Redbirds Snap Racers’ Home Streak at The Bank

Wednesday, January 28

Murray, Ky.

8 p.m.

Murray State

16-6,8-3MVC

Illinois State

15-7,7-4MVC

Illinois St.

Murray St.

Photo by: David Eaton-Murray State Athletics

1/28/2026 11:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Racers met the Illinois State Redbirds in the first of two meetings this season

The Murray State Racers dropped a 70-65 defeat Wednesday night to the Illinois State Redbirds at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.

The Racers (16-6) fell to 8-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference and out of a share of first place with the Belmont Bruins (9-2) ahead of their Saturday night showdown at the Curb Center in Nashville at 7 p.m.

Fred King led the Racers with his seventh double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Javon Jackson added 15 points.

The Racers were held to 29 first half points on 37 percent from the field and finished the game at 38 percent, which included 4-of-22 from the 3-point line for 18 percent.

Even so, the Racers clawed back in the second half and cut the ISU lead to 56-53 at 4:53 when they made 8-of-9 from the free throw line. That's as close as MSU could get the rest of the way as they posted their first home loss of the season.

Game Notes

The Racers' home win streak of 12 was in the top-20 nationally.
This season, MSU is 10-1 at home with games still to come against UIC (Feb. 3), UNI (Feb. 9), Belmont (Feb. 15) and Evansville (Feb. 21).
The Racers have lost their last four to the Redbirds and all four have been close with margins of four, two, six and five points.
MSU returns the game to ISU on Feb. 18 in Normal.
The Racers' 29-point first half was their lowest first half output in their 11 MVC games this season.

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