Illinois Swing Awaits Racers At EIU & SIUE

MURRAY STATE RACERS (8-9, 2-1 OVC)
Head Coach: Matt McMahon (Appalachian State, 2000)
Career Record: 25-23 (2nd season) • At MSU: Same • OVC: 12-7 (2nd season)

EASTERN ILLINOIS PANTHERS (9-7, 1-2 OVC)
Head Coach: Jay Spoonhour (Pittsburg State, 1994)
Career Record: 168-112 (9th season) • At EIU: 72-79 (5th season) • OVC: 32-35

Date-Time: Jan. 12 - 7 p.m. CT Site: Charleston, Ill. Arena: Lantz Arena
TV: None Radio: Racer Radio - WFGE 103.7 FM - Neal Bradley & Kenny Roth
Web Streaming: Audio: GoRacers.com & Froggy103.com Video: OVCDN Live Stats: EIUPanthers.com & StatBroadcast.com
Twitter In Game: @RacersHoops @RacerDave23

Series History
Overall: MSU 43-10 Home: MSU 24-2 Away: MSU 16-7 Neutral: MSU 3-1 OVC: 35-7 OVC Tournament: MSU 5-1 Overtime: Tied 1-1
1999 Home Won 94-89 2OT 2008 Away Lost 80-83 OT
First Meeting: 1981 Home Won 71-70 Last Meeting: 2016 Neutral Won 78-62 MSU Next: Away (Jan. 14) SIUE EIU Next: Home (Jan. 14) Austin Peay

The Murray State Racers head north this week for the second half of a season-long four-game road trip when they play the Eastern Illinois Panthers Thursday at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Ill., in a 7 p.m. tip. MSU then travels to SIUE on Saturday

Froggy 103 (WFGS 103.7 FM) airs every MSU game with "Voice of the Racers" Neal Bradley, in his 26th season calling the action. Former MSU assistant coach Kenny Roth provides commentary. Froggy103.com and GoRacers.com has free online streaming audio. Free online streaming video is available at OVCDigitalNetwork.com.

The Racers (8-9, 2-1 OVC) are coming off a split of their road trip last week to Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech. MSU nailed down its first road win of the season at JSU 76-63 on the strength of 13-of-18 (.722) shooting from the 3-point line. However, they went cold in the TTU game and managed 8-of-31 (.258).

Through the first three games of the OVC season, the Racers have Jonathan Stark atop the conference in scoring at 23.3 points per game. Bryce Jones is 11th (17.3 ppg), Terrell Miller is 17th (15.0 ppg). Damarcus Croaker gives the Racers a fourth double-digit scorer at 10.3 ppg. Miller enters the EIU game with back-to-back double doubles.

The Racers have eight games this season of 10-plus threes and lead the OVC with 152 3-pointers. The Racers are currently averaging 9.4 3-point baskets per game (30th NCAA D-I), far ahead of the team record that was set in the 2012-13 season when they made 7.8. MSU is 22nd in the country with 160 made threes, which is tops in the OVC.

The recent shooting resurgence by guard Bryce Jones has been welcome for the Racers. Last week, he hit 7-of-12 from the 3-point line and scored 15.5 points per game at Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech. Jones has 616 points and has become the 22nd Racer to score 600 among two-year players at MSU. The all-time leader in two-year players is De'Teri Mayes (1996-98) who scored 1,340 points in 63 games.

Jonathan Stark is the top scorer in the OVC with 21.1 points per game. He quickly put himself into the conversation not only for OVC Newcomer of the Year, but also All-OVC. Through 17 games, he has recorded 10 games of 20-plus points. His season high of 32 points was at South Dakota State (Dec. 17). He's the No. 21 scorer in the nation among NCAA D-I players.

Saturday, the Racers play at SIUE in a 7 p.m. game on Fox Sports Midwest.

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Players Mentioned

Damarcus Croaker

Bryce Jones

Jonathan Stark

Murray State University Athletics