Racers Receive Arch Madness Assignment

In their fourth appearance, the Murray State Racers are the No. 4 seed at State Farm Arch Madness – Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

Murray State is the No. 4 seed, their best at Arch Madness and the Racers' assignment is against No. 5 seeded UIC Flames. The Friday game is set for 2:30 p.m. Central Time.

The Racers won both meetings with the Flames starting with an 81-77 win on New Year's Day and a home win of 81-74 in Murray on Feb. 3.

The winner of the Racers and Flames advances to Saturday's semifinal round at 2:30 p.m. to meet the winner of No. 1 seed Belmont and either No. 8 Southern Illinois or No. 9 Drake.

2026 STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Thursday-Sunday, March 5-8
Enterprise Center • St. Louis, Missouri

GAME SCHEDULE (All Times Central)
THURSDAY, MARCH 5
3:30 pm GAME 1 (#8 Southern Illinois vs. #9 Drake)
6:00 pm* GAME 2 (#7 Valparaiso vs. #10 Indiana State)
8:30 pm* GAME 3 (#6 UNI vs. #11 Evansville)
FRIDAY, MARCH 6
12:00 pm GAME 4 (#1 Belmont vs. Winner Game 1)
2:30 pm* GAME 5 (#4 Murray State vs. #5 UIC)
6:00 pm GAME 6 (#2 Bradley vs. Winner Game 2)
8:30 pm* GAME 7 (#3 Illinois State vs. Winner Game 3)
SATURDAY, MARCH 7
2:30 pm GAME 8 (Game 4 & 5 winners)
5:00 pm* GAME 9 (Game 6 & 7 winners)
SUNDAY, MARCH 8
11:00 am MVC Championship Game
* Times of games are approximate

MSU - Arch Madness Notes

This week is the Racers fourth crack at Arch Madness where they are 2-3 overall with wins over Valparaiso 78-50 in 2023 and last year 74-53 over Evansville.
The Racers have won their first game twice and look to make it to the semifinals for the first time.
The Racers have never met UIC in the tournament.
MSU's No. 5 seed is the their best so far the event, after being a No. 7 seed in 2023 and 2025 and No. 8 in 2024.
The Racers' 20 wins made Coach Ryan Miller just the fourth at MSU to win 20 games in his rookie season (in modern era) and it's also MSU's highest win total in the MVC.
It's the 50th Year of the Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.
The first MVC Tournament was held at Southern Illinois in 1977, who won the championship.
2026 is the 36th-Straight Tournament played in St. Louis, as campus sites were used from 1977-90.
In total there have been 406 MVC Tournament games played entering the 2026 tournament.

Follow the Racers on Twitter (@MSURacers), Instagram (@RacersAthletics) and Facebook to stay up-to-date on all that is happening with Murray State Athletics. Follow Murray State men's basketball on Twitter and Instagram (@RacersHoops).

Murray State University Athletics

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