Belmont (17-1, 11-0) vs. Murray State (7-7, 4-5)
CFSB Center, Murray, Kentucky; Saturday, 8:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Belmont looks for its 24th straight conference win against Murray State. Belmont’s last OVC loss came against the Austin Peay Governors 86-78 on Jan. 25, 2020. Murray State is coming off a 73-53 home win over Tennessee State in its most recent game.
LEADING THE WAY: The Bruins are led by their junior tandem of Nick Muszynski and Grayson Murphy. Muszynski has averaged 15.3 points and 5.4 rebounds while Murphy has recorded 10.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. The Racers have been led by juniors KJ Williams and Tevin Brown. Williams has averaged 14.9 points and 8.1 rebounds while Brown has put up 13.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game.
DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS: The Racers have allowed just 65.8 points per game to OVC opponents thus far, an improvement from the 71 per game they allowed to non-conference foes.WONDERFUL WILLIAMS: Williams has connected on 41.7 percent of the 24 3-pointers he’s attempted and has made 6 of 12 over the last three games. He’s also converted 63.4 percent of his foul shots this season.
WINLESS WHEN: Murray State is 0-6 this year when it scores 70 points or fewer and 7-1 when it scores at least 71.
THREAT BEHIND THE ARC: Murray State’s Brown has attempted 100 3-pointers and connected on 30 percent of them, and is 10 of 29 over the last three games.
DID YOU KNOW: Murray State is rated second among OVC teams with an offensive rebound percentage of 31.4 percent. The Racers have averaged 9.9 offensive boards per game.
___
For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25
___
This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
