Harcum's heater leads Racer past Aces
MBB: The senior scored a career-high 31 to lead Murray State to quarterfinals
#7-seed Murray State beat #10-seed Evansville, 74-53, Thursday night in the opening round of Arch Madness in St. Louis. Here’s what you need to know:
With the win, the Racers improve to 16-16 overall as they advance to face #2-seed Bradley in the tournament quarterfinals on Friday at 6:00pm.
Senior guard Terence Harcum scored a career-high 31 points, including an Arch Madness record 7-for-7 from three-point range to lead the Racers.
The Racers tied a season-high with their 14 made three-pointers.
Kylen Milton was the only other Racer in double-figures as he scored 14 points.
JaCobi Wood had eight assists and no turnovers in the game. The last Racer to have at least eight assists in a game without a turnover was — JaCobi Wood in February of 2023.
Murray State’s defense held Evansville to one made field goal in the final 9:40 of the game.
Harcum saves his best for St. Louis
In his last five games heading into Arch Madness, Terence Harcum had finally started to consistently find the range from outside, as he was shooting an outstanding 40.5% (15-for-37) from three-point range. Thursday night against Evansville, Harcum went from outstanding to nuclear.
The senior from Butner, North Carolina scored a career-high 31 points, making all seven of his three point attempts to lift the Racers into the quarterfinals. Harcum is the first player in the country this year to score at least 31 points while being perfect from deep with at least seven triples.
“I saw my first one go in, and that always helps,” Harcum said after the game, with a sly grin. “Credit to my teammates. They were finding me all night, and I'm glad I was able to hit.”
“He's a senior,” Murray State Head Coach Steve Prohm said. “He puts a lot of time in. You guys have followed us all season long. When he makes shots and he scores and we're able to get him in his comfort spots, we're a tough out.”
Harcum’s seven threes without a miss topped the previous Arch Madness record set 23 years ago by Illinois State’s Shawn Jeppson, who was 6-for-6 on March 2, 2002 versus Drake. James Singleton holds the Murray State record for most three-pointers without a miss, as he went 8-for-8 from beyond the arc against Eastern Illinois on February 13, 2003.
The Racers cash in from the outside
In the last meeting between these teams in Evansville in late January, the Purple Aces packed their defense in the lane and dared Murray State to take nearly all the three-pointers they wanted. On that night, the Racers went 12-for-36 from beyond the arc, and were never able to knock enough down to force the Aces to come out and guard them.
Thursday night, Evansville used a similar defensive game plan, but this time the Racers made them pay. Murray State went 14-for-28 from deep — the most made threes the Racers have had in a game against a Division I team in three seasons. Kylen Milton made four triples, the most he’s had in a Murray State uniform, while Justin Morgan knocked down a pair as well for the first time since January 25th.
Murray State flips the defensive script in the second half
In January, the Racers held Evansville to 20 first half points, before giving up 58 in the second, en route to losing, 78-74. Thursday night, Evansville got 29 in the first half — but there was no late explosion from the Aces.
Murray State held Evansville to 24 points in the second half, and just 6-of-25 shooting from the field. The Purple Aces made one basket in the final 9:40 of the game, as the Racers held an opponent to 53 points or fewer for the fifth time this season.
“I thought we did a terrific job tonight,” Prohm said. “Just collectively, our guys buying into how we needed to guard (Tayshawn) Comer, how we needed to guard (Tanner) Cuff, (Connor) Turnbull, (Gabriel) Pozzato. This is a tricky team to play. They won some games in the league. They play teams really, really close. They bring some issues with their size up front. I thought our guys really, really competed and battled. We were up eight last minute of the half, and we wanted to try to keep it at eight. We went in up six. I just kind of flashed back to when we were at Evansville and were up five. We were kind of frustrated being up five, right? ‘Hey guys, defensively, 29 points, phenomenal. Can you hold them to 25 this half?’ They held them to 24, which was terrific.”
Next up: Bradley in the Arch Madness quarterfinals
Less than two weeks ago, Murray State went to Peoria and took Bradley to overtime, before falling 85-83. The Racers will now get a chance to extend their season by taking on the #2-seed Braves Friday night in St. Louis. As exciting as the win was on Thursday, Harcum said the Racers need to flush it and move on quickly.
“You’ve got to have a short-term memory,” Harcum said. “Man, we won a game and played good. Now it's on to Bradley. We’ve got to go 1-0 tomorrow and survive and advance.”
The Racers and Braves will play at 6:00pm Friday night at Enterprise Center.