Southern Illinois at Murray State (-3.5) - 5:15pm Pacific

Murray State head coach Mick Cronin has served time as an assistant under both Rick Pitino and Bob Huggins and is off to a great start in his first year as a head coach.  The Racers turned some heads with a resounding 40 point win over C-USA member Southern Miss and followed up that performance with two solid road wins at TCU and at Western Kentucky.  In game at Western Kentucky, they survived two overtimes as the Hilltoppers hit game tying three pointers at both the end of regulation and first overtime.  Murray State enters tonight with a perfect 7-0 record. 

 

This is a talented team with three returning starters.  Senior G/F Victor Cuthbert (19.9ppg, 11.3rpg) is a Ohio Valley Conference player of the year candidate.  He averaged 21.5ppg and 16.5rpg in two road wins at Western Kentucky and TCU.  JC transfer Adam Chiles spent a year at Kentucky as a freshman.  He is now a junior and is doing well (11.4ppg, 5.2apg) filling the starting point guard job.  Another JC transfer, Kelvin Brown (played a year at South Florida) is another big time JC transfer and former top 50 high school recruit.  He also has stepped nicely into a starting role and is second on the team with a 15.0ppg average.  Senior guard Rick Jones (spent a year at Vanderbilt) is an experienced double digit scorer.  Senior forward Antione Whelchel lost 15 pounds in the offseason and is starting to regain his sophomore form.  He is second on the team with 7.1rpg.  Four other players are averaging double digit minutes.  This team prefers an uptempo style and their depth is a key asset.  A big factor in the teams improvement is the quality of their practices.  Racer guards will not see a better backcourt all season than the one they face in practice every day.  Former Ole Miss starting guard Trey Pearson and Virginia starting guard Keith Jennifer have transferred to Murray State.  They are sitting out this season under transfer rules but are still allowed to practice with the team.  Any coach will tell you this is a factor that cannot be overlooked.

 

Southern Illinois also comes in undefeated with a 6-0 record.  They have been somewhat of a surprise this season as they lost their top two scorers (both playing professionally overseas) and head coach Weber to Illinois.  They opened the season with a 5 point win at Wyoming.  The Cowboys had three players making their first career start and led by 9 twice in the second half but did not score a point in the final 4:39 and were outscored 8-0 to end the game.  SIU also won by 4 at UW-Milwakuee, but the Panthers are also a young team (3 new starters) and played without two reserves who average double digit minutes on the season.  SIU's last two wins came vs a horrible Drake team and a 1-5 Wright State team.  The Salukis did not impress me much beating Drake, as the Bulldogs could not make any shots (4-for-24 in first half) in the early going despite plenty of good looks.  SIU was also tested at Wright State in last game and may have lost had they not shot over 50% (9-of-17) from behind the arc in a 6 point win.  Leading scorers Korn and Brooks played 35 and 37 minutes respectively in the game which was played Monday night in Ohio.  This will be SIU's second road game in three nights which is a definite negative.

 

Murray State's biggest concern to start the season was team chemistry and attitude with a new head coach and two transfers in the starting lineup but coach Cronin reported in recent press conference that his team has succeeded in both areas with flying colors.  They could not be playing much better right now.  The Racers head in with a +6.2 assist to turnover margin and a +6.3 rebounding margin.  SIU assist to turnover margin is just +2.2 and rebounding margin is -0.2.  MSU holdovers are sure to remember last seasons 29 point drubbing at SIU and will be looking for revenge.  Murray does not get many opportunities to play top 50 RPI opponents, nonetheless on their home court.  Racers have won 17 of their last 19 home games.  Look for them to score a big win tonight.

 

Murray State  1 UNIT