Story by Keith Jaco
Staff writer
rjaco@murraystate.edu
Following their blowout win over Marquette on Thursday, March 21, the Murray State Racers will look to reach the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history as they head into a second round matchup with the Florida State Seminoles.
Murray State handled business in its first tournament game Thursday, defeating the Marquette Golden Eagles 83-64. Sophomore guard Ja Morant claimed his fourth career triple-double and third of the year, scoring 17 points along with 16 assists and 11 rebounds.
Morant became just the 12th player to record a triple-double in an NCAA Tournament game and the first to do so since Draymond Green for Michigan State in 2012.
However, they weren’t a one-man show. Redshirt freshman guard Tevin Brown found his groove from beyond the arc against Marquette, hitting his first four three-pointers and finishing the game 5-9 with 19 points and six rebounds. Four of the starters finished in double figures, while Cowart finished just shy with nine points.
The Racers next opponent, Florida State, defeated Vermont 76-69 in its first round matchup behind a strong performance by senior guard Terance Mann. Mann scored 19 points and pulled down 7 rebounds, while redshirt sophomore forward Mfiondu Kabengele contributed a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
Murray State is riding a 12-game win streak into its matchup with Florida State. The Seminoles are having success of their own, winning 15 of their last 17 despite a 10-point loss to the Duke Blue Devils in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship game.
Head Coach Matt McMahon has enormous respect for Florida State and knows execution will play a key role in Murray State leaving Hartford victorious.
“I think when you talk about Florida state, there’s a lot of the things that jump out,” McMahon said. “The first to me is they’re one of the elite defensive teams in all of college basketball. Tremendous physicality, great size at every position. [They] make it very difficult on you to score around the basket and they turn teams over. We will certainly have to execute extremely well to be able to score against such a dominant defense.”
During ACC play, Florida State averaged 4.83 bpg for fourth best in the ACC and 6.2 spg for ninth in the ACC.
With a team that covers so much space on the floor defensively, Morant would like to see his team focus on disciplined defense and protecting the ball at all costs against Florida State.
“They are a very long and athletic team,” Morant said. “[They] can get after the ball some so really I think our focus will just be taking care of the ball. On the defensive end, we try to play the same, just focus on trying to force the team to take tough shots. Don’t give them any easy looks. I think really taking care of the ball is our main focus.”
Saturday’s matchup with Florida State will be the fourth all-time meeting in Murray State history as the Seminoles lead the series 2-1. The last meeting between the two schools was on December 20, 1998, as Florida State defeated Murray State 80-76 in overtime.
Despite not starting in any of the Seminoles 35 games this season, Nfiondu lead the team in scoring, averaging 13.1 ppg and was second in rebounding, averaging 5.9 rpg. Mann followed closely behind Nfiondu in scoring, averaging 11.4 ppg and led the team in rebounding, averaging 6.4 rpg. Mann is the Seminoles best shooter from three-point range, shooting 41 percent on the season.
Junior guard Trent Forrest will look to get the job done on both sides of the ball for Florida State. Forrest averaged 9.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 1.8 spg. Forrest’s 1.8 spg was good for sixth in the ACC this season.
While Florida State won’t pose a serious threat from deep, they will be a tough task for the Racers in the paint. Senior center Christ Koumadje is a 7’4” force to be reckoned with, averaging 6.6 ppg and 5.5 rpg and shooting an efficient 61 percent from the field. Nfiondu can shoot the three, shooting 36 percent from deep, but will likely make a living down low as he is shooting 49 percent from the field and 77 percent from the free throw line.
Recent production from the Murray State big men has helped spark success in wins over Belmont and Marquette. Cowart finished with nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals while freshman forward K.J. Williams added 16 points, four rebounds and one block in the win over Marquette.
Senior guard Shaq Buchanan believes he and his teammates are ready to tackle the hurdle of a bigger basketball team in Florida State.
“It will be tough [because] we haven’t matched up with a team with that type of size all year,” Buchanan said. “We’ve seen bigs though, and played athletic teams so we practice things like that, but I don’t think it will bother us. We’re ready for the challenge.”
Where the Seminole defense lacks on the perimeter they make up for in the paint. Florida State has held opponents to 67.2 ppg while averaging 7.0 spg, 4.3 bpg and forcing 14.3 tpg. While Florida State’s size is alarming, one way the Racers offense can expose them is with the deep ball.
Murray State will look to exploit a Florida State team that finished in the bottom five of the ACC in three-point field goal defense. Vermont was able to capitalize on this in its matchup with Florida State, scoring nearly half of its points on three pointers, shooting 16-for-32.
Which the Racers did on Thursday, shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc on 9-18 attempts. The Racers will look to continue this shooting trend to make up for their lack of size in the paint.
Despite all the many facets of the Seminoles game that could be looked at when stressing over an NCAA tournament matchup, junior forward Darnell Cowart says the Racers focus is on preparing for Florida State like it’s another game.
“We’re going to prepare the same way we did for Marquette,” Cowart said. “[We’re going to] take tonight to learn from [Marquette] and watch a lot of film and try to prepare the same way; hopefully we can get the win on Saturday.”
Murray State will take on the Florida State Seminoles at 5:10 p.m. on Saturday, March 23, at the Xl Center in Hartford, Connecticut.