February 9, 2011

Headed to Racer country; Tech men take on Murray State at CFBS Arena

After going 2-1 in their most recent home stand, capped off by the season sweep of Austin Peay, the Tennessee Tech men’s basketball team will take on top-ranked OVC opponent Murray State in Kentucky on Thursday night.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- After going 2-1 in their most recent home stand, capped off by the season sweep of Austin Peay, the Tennessee Tech men’s basketball team (13-10 overall) will take on top-ranked OVC opponent Murray State in Kentucky on Thursday night.

The Golden Eagles are currently tied with Peay at third in the conference with matching records of 9-5, while the Racers (9-3, 18-6 overall) have a hold on first place, one game ahead of Morehead and a game and a half over the Golden Eagles and Govs.

When the Racers visited Cookeville on Jan. 15, they edged the Golden Eagles by seven, taking the 92-85 road win. Since then, they have won six of their last seven games, and come into this home stand on a six-game win streak. With a hefty 117-46 lead on the lifetime series, the Racers have been victorious in six of their past 10 meetings with the Golden Eagles.

During their last outing, Tech’s Kevin Murphy put up a career-high 31 points on Murray, while Jud Dillard dominated the glass with seven rebounds and chipped in with 11 points. Zach Bailey rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10 points of his own, while the Racers saw five men record double figure points. Isaiah Canaan led the way with 16 points and four boards.

Murray heads into Thursday having won three straight on the road to build to their six-game win streak, defeating Tennessee State, Austin Peay and Eastern Illinois in turn. Tech went 2-1 against Eastern Kentucky, Morehead State and Austin Peay, completing season sweeps on the Colonels and Govs.

Fans who can not make it to Murray for the match-up can listen to Roger Ealey calling the action on the Golden Eagle Sports Network or on free Teamline at 1-800-846-4700 (Tech code 0654).