Three Game Road Challenge Begins Thursday At Belmont

Game 23 - Belmont - Curb Event Center - Nashville, Tenn. - Feb. 6, 2020 - 6:30 p.m.

Murray State Racers (17-5) (10-0) Ohio Valley Last: 02/01 H SIUE Won 74-55 Next: 02/08 A Tennessee State 02/13 A Austin Peay Belmont Bruins (16-7) (7-3) Ohio Valley Last: 02/01 A Jacksonville State Won 78-64 Next: 02/08 H Austin Peay 02/13 H Tennessee State

Matt McMahon 5th Season Alma Mater: Appalachian State (2000)Career Record: 104-47 (5th) At Murray State: Same Ohio Valley: 60-18 Home: 61-11 Away: 31-28 Neutral: 12-8 vs Belmont: 3-4
Casey Alexander 1st Season Alma Mater: Belmont (1995) Career Record:152-127 (9th) at Belmont: 14-7 (1st) Ohio Valley: 7-3 vs Murray State: 0-1

MSU leads series vs Belmont (9-8) H: 6-2 A: 1-3 N: 2-3 OVC: 3-6 OVC Tournament: 2-2 1st Gm: 1986 MSU W H 94-92 1st OVC Gm: 2013 MSU W H 79-74

OVC Second Half - Racers Hit The Road To Face Belmont
The Murray State Racers (17-5, 10-0 OVC) started the second half of the Ohio Valley Conference season Saturday at home with a 74-55 win over SIUE and now begin the stretch run of the league race away from home in five of the final eight games. MSU travels to play the Belmont Bruins (16-7, 7-3 OVC) Thursday for a 6:30 p.m. tip at the Curb Center in Nashville, Tennessee. All MSU games can be heard online at Froggy103.com and GoRacers.com. The game will also be carried on ESPN+.com.

After the game at Belmont, the Racers stay in Nashville for a Saturday tilt at the Gentry Center against the Tennessee State Tigers. MSU travels to Clarksville, Tenn., (Feb. 13) for a game at Austin Peay in the first of two games this season against the Governors.

Racers vs Bruins - Game 1
The first meeting between the Racers and Bruins (Jan. 23) saw
sophomore Tevin Brown score a game-high 24 points and dish out eight assists, while Anthony Smith racked up a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, for an 85-75 win. Trailing 35-31 at halftime, the Racers were facing their largest deficit of the game of nine points (46-37) with 17:05 remaining. The game was tied with 4:26 left, when Jaiveon Eaves hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get the Racers separation by six points at the 3:43 mark. The Racers hit 10 threes in the game, while the Bruins hit 12.

Racers Making History...Again
The Racers have posted an 11-game win since their last loss, in overtime at Evansville (Dec. 21). The last three seasons for Coach McMahon have produced some of the best basketball in the 95-year history of the program. By extending this season's win streak to double-figures, the Racers have three-straight seasons of winning streaks of 11 straight wins (or more) for just the second time in MSU history. The first run of three seasons happened from 1935 to 1938 under Hall of Famer, Coach Carlisle Cutchin. MSU also enters the week having won 19 consecutive OVC regular season games. The OVC record is 25 by Western Kentucky (1965-67).

Williams Producing At All-OVC Level
Murray State sophomore KJ Williams had a good pair of games last week in home wins over Eastern Illinois and SIUE. He averaged 17 points and 12 rebounds. He was 14-of-22 from the field for 63 percent. In the EIU game, he scored 14 points on 6-of-7 from the field to go with nine rebounds and had the monster effort of 20 points and 15 rebounds against SIUE. In the first game with Belmont, Williams scored 15 points and hauled in seven rebounds.

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Players Mentioned

Tevin Brown

Jaiveon Eaves

Anthony Smith

KJ Williams

Murray State University Athletics