A read on the Racers
No. 5 seed West Virginia will travel to sunny California to take on No. 12 seed Murray State.
But who are they?
The appropriately named Racers (26-5) have won 13-consecutive games, the longest such streak in the nation, and have blown past those opponents with the closest game a six-point margin.
A total of eight of those games have had a margin of ten plus points as Murray State established itself as the class of the Ohio Valley Conference losing only two games in league play all season.
The other three losses? Middle Tennessee State, St. Louis and Auburn with the Billikens being the only team to beat the Races by double-figures all season and that happened in mid-December.
Murray State avenged one of their losses in conference play in the league final beating Belmont 68-51 to claim the tournament title after winning it in the regular season as well.
The Racers are led by a pair of seniors starting with OVC player of the year Jonathan Stark. On the year, Stark is averaging 21.8 points per contest as well as 3.9 assists. One of the most explosive guards in the nation, Stark also is shooting 41-percent from three and 46-percent from the floor.
The second senior also is the top interior option for Murray State in Terrell Miller. Second on the team in scoring at just under 15-points per game, the 6-foot-8 forward also grabs over eight rebounds per contest and leads the Racers on the glass. He has made almost 50-percent of his shots.
Four players for Murray State see over 27-minutes per game including the two listed above, while four more see at least 14-minutes per contest.
That group makes up the main rotation for the Racers as the other four players that have seen action haven’t appeared in more than 15 games.
A guard oriented team, only three of those top eight players in the rotation for the Racers are listed as forwards with the tallest being 6-foot-9.
As a team, the Racers shoot close to 49-percent from the field and 38-percent from three. They also are efficient from the foul line connecting on 73-percent of those attempts.
This is the first trip to the tournament for Murray State since 2012, but they have won their opening game in their past two trips in 2012 and 2010.
The game is set for approximately 4 p.m. Friday while the winner will go on to play the team that emerges between No. 4 Wichita State and No. 13 Marshall.
