Early McNeese run sinks Racers, 73-60
MBB: The Cowboys used a 20-0 run in the first half to blow the game open early
Murray State lost to McNeese, 73-60, Monday night in the second game of the Cayman Islands Classic. Here’s what you need to know:
With the loss, the Racers fall to 4-3 overall on the season
Mason Miller led Murray State with 14 points after knocking down 4-of-5 three-pointers
Roman Domon was the only other Racer in double-figures as he scored 11 points
McNeese forced 20 Murray State turnovers and turned those into 27 points
McNeese outscored the Racers 44-14 in the paint
Murray State had a scoring drought of 8:27 in the first half that allowed McNeese to go on a 20-0 run and seize control of the game
The Racers will play the final game of the Cayman Islands Classic Tuesday night against George Washington
This one got away in a hurry
The Racers came out with a flurry, thanks to Mason Miller’s two quick three-pointers and eight early points. Murray State had an 8-2 lead with 17:28 left to go in the first half, and it appeared they had come out of the locker room with a high level of energy to match McNeese’s frenetic style.
That energy was short-lived.
Murray State would go scoreless for more than eight minutes, while McNeese ripped off a 20-0 run, keyed by 12 first-half steals, to put the Racers in an early hole they’d never dig out of. McNeese led 40-17 at the half, pushing that advantage to as many as 31 points in the second half, before the Racers made a late surge to cut the final deficit to 13.
“McNeese plays an aggressive style of basketball, and we didn’t handle it very well,” Murray State Head Coach Ryan Miller said. “What kind of compounded matters is they foul a lot because of how aggressive they play, and then we go to the free throw line and can’t stop runs because we were missing free throws. It was one of those nights where everything went wrong that could go wrong. We turned the ball over, obviously, way too much. Fifteen turnovers in the first half led to a lot of their points. Their aggressive nature of play where they’re fouling and being very aggressive and trapping and doing all this stuff, we weren’t able to convert from the free throw line. It put a lot of pressure on us to be really, really, really good defensively.”
Racers struggles with McNeese pressure
McNeese just brought wave after wave of consistent pressure throughout the night, and, especially early, Murray State looked very uncomfortable playing at that speed. The Racers turned it over 20 times in the game, 15 of those coming in the first half. McNeese turned those turnovers into 27 points, and also racked up 27 fast-break points. Murray State was simply unable to get acclimated to the game before McNeese delivered an early knockout blow.
“We got punched in the mouth,” Miller said. “We’ve had problems with pressing and trapping teams early, but we kind of solved it, but those teams were Nicholls and Little Rock. No offense to those teams, but they’re not championship-caliber like McNeese, and the urgency they were playing with and the way they were flying around, you couldn’t have any mistakes. You had to play on two feet. You had to play really disciplined basketball. You had to be really, really strong with the ball, because they’re poking and taking it from you. When that happens, and they call a few fouls, you have to step up and make the free throws to stop the runs. If you’ve got turnovers and empty possessions from free throws, it gets you get down really quick, and that’s kind of what happened.”
Vice gets his first extended minutes of the season
Miller has said repeatedly that sophomore forward Brock Vice would get his opportunity for significant playing time at some point this season. That opportunity came last night.
After playing just 18 minutes all of last season at North Texas, and only playing 12 minutes in four games so far this season, Vice played nearly 15 minutes against McNeese, as he had four points, three rebounds, one assist and one steal. His performance may not have lit up the stat sheet, but his effort was appreciated by Racer fans, players and his head coach.
“I’ve got all the confidence in Brock,” Miller said. “I’ve just got locked into a two-man rotation with Freddie (King) and Dylan Anderson, but I have all the confidence in Brock. Brock came in and played hard, and was in and out of stuff. We needed some activity out of our post play, because they switch and they trap and they do a bunch of crazy stuff. We didn’t need our post in this game just hunkering down on the low block. We needed them out getting catches where we can be creative with our cuts and creative with our spacing. He came in there and he was in and out of stuff. He got catches at the top of the key, then our guards were able to play our little two-man games off of him. He did give us a lot of energy, and then he boxed out well, and he challenged a few at the rim. I couldn’t be happier in Brock’s effort tonight.”
Racers with one more chance to leave Cayman with a win
After dropping the first two games of the Cayman Islands Classic, Murray State will face George Washington on Tuesday night, one of the best teams in the Atlantic 10. With the first two games this week providing disappointing results, Miller says the message to his team is simple.
“We just have to keep learning and growing,” Miller said. “We have another unbelievable opportunity tomorrow, but eventually these opportunities dry out, so we’ve got to be a sharp basketball team. We play a really good, physical, athletic team again in George Washington. We’re going to have to be much better than we were tonight from the tip. We’re going to have to handle some pressure, but we have an unbelievable opportunity, and we can still walk away from this trip with a really good win on a resume, if we can play good 40 minutes of basketball.”
The Racers and Revolutionaries will start at 6:30pm CST Tuesday night.