The Murray State Racers and Southern Illinois Salukis will take the court on Tuesday at the Banterra Center. Tip-off from Carbondale, IL, is at 8:00 p.m. ET. Southern Illinois is a seven-point favorite, and the game total is 131 points.
Murray State, 11-9 SU and 8-11 ATS, beat Indiana State on Saturday. It's 6-4 in conference play and 2-7 in road games this season. Southern Illinois, 16-5 SU and 9-10-1 ATS, beat Missouri State on Saturday. It's 8-2 in conference play and 9-1 at home this season.
Southern Illinois beat Murray State 63-57 on the road earlier this season, holding the Racers to 40.4 percent shooting and forcing them into ten turnovers. SIU is 16-11 all-time versus MSU.
Murray State, picked to finish eighth in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll, is tied with four other teams for third place in the conference standings. The Racers are 6-4 in MVC play and just two games behind conference leaders Southern Illinois and Belmont.
Murray State beat Indiana State 82-73 at home in its latest game. The Racers and Sycamores were tied at 36 heading into the halftime break, after which Murray State raced to the finish line with a 46-point second-half showing. ISU outshot MSU from the field, and both teams struggled from three, but the Racers were 28-for-33 at the foul line and took better care of the basketball.
Protect Home Court ???? pic.twitter.com/ue0a5RFdlv
— Murray State MBB (@RacersHoops) January 22, 2023
Murray State scores 71.3 points per game (187th) with a 44.5 field goal percentage (185th), including 30.7 percent from behind the arc (325th). It converts 73.5 percent of its free throws (107th) and averages 32.7 rebounds (155th) with a +0.5 rebounding margin. The Racers are 146th nationally in schedule-adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom.
Junior guard Rob Perry paces the Racers in scoring, averaging 15.1 points on 44.1 percent shooting. Other players to watch are junior forward Jamari Smith (12.3 PPG and 5.2 RPG), sophomore guard JaCobi Wood (12.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 4.5 APG), and junior forward DJ Burns (9.0 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 59.0 FG%).
Murray State surrenders 69.7 points (193rd) on 42.2 percent shooting (127th), including 30.6 percent from three (60th). It's 214th in defensive efficiency and 163rd in assist-per-turnover ratio (1.01).