Racers Meet McKendree In Thursday Exhibition

Thursday, November 2

CFSB Center

7 p.m.

Murray State

McKendree

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

11/1/2017 8:43:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Live Stats I OVCDN I Game Notes

The Murray State Racers get the 2017-18 season going Thursday when they host the McKendree Bearcats in an exhibition game at the CFSB Center. The 7 p.m. tip comes after the MSU women's team takes on Georgetown (KY) at 5 p.m.

With Racer Mania and Ohio Valley Conference Media Days in the books, the Racers are finally at the point of playing a real game when they meet the NCAA D-II Bearcats in an exhibition.

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 were picked third in Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll (Oct. 24) when at media day in Evansville, Ind., site of the 2018 OVC Tournament at the Ford Center. Seniors Terrell Miller, Jr., and Jonathan Stark were named to the All-OVC Preseason Team and Stark became the 10th Racer in the last 24 seasons to be named OVC Preseason Player of the Year.

The preseason honor for MSU's Jonathan Stark makes him the Racers' 10th OVC Preseason Player of the Year since 1994. He's the first since Cameron Payne was selected prior to the 2014-15 season. Racer fans are rooting for Stark to follow it up and become the OVC Player of the Year at the end of the season. Marcus Brown did this in 1995 and 1996, as did DT Mayes in 1998. Isaiah Canaan also did it in 2012, although he shared the award with Belmont's Ian Clark. MSU has two OVC Player of the Year winners that weren't the preseason pick, Aubrey Reese in 2000, who beat out teammate Isaac Spencer and Cuthbert Victor, who beat out preseason pick Ricky Minard of Morehead State in 2004.

Stark and Miller give the Racers one of the best one-two punches in all of NCAA D-I. Firstly, they're the second-leading returning duo in the nation in combined scoring. They combined for 37.9 points per game as juniors in 2016-17. When it comes to shooting the 3-pointer, they're one of the top returning pairs after making a combined 175 last season. Stark set a Murray State single-season record with 108 threes and even though Miller was one of the best big men in the game, he made 67 of his own.

The 2017-18 season is the 93rd in Murray State history and the 70th in the OVC. Murray State has an all-time record of 1,585-884 (.641) overall and 656-335 (.661) in OVC games.