Racers End Season at Arch Madness In Loss to UIC

Friday, March 6

St. Louis, Mo.

2:30 p.m.

Murray State

20-12,12-8MVC

(5) UIC

18-14,12-8MVC

UIC

Murray St.

Photo by: David Eaton-Murray State Athletics

3/6/2026 9:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Racers end the rookie season of head coach Ryan Miller at 20-12

The Murray State Racers saw the 2025-26 season end Friday with a 92-79 loss to the UIC Flames in their first game at State Farm Arch Madness – Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

The Racers end their season at 20-12 as they were the No. 4 seed against the Flames who were the No. 5 seed.

Javon Jackson led the Racers with 30 points, while MSU got 12 points from Mason Miller, 11 from Roman Domon and 10 from Fred King.

MSU struggled offensively and defensively, as their usually reliable shooting only produced a clip of 37 percent (26-of-63) from the field, while UIC managed to shoot 54 percent (34-of-63). The Racers were also on the wrong side of a 42-32 rebound total in favor of the Flames.

Trailing 50-32 at the halftime intermission, the Racers couldn't make a big run in the second half, only getting as close as 14 points with 3:07 remaining.

Game Notes

In four appearances at Arch Madness, the Racers are 2-4.
The Racers end the season with the bright spots of their first 20-win season in The Valley, top win total in the MVC regular season of 12 and their highest seed in four years at Arch Madness of No. 4.
One is left wondering what might've been for the Racers in Coach Ryan Miller's first season as the Racers started 16-3, but finished it 4-9.
Javon Jackson's 30 points is second at 2025 Arch Madness only to Jalen Quinn's 31 against Belmont earlier in the day.
Jackson was one point from his career-high that he scored against the Racers while playing for UIC in 2024 and he was one point from MSU's single game scoring mark for Arch Madness by Terence Harcum, in 2025 of 31 points for the Racers in an opening win over Evansville.
Jackson ended his one-season career with the Racers as the 54th player in program history to reach the 500-point mark with 523, good for 47th place all-time at Murray State.
With three blocked shots today, Fred King finished the season with 62, good for seventh place for a single season at Murray State.
King averaged 8.3 rebounds per game and will be the MVC leader when all is said and done.
He will be the first Racer to lead in conference rebounding since Ed Daniel led the Ohio Valley Conference with an average of 10.0 in the 2012-13 season.
King's 405 rebounds makes him just the sixth Racer all-time to grab 400 rebounds in a single season for the Racers and the first since Popeye Jones had 431 in the 1992-92 season.
King led the Racers in field goal percentage at .643 on 157-244 from the field for seventh place on MSU's all-time single season list.
Among players that had at least 240 attempts, King's .643 percentage second all-time at MSU behind only Jarvis Williams (2013-14) at .648 (184-of-284).
King was not only the first Racer to lead the MVC in a statistical category, he did it in three in the 2025-26 season.
King led the MVC in rebounding (8.3rpg), field goal percentage (.643) and blocked shots (62).
The last Racer to lead in field goal percentage was Demond Robinson in the OVC in 2020-21 (.634) and Ed Daniel led the OVC in blocked shots (50) in 2011-12.
MVC Freshman of the Year and 6th Man of the Year, Roman Domon became the 12th Racer freshman to score 400 points in a single season at 453, good for seventh place at MSU.
The Racers had a big season in scoring with 2,668 points which is seventh all-time in program history, behind the top scoring season of 2,862 points by the 1997-98 team.
MSU's scoring average of 83.4 points per game is 11th all-time at Murray State, the top mark was the 90 points per game from the 1993-94 team under Coach Scott Edgar.
MSU's 894 made field goals is tops in MSU history for a season of 32 games.
MSU's 303 made 3-point field goals is tops in program history, besting the 289 by the 2016-17 team and MSU also set the record for the most threes attempted with 872, as the same 2016-17 team attempted 803 for the former record.
MSU's clip of making 9.46 3-pointers per game is tops in program history
It's amazing to think of what they could've had per game if their percentage of .347 (27th all-time at MSU) was better.
March means postseason play and the Racers have had plenty, as today it marked their 20^th game on March 6.
With the loss, the Racers are 12-8 all-time on March 6.
The Racers defeated Howard (AL) in 1936 under Coach Carlisle Cutchin in Jackson, Tenn.
1936 was a big year as the Racers defeated Howard, Louisville, Louisiana Normal and Western Kentucky over the period of five days to win the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) Championship.