Gage Johnson
Editor-in-Chief
gjohnson17@murraystate.edu
Entering the final week of the regular season, Murray State men’s basketball finds themselves in a three-way battle with Belmont and Austin Peay for the regular season OVC Championship.
Murray State
The Racers are coming off a week in which they succumbed to a monstrous comeback from EIU and they held off an SIUE comeback because of late-game heroics from sophomore guard Tevin Brown.
On Thursday, Feb. 20, Murray State blew a 27-point lead and fell to the Panthers 63-60 because of a deep game-winning three from junior guard Josiah Wallace.
On Saturday, Feb. 22, the Racers blew a 17-point lead against the Cougars. However, they were able to hold them off and win 59-58, thanks to a clutch three from Brown and a crucial block from freshman forward Demond Robinson.
The 1-1 road trip put Murray State at 20-8 overall and 13-3 in OVC play. This puts them in a three-way battle for first with Belmont and Austin Peay.
Turnovers were a problem for Murray State in both games, as they coughed up the ball up for a combined 30 turnovers. However, their lack of a powerful post presence and Brown struggling to score also played a key part in the Racers losing the lead in both games.
Murray State has won the points in the paint battle nearly all season long, but was unable to do so against the Cougars and the Panthers.
Head Coach Matt McMahon said being seen more by opposing teams may have affected that statistic, but he still feels as though they’re getting the right looks, they’re just not making them.
“I think [when] you get to this point in the season there aren’t that many secrets left at this point, so I think scouting kind of takes over the game,” McMahon said. “I still like a lot of the opportunities we’re getting. A lot of the shots we’re getting for the specific individuals who are getting them, we’ll take those every time. I think we’ll convert better as we go down the stretch here and take better advantage of some of those post-up opportunities.”
Brown averages 18.4 ppg in conference play, but he only scored 13 points and was 0-for-5 from three against EIU, and against SIUE he only scored 10 points while going 1-for-7 from deep.
While the team’s leading scorer struggling might worry most fans, McMahon isn’t really concerned about Brown’s shooting going forward.
“I think it’s one of those ‘over-analysis leads to mental paralysis’ [type of situations],” McMahon said. “I just think he needs to go play. I think he’s the type of player who’s going to get in the gym and work. I think that’s where you get your confidence when you’re not playing well or not shooting the ball as well as you’d like. I think he’ll have great confidence playing at home where he’s played exceptionally well all season long.”
Regardless, McMahon said he and his players are excited to have a chance to compete for the regular season OVC Championship.
“We’re in a great position,” McMahon said. “These guys have worked extremely hard all season long to have an opportunity like this going into the last week of the season in the hunt for a regular season championship. We will certainly be tested. We’ve got two really good teams coming to Murray this week.”
Eastern Kentucky
EKU is coming off a week in which it split its two games, defeating Tennessee State 83-62 but falling to Belmont 83-70. This will be the first matchup between EKU and Murray State this season.
The Colonels’ rough non-conference has them at 14-15 overall, but they own a record of 11-5 in OVC play that has them at fourth in the conference standings.
EKU has been decently successful in large part because of their offensive capabilities. The Colonels have the third-highest scoring offense in the OVC, averaging 76.3 ppg, sitting only behind Austin Peay and Belmont.
“They are really explosive offensively,” McMahon said. “They’ve got a lot of guys who can score the basketball. They really shoot it well from three [and] they have guys who can create their own shots. They have good balance offensively.”
EKU has three players averaging in double figures—sophomore guard Jomaru Brown (20.2 ppg), sophomore forward Tre King (12.6 ppg) and senior guard Ty Taylor (12.1 ppg).
Freshman forward Michael Moreno (9.3 ppg) and senior Lachlan Anderson (8.8 ppg) follow closely behind as bigs that can stretch the floor with their three-point marksmanship.
While the Colonels’ scoring defense is not highly touted, they lead the OVC in turnover margin, forcing 18.3 turnovers per game while averaging 14.1 turnovers per game themselves.
“Defensively [they] play extremely hard,” McMahon said. “[They] force a lot of turnovers. They can mix their full court pressure, their traps [and] they also mix in some extended 2-3 zone. [They’re] just a very talented team [and] I think they’re very well-coached.”
Austin Peay
If the Racers beat EKU, they will find themselves in a position to possibly win the regular season OVC Title in front of their home crowd for the second year in a row. This will depend on Belmont and Austin Peay’s records going into this game.
Coming into the week, Austin Peay owns a 19-10 overall record, while sitting at 13-3 in OVC play alongside Belmont and Murray State in a tie for first place in the conference.
The last time these formidable OVC rivals met, Austin Peay came out on top 71-68 as turnovers came back to bite the Racers late.
While he was taking some tough shots throughout the night, junior guard Terry Taylor went for 16 points and 14 rebounds on 8-for-18 shooting. Freshman guard Jordyn Adams also poured in 20 points on 5-for-14 shooting, while knocking down 8-for-9 from the charity stripe.
Murray State will need to limit the effectiveness of these two while cutting down on its turnovers to beat Austin Peay. The Racers might also look to get Brown more involved in the offense as he went 4-for-11 and scored 13 points against the Governors in the previous matchup.
When and Where
Murray State will close its regular season at home this week when they take on EKU at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 27, and Austin Peay at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 29.