Racers Blend Of Offense/Defense Is Producing Winning Results

Date: Jan. 19 Time: 7 p.m. CT Site: Edwrdsville, Ill. Arena: Vadalabene Center 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 19-3 Home: MSU leads 12-1 Away: MSU leads 7-2 Neutral: None Last Meeting: 2018 Away MSU won 75-66 Last SIUE Win: 2014 at home 67-60 Last SIUE Win at MSU: 1975 SIUE won 83-81 Last 5 Meetings: MSU leads 4-1 Last OT: None Last 10 Meetings: MSU leads 9-1 Trends: MSU: has won six straight SIUE: has lost last four MSU Last: Jan. 17 won at EIU 83-61 SIUE Last: Jan. 17 lost at home to APSU 79-17 MSU Next: Jan. 24 Home vs Belmont MSU next road: Jan. 31 vs JSU SIUE Next: Jan. 24 at SEMO

MURRAY STATE RACERS (14-2, 5-0 Ohio Valley)
Head Coach: Matt McMahon (Appalachian State, 2000)
Career Record: 73-39 (4th season) • At MUR: Same • OVC: 39-16

SIUE COUGARS (5-12, 1-4 Ohio Valley)
Head Coach: Jon Harris (Marquette, 2002)
Career Record: 26-78 (4th season) • At SIUE: Same • OVC: 10-45

The Murray State Racers (14-2, 5-0 OVC) play the final game of a four-game two-week road trip in the Ohio Valley Conference Saturday against the SIUE Cougars (5-12, 1-4 OVC). The 7 p.m. tip at the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Illinois, has the Racers in a three-way tie for first place with each team at 5-0.

The Racers have been playing well with a six-game win streak since their last loss (Dec. 22) at Auburn. Dating back to January of 2018 when MSU lost at Belmont, they've not lost since and have won their last 16 OVC regular season games and their last nine OVC road games.

While NBA scouts continue to scout the Racer star sophomore, Ja Morant is unfazed by it all and is having a terrific season at 23.3 points per game, 6.1 rebounds and 10.6 assists. Morant had 27 points Thursday in MSU's 83-61 win at Eastern Illinois. After leading 48-29 at the intermission, the game got a shot in the arm that only Morant can deliver. At the 18:26 mark, Morant got a steal and went in for a highlight dunk that seemingly shook Lantz Arena. The dunk was the ESPN SportsCenter lead story later in the night. Additionally, his under the rim flip layup was the No. 4 play on SportsCenter's Top-10 and his dunk was the No. 1 play. It marked the third time this season he has had the No. 1 play following dunks he had at Alabama (Nov. 26) and at UT Martin (Jan. 10).

MSU's Ja Morant began the week with the lead in five OVC offensive categories and was leading 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 in a game at UT Martin. Morant is 14th in the nation in scoring 23.1 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.

In the EIU game, the 16 rebounds for KJ Williams was his career high besting the 13 he had (Jan. 5) against EKU. It was the highest output by a Racer since Terrell Miller had 17 against West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament last March. Williams has become a starter for the Racers and is impacting the game on both ends of the floor.

With a 4-of-8 night from the 3-point line, Shaq Buchanan is suddenly giving the Racers another 3-point threat with Morant and Tevin Brown. After a 4-of-8 night at EIU, Buchanan is now 11-of-23 (.478) in OVC games.

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+.

Racers Blend Of Offense/Defense Is Producing Winning Results

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Players Mentioned

Tevin Brown

Shaq Buchanan

Ja Morant

KJ Williams

Murray State University