Thursday, February 9, 2012
HP SPECIAL REPORT: Murray State's undefeated season is under attack
This is a Heath Post Special Report ... Our undefeated and ninth-ranked Murray State University Racers trail, 61-60, at Tennessee State with 5:39 to play in Calloway County ...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
TSU fails to capitalize on a highly disputed (by #RacerNation) technical foul against Murray State, and the Racers have reeled themselves back to a 62-62 tie with 4:25 to go.
ReplyDeleteBut a 6-foot-8 forward, Robert Covington, buries his third three-pointer of the game, and the Racers turn the ball over. And now we go to the final media timeout with Tennessee State (on a five-game win streak of its own) set to resume possession with a 65-62 lead ...
ReplyDeletePat Forde @YahooForde
ReplyDeleteMurray State wobbling hard against Tennessee State at home. Down three with 4 minutes left. Wow. Burden gets heavier every game it seems.
8:48 PM
67-62 ... 3:42 ...
ReplyDelete67-65, and the Racers draw a charge ...
ReplyDeleteMurray State turnover ... 2:01 to play ...
ReplyDeleteESPNU now carrying last moments ...
Ken Pomeroy @kenpomeroy
ReplyDeleteSeeing the narrative developing about Murray cracking under the pressure. How about this - they're just having a bad game. It happens.
8:56 PM
CANAAN! Score and fouled! 69-67, TSU, 41.5 seconds ...
ReplyDeleteFree throw good! 69-68 ...
ReplyDelete21.6 on game clock ... 16 on shot clock ... timeout ...
ReplyDeleteTSU TRAVEL! 11.4 seconds!
ReplyDeleteTSU STEAL!
ReplyDelete"LOOKS LIKE HE WAS PUSHED!" WFGS commentator says of intended pass recipient, Canaan.
ReplyDelete11.2 seconds to play ... Tigers will have ball and one-point lead coming out of the timeout ...
ReplyDelete9.7 seconds left ... TSU's Covington fouled ... will have two shots ...
ReplyDeleteMISS!
ReplyDeleteMISS!
ReplyDeleteBUT CANAAN IS CALLED FOR OFFENSIVE FOUL! 3.5 seconds to play ...
ReplyDeleteGood, good ... three-point game ... and now Murray State calls timeout.
ReplyDeleteAnthony Wireman @awireman
ReplyDeleteMisses BOTH!!! Holy Geez!!! The officials call an unbelievable foul on Isaiah Canaan. Nuts and bolts...Murray State just got screwed.
9:05 PM
Oh, wow ... errant baseball pass on inbounds ... another Racer turnover ...
ReplyDeleteWFGS: "I don't know if anyone in the gym knows what just happened right there."
That's it: 72-68, Tennessee State.
ReplyDeleteInside Hilltopper @ihsradio
ReplyDeleteWell at least Murray lost...
3m
Brett Dawson @BDawsonRivals
How do you overthrow the inbound down three?
3m
John Dissauer @johndissauer
#IU 1976 team can pop the champagne. #MurrayState just lost. #undefeated
I disagree with Pomeroy on this one. I realize that a team can have one bad game, but Murray has been going downhill for some time. After they beat EKU on January 4, Pomeroy showed them as the number 29 team in the nation. Going into last night's game, they had fallen to 66th on his list. That sort of decline makes it more likely that you're going to get knocked off.
ReplyDeletePomeroy gives Murray a 90 percent chance of beating Austin Peay at home on Saturday, but the Racers better play a lot better than they did tonight.
You noted the weight of the streak apparently hanging on the team in a radio game several wins back. In this game, no Murray starter but Canaan had scored in the second half as of very late (and maybe all the way to the end). That, to me, is suggestive of pressure. I know that Ken Pomeroy wants to clear away a lot of that talk, and I agree with him in theory.
DeleteAt the end last night, however, I thought it was pretty clear that the Racers were feeling the pressure pretty heavy.
Well, as I said they haven't looked right for weeks. Now we'll see if they get things turned around. I'm worried that their earlier good performance was simply a result of everyone being unusually hot from the field, and that they're now heading back to their true level. It's hard to say what's really going on, but we'll find out soon enough.
DeleteRicky Martin in the Murray Ledger & Times writes the column I wanted to read this morning if I was a big Racer fan: "It might have just begun. The Racers will set their humbled sights on Austin Peay on Saturday. I feel for the Governors."
DeleteLove the comment from the Western folks. They really may be the angriest fan base in America.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they had lost earlier in the evening and were all hacked. I thought the comment was an especially WKU thing to do at that moment. My sister-in-law (a Murray grad) was on Facebook right after the Racer loss and saw that one of my old WKU chums was on, posting that Canaan should've been called for technical fouls at the end of the Murray loss.
DeleteBy the way, Western did better than expected against Middle Tennessee. They only lost by 8 points on the road against the best team in the Sun Belt. Pomeroy has now moved Western up to number 225 -- their highest ranking of the year. Since January 15, Western has moved up 57 places.
DeleteCadiz's WHVO Oldies1480.com just played the (outstanding) 1961 version of "Funny How Time Slips Away" by Nashville's Jimmy Elledge, and it would've been suitable listening with the last four minutes of last night's game on mute.
ReplyDelete