Under the Radar Game of the Day – Saturday, December 5: Evansville at Murray State

Under the Radar Game of the Day: Evansville at Murray State, 8:30 PM, ovcdigitalnetwork.com

The UTR Game of the Day heads to Murray, Kentucky tonight as the Ohio Valley Conference’s Murray State Racers welcome in the Missouri Valley Conference’s Evansville Aces.  The Aces enter tonight’s contest with a record of 6-1, including having picked up two victories in the Wooden Legacy last week.  They also already hold a solid home court win over Murray State’s conference foe, Belmont.  The Aces are led by DJ Balentine, one of the most exciting mid-major players in the nation.  He scored 26 points while dishing our 8 assist in a win earlier this week over Alabama State.  However, Balentine is not alone on this team, as Egidijus Mockevicius has scored a double-double in all but two games so far this season (and one of those two was an 8 point, 21 rebound effort against Santa Clara).  If the Aces’ two stars continue to play the way they have so far this season, Murray State will be in trouble tonight.

Murray State made headlines last season when the Racers won 25 games in a row en route to a 27-5 regular season.  The 5th of those losses, however, came by one point at the hands of Belmont in the OVC Tournament championship game and sent the Racers to the NIT.  This season, the roles of the OVC’s top two teams may be reversed, and Murray could be the team trying to play spoiler to Belmont.  The Racers have been solid so far this year, with a record of 5-3 that includes a win over a pretty good Middle Tennessee State team and a berth in the finals of the Gulf Coast Showcase (where they lost to Weber State).  The Racers have also handed Alabama A&M their only loss of the season, which is notable as the Bulldogs have been surprisingly strong out of the SWAC so far this year.  Wayne Langston has registered a double-double in each of his last two games for the Racers, and he will need another solid effort, together with help from his teammates, in order for Murray to score the victory tonight.