One At A Time - Racers Strive For Great Play Thursday At EIU

MURRAY STATE RACERS (13-2, 4-0 Ohio Valley)
Head Coach: Matt McMahon (Appalachian State, 2000)
Career Record: 72-39 (4th season) • At MUR: Same • OVC: 38-16

EASTERN ILLINOIS PANTHERS (10-7, 3-1 Ohio Valley)
Head Coach: Jay Spoonhour (Pittsburg State, 1994)
Career Record: 195-146 (11th season) • At EIU: 89-113 (7th) • OVC: 47-55

Date: Jan. 17 Time: 7 p.m. CT Site: Charleston, Ill. Arena: Lantz Arena Radio: Racer Radio - WFGE 103.7 FM - PXP-Neal Bradley, Analyst-Kenny Roth TV: None Online Video: ESPN+ Audio: GoRacers.com & Froggy103.com Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com Twitter: @MSURacers @RacersHoops @RacerDave23

Series: MSU leads 46-11 Home: MSU leads 25-3 Away: MSU leads 18-7 Neutral: MSU leads 3-1 Last Meeting: 2018 Away MSU won 77-66 Last EIU Win: 2017 at MSU 82-65 Last EIU Win at Home: 2016 EIU won 85-74 Last 5 Meetings: MSU leads 4-1 Last OT: 2008 MSU lost at EIU 83-80 Last 10 Meetings: MSU leads 8-2 Trends: MSU: has won five straight EIU: has lost last three MSU Last: Jan. 12 won at SEMO 85-67 EIU Last: Jan. 12 lost at TTU 99-88 MSU Next: Jan. 19 Away vs SIUE MSU next home: Jan. 24 vs Belmont EIU Next: Jan. 19 home vs APSU EIU Next Away: Jan. 24 vs UTM

The Murray State Racers (13-2, 4-0 OVC) make the Prairie State swing for a pair of Ohio Valley Conference games starting with a showdown with the Eastern Illinois Panthers (10-7, 3-1 OVC) Thursday. The 7 p.m. tip at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Ill., finds the Racers with a share of the early league lead and getting votes this week in the AP Top-25. The Racers are No. 4 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25.

Froggy 103 (WFGS 103.7 FM) airs every MSU game with "Voice of the Racers" Neal Bradley calling the action in his 28th season. Former MSU assistant coach Kenny Roth provides commentary. Froggy103.com and GoRacers.com has free online streaming audio. The game can also be seen online at ESPN+.

MSU took a pair of games last week at UT Martin 98-77 (Jan. 10) and 85-67 (Jan. 10) at Southeast Missouri. The Racers enter the EIU game their last five since a loss at Auburn (Dec. 22) and have won 15 straight OVC games including their last eight OVC road games since a Jan. 2018 loss at Belmont.

The Racers lead the all-time series with EIU 46-11 and are 18-7 at Lantz Arena. In recent games at EIU, the Panthers beat the Racers in 2016 and since, the Racers have won their last two. EIU returns the game to the Racers when they visit Murray's CFSB Center (Feb. 7).

MSU's Ja Morant leads the OVC in five offensive categories and leads the nation in three stat lines including Assists per game (10.7) and total assists (161). Morant set the MSU record with 18 assists at UTM and was only two off the OVC record last week. Morant is 14th in the nation in scoring 32.1 points per game. He is the OVC Player of the Week for the fifth time this season and was recently added to the Wooden Award Top-25 Watch List.

However, the Racers are far from being a one-man show. Shaq Buchanan is making a run to be the league's Defensive Player of the Lead and leads the OVC in steals and is scoring 13.6 points per game, while Tevin Brown is a candidate for OVC Freshman of the Year and has been named Freshman of the Week four times. Brown tied the MSU mark with nine 3-point baskets against UT Martin last week and is scoring 13.4 points per game. Freshman forward KJ Williams is making a great first impression as is JUCO big man Darnell Cowart who scores 14 points per game off the bench in OVC games.

The Racers play at SIUE Saturday in a 7 p.m. tip in Edwardsville, Illinois and next week host Belmont (Jan. 24) at the CFSB Center (Jan. 24) in a game that will be aired by ESPNU.

One At A Time - Racers Strive For Great Play Thursday At EIU

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Players Mentioned

Tevin Brown

Shaq Buchanan

Darnell Cowart

Ja Morant

KJ Williams

Murray State University