Before it exits OVC, Murray State gets a final win over Morehead State
On a last-of-its-kind Ohio Valley Conference day, it was Murray State who laughed last and loudest.
Or maybe more accurately, it was the Racers who can now exult in celebration for temporary eternity.
The 177th all-time meeting between the Morehead State and Murray State men’s basketball programs on Saturday in Morehead was the last scheduled contest between the two Kentucky schools.
Murray State’s move from the OVC to the Missouri Valley Conference this summer means Morehead State will be the lone founding member of the OVC from 1948 still left in the conference.
With that context as the backdrop — as well as both teams’ position in the top three of the OVC standings — Saturday’s sendoff carried plenty of significance, stature and stunning drama.
A 21-point, 12-rebound outing from junior forward KJ Williams powered the No. 23-ranked Racers to a 57-53 comeback win over the Eagles, helping continue Murray State’s unbeaten conference record in its final season in the league.
“It’s just a toughness that’s part of our team,” Williams said. “Coming out we played a little slow, but we picked that up in the second half and just played aggressive the rest of the way.”
“I just can’t say enough about our players, I think this really speaks to their character and their toughness, their never-say-die mentality,” Murray State head coach Matt McMahon said of his team, which trailed by nine points with five minutes left.
“We have really good players that are bought into the culture of Murray State basketball. The hard work, the toughness, the unselfishness, all those things were on full display today … that was a high-character win.”
Now with a 24-2 overall record and a perfect 14-0 mark in the OVC, Murray State’s case for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid only grew with Saturday’s road result.
The Racers trailed for nearly 30 minutes of game time in front of a small but passionate turnout of Morehead State fans at Ellis T. Johnson Arena in Morehead.
But McMahon’s team closed the game on a 15-3 scoring run over the final 4:19, with a go-ahead layup inside the final 20 seconds by junior guard Tevin Brown flipping the lead for good.
The victory, which came despite Murray State shooting 20-of-56 (35.7%) from the field, was the latest impressive result for Murray State in its final OVC season.
The only two losses the Racers have suffered this season came on the road at Auburn, now ranked No. 1 in the nation, and at a neutral site to East Tennessee State before Thanksgiving.
According to Bracket Matrix — which gathers information from 114 NCAA Tournament field projections — Murray State is included in the NCAA Tournament field in all 114 projections with an average seed of 9.13.
The Racers — who last made the NCAA Tournament in 2019 — remain in pole position to have the top seed in the OVC Tournament, to be held in early March in Evansville, Indiana.
“We’re a program where we just stay focused on the next game. I know that’s boring, but hopefully our résumé will speak for itself down the road,” McMahon — who celebrated postgame with traveling Murray State fans while also trading words with some Morehead State fans — said. “As we all know it’s a tournament sport. A lot of it will come down to who’s playing the best basketball in March.”
Conversely, the past week has been a preview for Morehead State of what the Eagles must do to secure consecutive NCAA Tournament trips for the first time since the 1980s.
Morehead State lost by one at Belmont, 48-47, on Thursday night, before Saturday’s four-point home loss to Murray State.
Those three schools are the only three OVC teams with an above .500 conference record, and are the runaway favorites to capture the OVC’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid via the conference tournament.
The Eagles led inside the final two minutes of both its losses this week, and Saturday’s loss snapped a 20-game home winning streak, which had been the third longest active streak in the country.
What did Morehead State head coach Preston Spradlin take away from the two close defeats?
“Two defensive masterpieces is what we put together over the last 48 hours in these games,” Spradlin said, praising his team’s defense as something that can translate to the postseason.
“It’s not like we’re walking in the locker room saying, ‘Man, we can’t guard these guys, we don’t know how to defend them.’ We’ve figured it out pretty well. I feel like the issues we’ve had the past couple days are within our control.”
Battle of big men
There’s a good chance that either Morehead State or Murray State, or both, will make the NCAA Tournament this season.
If so, it means that two of the premier big men in the country may get to display their skills on college basketball’s biggest stage.
Williams emerged the victor, with 21 points, 12 rebounds and six of Murray State’s final eight points after he returned to action with four fouls.
For the season, Williams — an All-OVC First Team selection last season — is averaging more than 17 points and eight rebounds per game, with nine games of scoring more than 20 points.
Williams played a large part in a slow start Saturday for Morehead State’s major interior presence, second-year standout forward Johni Broome.
After a quiet first half in which he only scored two points, Broome roared to life in the second half and finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds for his 19th double-double of the season.
Broome had 12 of Morehead State’s 25 second-half points, and seven of his team’s 15 second-half rebounds.
“That’s kind of been the thing all year. It’s been hard to get the ball to (Broome) in the first half … he’s one of the best players, if not the best player, in the league,” Spradlin said. “They’re not just going to let you throw him the ball … it’s a simple game if you let us do that.”
End of an OVC era
While Saturday’s game is the last scheduled contest between the schools, the possibility remains they could face each other in the later rounds of the OVC Tournament.
Beyond that, it’s unknown when Morehead State and Murray State will next play a men’s basketball game.
After Saturday’s game, both McMahon and Spradlin said they didn’t think about the finality of the rivalry, nor did they address it with their respective teams.
“It’s special, but it’s just a win and we’re going to move on to the next one,” Williams said of Murray State winning its final game in Morehead as an OVC member.
With the five other founding members of the OVC (Eastern Kentucky, Evansville, Louisville, Murray State and Western Kentucky) soon to all be moved on, Morehead State will become the only Kentucky-based school in the conference.
In addition to Murray State’s exit, both Austin Peay (ASUN) and Belmont (Missouri Valley) will also be leaving the OVC this summer.
“Our focus has really been on strengthening the future of the OVC. We’ve not had any conversations with other leagues,” Morehead State Athletics Director Jaime Gordon told the Herald-Leader this week. “We still feel the OVC is the right place for us.”
Gordon also said Morehead State hopes to maintain some of its traditional rivalries as non-conference series.
“We hope we can do that with Eastern Kentucky and, potentially, Murray State in some of our sports,” Gordon said.
The departures of Austin Peay, Belmont and Murray State mean that 13 of the league’s last 20 automatic NCAA Tournament berth winners in men’s basketball are leaving the conference.
Last week, it was announced the University of Southern Indiana, currently an NCAA Division II school, would join Little Rock as schools set to join the OVC before next season.
This story was originally published February 13, 2022 at 10:29 AM.
