broke the MSU record that stood since the 1930's.
Several Racer players had outstanding seasons, but the top of the heap has to be senior center Tony Easley who broke the MSU single-season record in blocked shots, currently with 93 and stands only four from setting the all-time mark at MSU. Easley has 900 career points and is one rebound shy of career 600. B.J. Jenkins led the OVC in steals this season, while Isacc Miles was one of the top assist men in the league and senior Danero Thomas became the 35th member of the MSU 1000-Point Club. More than anything, the Racers continued to be known for tenacious defense as they rank 13th in the nation in field goal percentage defense, 5th in steals and 19th in blocked shots. MSU is also one of two teams leading their leagues in both scoring and scoring defense...the other is Kansas.
