Racers Ready To Chase Postseason Success In Evansville

MURRAY STATE RACERS (25-4, 16-2 Ohio Valley Co-Champions)
Head Coach: Matt McMahon (Appalachian State, 2000)
Career Record: 84-41 (4th season) • At MUR: Same • OVC: 50-18
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The Murray State Racers (25-4) play in the semifinals of the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Friday, March 8 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. The Racers are the No. 2 seed and lead the lower half of the OVC bracket. The process of determining the Racers' opponent started Wednesday when UT Martin beat Eastern Illinois and then Thursday, when the Skyhawks lost to No. 3 Jacksonville State.

The Racers and Gamecocks face off Friday at 7 p.m. in one semifinal at the Ford Center.

A year after winning the OVC regular season and tournament title and going 26-6 and making their 16 NCAA Tournament appearance, the Racers are right back at the Ford Center looking to do it again. And just like a year ago, the Racers might have to go through two teams they lost to this season in league play.

The Racers finished the regular season on a nine-game win streak to grab a share of the OVC title with Belmont. The Bruins are the No. 1 seed after they beat the Racers on their home floor (Jan. 24) in front of a record crowd at the CFSB Center of 8,969. This last Saturday (March 2) the Racers set another CFSB Center attendance record when 9,012 watched the Racers beat Austin Peay 94-83. The win made both the Racers and Bruins 16-2 and so they share the OVC title at 16-2. MSU has won or had a share of 26 OVC titles and have won six out of the last 10 and back-to-back. This shared championship with Belmont, marks the first time the Racers have shared since the 1999-00 season when Tevester Anderson's team shared with SEMO with each team at 14-4.

The Ja Morant show rolls into Evansville as the MSU sophomore continues to be quite the attraction for fans and media because his amazing talent. He's had two triple-doubles this season and 18 double-doubles. He's got 22 games of 20-plus points, five games of 30-plus and one of 40. In assists, Morant has 16 games of 10 or more. With his scoring average of 24.1 points per game and 10.3 assist rate, Morant is trying to become the first player to average 20/10 in NCAA D-I history.

However, the Racers didn't go 25-4 this season as a one-man show. With a solid starting five including All-OVC and OVC Defensive Player of the Year pick Shaq Buchanan and All-OVC Newcomer Team member Darnell Cowart and freshman long-range shooter Tevin Brown, the Racers have all the pieces of a championship squad. However, MSU doesn't necessarily win just because of it's offense, they're a great defensive team as well. MSU is fifth in the nation in 3-point field goal defense (.287) and 37th nationally in field goal percentage defense (.408).

2019 OVC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Ford Center - Evansville, Ind.

First Round - Wednesday, March 6
Game 1 - #5 MOR 72 #8 SIUE 68
Game 2 - #6 EIU 71 #7 UTM 78

Quarterfinals - Thursday, March 7
Game 3 - #4 APSU 95 MOR 81
Game 4 - #3 JSU 88. UTM 81

Semifinals - Friday, March 8
Game 5 - #1 BEL vs. #4 APSU, 7:00 p.m. (ESPNU)
Game 6 - #2 MSU vs. JSU, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)

Championship - Saturday, March 9
Game 7 - Semifinal Winners, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN2/Westwood One)

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Racers Ready To Chase Postseason Success In Evansville

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Players Mentioned

Tevin Brown

Shaq Buchanan

Darnell Cowart

Ja Morant

Murray State University