Middle Tennessee faces off with their old OVC adversary, the Murray State Racers on Wednesday night at 6:30. This will be the eighth consecutive season the two programs have played. The Racers have a narrow 4-3 lead in the prior seven outings. Neither of the last two games have been competitive, as Murray State has won them both by a combined 55 points.

Coincidentally, MTSU’s loss against ETSU last Friday was their worst offensive showing since playing Murray State in 2018. Middle Tennessee posted 43 total points, 30% shooting, and 27 turnovers in their final game at the Gulf Coast Showcase. On the contrary, Murray State is coming off a historic opener against Greenville College, winning 173-95. It was the by far the highest scoring total in program history, obliterating the previous mark of 138. It is worth mentioning that Greenville is a Division III program and the game was played at an abnormal pace. Murray State’s average pace last season was 70.4. In this game, the pace was 121.8 (per sports-reference).

It is tough gathering takeaways from a game like this, but one thing that may have some bearing is the fact that out of 105 shots on the game, the Racers only took 13 3-point attempts. The past couple of seasons, Murray State has been in the bottom third of college basketball in percentage of total points coming off 3 pointers. Be that as it may, 13 out of 105 is very lopsided, and it is curious why they shot so few in a warm up game like this.

Last season, the Racers went 23-9, (15-3) and finished 1st in the OVC for the third straight season. They return 6 of their top 8 scorers, including all-conference first teamers Tevin Brown and KJ Williams. As a team, they had little to no weaknesses, ranking in the top 50 in the country in eFG%, opponent eFG%, 3p%, and FTA/FGAs (per KenPom). The one area they did struggle in was TO% and non-Steal TO%. If that problem has carried over to this season, MTSU absolutely needs to capitalize on Murray State’s mistakes, while also limiting their own.

One more thing to note: the last time DeAndre Dishman, (formerly of the OVC’s Eastern Kentucky Colonels) saw Murray State, he had a career game with 16 points, 4 assists, and 6 steals. One of the better Blue Raiders from the Gulf Coast Showcase, MTSU may have to depend on his familiarity with the Racers Wednesday night if they want a chance at the upset.