Gage Johnson
Editor-in-Chief
gjohnson17@murraystate.edu
With the chance of claiming a regular season OVC Championship still in its sights, Murray State men’s basketball defeated EKU 74-62 to move to 14-3 in conference entering its final regular season game.
Murray State was able to hold onto its lead in a back-and-forth first half, taking a 27-20 lead behind the play of senior guard Jaiveon Eaves with 2:56 left to play.
Eaves managed to score 12 of his 14 points in the first half, continuing to start games out strong for the Racers down the stretch of the regular season.
“He’s got a great ability to shoot the ball from three [and] I think he uses his strength well getting to the basket,” McMahon said. “We wanted to put him in the center of the floor against the pressure and get him some opportunities to be the point man in the three-on-two opportunities and I thought he did a really nice job there.”
However, EKU used a quick 9-0 run to take a 29-27 lead but a layup from junior forward Devin Gilmore tied things up at 29 going into the locker room.
The low scoring first half could be contributed to a plethora of turnovers from both teams, as well as poor shooting from beyond the arc for the Colonels.
EKU turned the ball over 12 times and were unable to convert from three, shooting 2-for-10 from downtown.
Meanwhile Murray State had a 46.2% clip from the field in the first half, but also had eight turnovers. However, Head Coach Matt McMahon was more concerned with finishing at the rim in the second half.
“We had to come out and focus more,” sophomore guard Tevin Brown said. “One of his main things was us playing tough and finishing layups at the rim and getting offensive rebounds because we had none at halftime.”
Despite the turnovers, the Racers found themselves being able to get to the basket multiple times against the full-court pressure and McMahon was pleased with those looks.
“I really wasn’t disappointed in any of the shots that we got,” McMahon said. “When we attacked the press, I didn’t want us to pull the ball out. We had three-on-twos and two-on-ones; I just think we struggled to finish some of those in the first half.
EKU continued to apply the pressure on both ends of the floor, opening up the second half on an 8-2 run to take a 37-31 lead two minutes into the half.
The Racers then answered with a 10-0 run of their own and continued to fight in what became a back-and-forth affair in the second half.
Murray State struggled to get some separation from EKU until sophomore forward KJ Williams kicked the ball out of a double team in the post to freshman guard Chico Carter Jr., who nailed the three in the corner to give the Racers a 60-54 lead with 5:35 left to play.
From there on the Racers outscored the Colonels 14-8 en route to a 74-62 win.
Free throws played a major part of Murray State’s late success, as the team nailed its final 10 to go 19-for-22 in the second half after struggling at the charity stripe in the first half.
“We didn’t shoot them well at all on Saturday and it almost cost us,” McMahon said. “3-for-10 in the first half is not very good. So, especially against a team that presses like that, who can create more possessions late in the game, you have to get to the free throw line and you gotta convert. I thought our guys did a really good job.”
There were 42 total fouls called in the game—plenty of them being questionable—and McMahon said he was pleased with how his players didn’t let that distract them from their game plan.
“You have to move on to the next possession [and] you have to move on to the next game,” McMahon said. “I think in college athletics so much of it is about the mindset of your players. We were a little fragile last weekend, so it was good to see our response.”
And while both teams continued to turn the ball over in the second half, McMahon felt that they handled pressure from EKU’s defense better as the game went on and that the Racers’ defensive prowess also helped cancel out some of their offensive shortcomings.
“We really executed much better in the second half,” McMahon said. “We’re not going to be an eight-turnover-a-game team, but you gotta negate that in other ways. Look at the turnover margin. I just gotta keep coming back to that five-assist-to-17-turnover number at the defensive end of the floor really helping us survive our own mistakes on offense.”
Murray State’s defense was able to do a lot more than just create EKU turnovers. Holding the Colonels to 3-for-20 from deep throughout the game was crucial, as they stretch out the floor using multiple ball screens to score in a perimeter-based offense.
“We mixed our coverage there some,” McMahon said. “We switched [ball screens] the majority of the game and then they started to take advantage of the switch with Brown on our bigs and put us in some tough spots, so we went back to our normal way of guarding. We were concerned about that. We at times have struggled guarding perimeter oriented fours, so to hold Anderson and Moreno to 1-for-7 from beyond the arc I thought was very important for us.”
With Eaves only scoring two points in the second half, Brown and Williams picked up the slack, both nabbing double-doubles.
Brown led the way with 21 points on 6-for-13 shooting and 8-for-11 shooting from the free throw line to go along with 10 rebounds. Williams had 20 points on 6-for-13 shooting and 8-for-10 shooting at the charity stripe to go along with 14 rebounds.
This marked the fifth time two Racers had double-doubles since 2015 and the first since Ja Morant and senior forward Darnell Cowart did on Feb. 23, 2019.
The win, followed by wins from Belmont and Austin Peay, puts the three OVC powerhouses in a three-way tie for first place in the conference heading into to the last day of the regular season.
Murray State will take on Austin Peay on Saturday, Feb. 29, and the winner of the game will be one of the top two seeds, while the loser will be the No. 3 seed.
If the Racers beat the Governors and the Bruins lose, Murray State wins the regular season title outright. However, if Belmont and Murray State both win, the two will share the regular season title but the Bruins will earn the No. 1 seed in the OVC Tournament because they have a better record against EIU this season.
While the outcomes of Saturday are endless, McMahon says this is what the Racers have worked for all season long.
“This is why you want to play college basketball,” McMahon said. “This is why you work hard in the summer and the fall to get an opportunity like we have on Saturday. It’s the third straight year it’s come down to the last Saturday of the season. I have a lot of respect for Austin Peay. They have a really good team. The last five times we’ve played over these three years, every single one of them has been a high level game at both ends of the floor. I would expect Saturday to be the same.”
Murray State will close out the regular season when it takes on Austin Peay at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 29, at the CFSB Center.