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Story by Keith Jaco
Staff writer
rjaco@murraystate.edu
Murray State’s men’s basketball will look to become the Cinderella team of 2019 as they make its 17th NCAA Tournament appearance on Thursday, March 21, taking on the Marquette Golden Eagles in Hartford, Connecticut.
Thursday’s matchup between the Racers and Golden Eagles will be the third all-time meeting between the two programs. Marquette has won each of the two previous meetings, a first round 82-62 win in 1969 and a recent second round victory over an Isaiah Canaan-led Racer team in 2012.
Who’s hot and who’s not:
After claiming back-to-back OVC Championships by defeating Belmont, the Racers received the No. 12 seed and will face No. 5 Marquette University in the West region.
Marquette enters the NCAA Tournament on a bit of a downhill slide. The Golden Eagles ended their regular season on a four-game losing streak before suffering a loss to Seton Hall in the Big East Tournament semi-finals on Friday, March 15.
Murray State holds an advantage over Marquette in regards to recent play as the Racers enter the NCAA Tournament on an 11-game win streak following two wins in the OVC Tournament just over a week ago.
What to expect:
After an 11-day stretch of no games, McMahon and his team are excited to get back to the Big Dance for the second year in a row and take on Marquette on Thursday, March 21.
“[We’re] excited to be here,” McMahon said. “I have a lot of respect for a very good Marquette team we’ll see tomorrow. Our guys have had a long layoff here, 11 days now. But they’re excited to get back on the court and play tomorrow.”
Murray State ranks fourth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage, holding opponents to 28.2 percent from downtown. The Racers will look to put this hard-nosed defense up against a Marquette basketball team that ranks ninth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage, shooting 39 percent on the season.
“I think they’re better than good from behind the three-point arch making almost 10 in a game,” McMahon said. “[It’s] not only Howard’s ability to create his own and shoot from well beyond the NBA three. But they have guys at 6’8” in multiple positions who shoot it well.”
The Golden Eagles lead the Big East Conference in field goal percentage defense, free throw percentage and scoring margin. Marquette finished the regular season second in the Big East, trailing only the Villanova Wildcats.
Marquette enters the NCAA Tournament on a bit of a downhill slide. The Golden Eagles ended their regular season on a four-game losing streak before suffering a loss to Seton Hall in the Big East Tournament semi-finals on Friday, March 15.
Murray State holds an advantage over Marquette in regards to recent play as the Racers enter the NCAA Tournament on an 11-game win streak following two wins in the OVC Tournament just over a week ago.
McMahon and company will focus in on the matchup everyone’s waiting to see with Golden Eagles junior guard Markus Howard before taking the floor in Hartford. Howard led the Big East in scoring this season, averaging 25.0 ppg and ranked second in free throw percentage at 89 percent.
While Morant may guard Howard at times, you can expect the OVC Defensive Player of the Year senior guard Shaq Buchanan to fill that role on defense primarily.
“I know he’s a very great player on offense, has different moves,” Buchanan said. “I did study a lot of film on him on that. I’m accepting the challenge to guard Markus Howard.”
While Howard has dazzled in the Big East for the Golden Eagles, Ja Morant remains the prolific guard in this matchup. Morant averaged 24.6 ppg, 10.0 apg and 5.5 rpg, becoming the first Division I basketball player to average a double-double with points and assists in the regular season.
College basketball fans will be in for a treat as Howard and Morant go head-to-head on Thursday afternoon. Both possess the ability to score in high volumes at will as each guard finished the season top-10 in the nation in scoring. Howard scored 53 points in a win over Creighton and backed that performance with two additional 45 or more games. Morant scored a season-high 40 points in a win over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and went on to score over 30 in five games.
Howard and Morant are two of the five finalists for the Bob Cousy Award alongside Gonzaga redshirt junior Josh Perkins, LSU sophomore Tremont Waters and Michigan State junior Cassius Winston. This award is given to the nation’s top point guard, a prestigious honor that has been recognized since 2004.
Just over one week ago, Howard joined Murray State sophomore guard Ja Morant as a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award, an award given to the most outstanding college basketball player in the United States.
While many will focus on the point guard matchup, McMahon thinks it pertinent to look at all aspects of the Golden Eagles team to come away with a win.
“I think both teams have star players that get a lot of attention,” McMahon said. “They both have good teams. We both have balance, multiple double-figure scorers. I think everything’s important. I think, for us to beat a team of their quality, we’ll have to play exceptionally well both ends of the floor.”
While Marquette’s biggest threat comes in the guard play of Howard, the Golden Eagles possess multiple assets in their role players.
A brother duo of junior forward Sam Hauser and redshirt freshman forward Joey Hauser have given Big East foes a problem in the paint as well as beyond the arc this season.
Sam Hauser averaged 15.0 ppg along with 7.1 rpg, shooting 46 percent from the field, 40 percent from three-point distance and an impressive 92 percent from the free throw line. The team as a whole shoots 76 percent from the charity stripe. His brother Joey averaged 9.9 ppg and 5.3 rpg while shooting 45 percent from the field and 43 percent from beyond the arc.
Sophomore forward Theo John hasn’t recorded any shots from outside the arc but poses a serious threat in the paint, shooting 62 percent while averaging 5.6 ppg and 4.8 rpg. Most importantly is his impact on the defensive end, where he averages 2.2 bpg in 20 mpg off the bench.
While the Racers aren’t new to the NCAA tournament, Buchanan and the rest of the team is coming with higher expectations than a year ago.
“I would say last year, it was our first time so guys are happy to be there,” Buchanan said. “But this year with me and Ja and Brion, we have the focus that we can go far in this tournament. We have the team to do it, and I have all of the confidence we have the team to do it. We’ll see how we do Thursday.”
Murray State will face the Marquette Golden Eagles at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 21, at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut.