Men's Basketball Looks to Keep Energy and Momentum on the Upswing in TV Game at Murray State
By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
GAME NOTES (PDF) | STATS | WATCH | LISTEN
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- With a solid victory this past weekend and tasting victory on the road in the league for the first time last week, the Morehead State men's basketball team heads to Murray State for a 7 p.m. ET contest on Thursday night.
The game will be live on ESPNU with Dave LaMont calling play-by-play and Adrian Branch providing commentary. Fans can also hear the game on WIVY-96.3 FM and on MSUEagles.com with Chuck Mraz and Jason Blanton. It will not be on the OVC Digital Network.
The Eagles (6-13/2-6 OVC) handily defeated Tennessee Tech 74-55 Saturday behind
Lamontray Harris' fourth straight double-double. Murray State is 14-5 overall and 6-2 in the conference and led by Preseason Player of the Year Jonathan Stark, who averages nearly 20 points per game.
"We have played well on the road," said head coach
Preston Spradlin. "And getting a win (at UT Martin) last week helped our confidence. You can see that our guys are playing with much more energy right now. We still need to work on our ball control as we are still making too many turnovers, but I am happy that our guys are practicing much harder and that is translating into games too."
GAME NOTES
THE MURRAY STATE SERIES
Murray State leads the all-time series with the Eagles 111-50. The 161 prevuois meetings mark the longest-running series for Morehead State. The Eagles are 14-60 all-time in games played in Murray and have not won in Murray since Jan. 23, 2003. However, the Eagles won two of the last three meetings, including a 101-100 overtime thriller in Morehead last year.
THREE-POINT STREAK CONTINUES
Morehead State has made at least one three-pointer in 362 consecutive games, dating back to Feb. 13, 2007 when the Eagles had an 0-for-17 day versus Jacksonville State.
FOUR STRAIGHT DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Junior forward
Lamontray Harris has registered four consecutive double-doubles and nearly has six straight after getting nine rebounds and double-figure points in the two before that. In the last four games, Harris averaged 16.2 points and 11. 2 rebounds per outing. Only two MSU players (
DeJuan Marrero in 2016-17 and current Denver Nugget star Kenneth Faried in 2010-11) have notched four straight double-doubles in the last 10 seasons.
COACHES VS. CANCER WEEKFor the past 25 years, the Coaches vs. Cancer program, in collaboration with the NationalÂ
Association of Basketball Coaches, has united coaches and fans nationwide to help the American Cancer Society defeat a common enemy – cancer. Morehead State's coaches will be wearing suits and sneakers this weekend in celebration of the Coaches vs. Cancer cause.
REBOUND U.
The Morehead State men have either led the Ohio Valley Conference or ranked second in rebounding margin now in 11 consecutive seasons, and that trend is holding true again this season. They are currently second in the conference at +6.1.
HOLD THAT LEAD
Morehead State has held a halftime lead six times this season and has won five of those times. The Eagles are also 6-1 when they hold onto an advantage with five minutes left in the game.
AIR JORDAN
Sophomore guard
Jordan Walker once made 26 straight free throws this season, not misfiring in a month-long span from Nov. 30-Dec. 30. He is one of the OVC's top 10 most accurate free throw shooters at 81 percent and has a career accuracy of 81 percent.
SPECIALTY STATSMorehead State has received solid production from its bench lately, averaging 23.4 bench points for the season. In the last three games, the production went up to 24 per game. The Eagles also get solid production down low where MSU averages nearly 30 of its 70 points per game in the paint.
GREENER PASTURES
Freshman
Malek Green came back with a vengeance against Tennessee Tech. After seven games with less than double-figure production, Green totaled 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the victory.
