Murray State at Evansville preview
WBB: The Racers will play their final two regular season games on the road
Murray State will play the first of two road games this week to wrap up the regular season tonight at Evansville. Here’s what you need to know:
Murray State (20-7 overall, 14-4 Missouri Valley Conference) at Evansville (7-22 overall, 3-15 MVC) — 6:00pm at the Meeks Family Fieldhouse in Evansville, IN
NCAA NET Rankings: Murray State #61; Evansville #312
Series history: 46th meeting (Murray State leads 29-16)
You can stream the game on ESPN+
Jeremy Rose will have the radio call on WNBS, with the pregame show starting at 5:30pm
Murray State Scouting Report
As the Racers enter the final 48 hours of the regular season, they are officially 80 minutes from having the ability to clinch their first Missouri Valley Conference championship. With wins tonight and Saturday at Indiana State, at worst, Murray State will clinch at least a share of the title. Obviously, the most significant piece to that equation is winning.
Murray State enters the game with the #3 scoring offense in the country with 86.9 points per game. In their first win of the year over Evansville, the Racers won 104-66, thanks to the Big 4 of Katelyn Young, Ava Learn, Haven Ford and Halli Poock combining for 68 points. Six Racers combined to hit 12 three-pointers in the game.
With their win over Southern Illinois last Saturday, Murray State reached the 20-win plateau in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the Racers won 20+ games in three-straight years from 2006-09. This is just the 8th time in the history of the program the Racers have reached 20 wins, and that is not lost on Rechelle Turner.
“It always means a great deal to me,” Murray State’s 8th-year head coach said. “The crazy thing about it is, with everything going on, I didn't even think about it. My husband and son and I were driving back from eating with my sister and parents Sunday night, and my youngest said something about 20 wins. I said, ‘Well, we've got to win Thursday.’ Yeah, I thought we were at 19. I had no idea. That’s just how much has been going on and how locked into the next thing that we've been. For for a team to win 20 games in this conference, I think it says a lot about the young women on our team and we wouldn't be where we are without them.”
Evansville Scouting Report
The Purple Aces have lost 16 of their last 19, but in their last game, they beat Indiana State, 79-68.
Evansville has the #10 scoring defense in conference play, as they’ll try to fend off Murray State’s #1 scoring offense.
The Aces are 11th in field goal percentage in Valley play, shooting 35.5% from the field, and 10th in field goal defense, allowing teams to shoot 44.5% in conference play.
Evansville is led Maggie Hartwig, who leads the team with 16.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. The Racers held Hartwig to just five points and two rebounds in 24 minutes in the first meeting. Camryn Runner (15.2 PPG) is the only other Evansville player to average double-figures this season.
One of Evansville’s best offensive weapons is when they get to the free throw line. They’re 38th in the country shooting 76.3% from the stripe this season. Rechelle Turner is offset by the fact her Racers are 4th nationally shooting 80% from the line.
I’ll have a ‘Ride Home’ podcast posted later tonight.