SMU holds off Murray State, 102-91
MBB: The Racers get 26 points from Javon Jackson, but drop their first game of the season
SMU beat Murray State, 102-91, Tuesday night in Dallas. Here’s what you need to know:
With the loss, Murray State drops to 2-1 overall on the season
Javon Jackson scored a season-high 26 points to lead the Racers
JJ Traynor (14 points), Roman Domon (11 points) and Fred King (10 points) also scored in double-figures for the Racers
SMU’s Boopie Miller led all scorers with 28 points
The Racers turned it over 15 times leading to 21 SMU points
SMU’s 17 offensive rebounds turned into 17 second-chance points
Murray State returns to action on Saturday afternoon at home against Nicholls
Another slow start sinks the Racers
Murray State has gotten off to slow starts in the first half of each of their games this season. Tuesday night against SMU, the Racers were slow out of the gate in the first AND second halves. In the first four minutes of the game, the Racers fell behind 13-4. In the first three minutes of the second half, SMU came out of the locker room on a 13-3 run. That’s a combined 26-7 burst that gave the Mustangs all the cushion they needed to grab the win.
The Racers fell behind by as many as 18 in the second half, before getting back to within six points multiple times in the final ten minutes. While Murray State Head Coach Ryan Miller appreciated the fight of his team, those slow starts are a problem he knows he must fix.
“We learned that we don’t give up and we don’t quit,” Miller said. “We also learned that we need to start games better and come out with the first swing. We’ve got to come out with a boxer’s mentality, and we’ve got to come and try to swing first. We were sitting there and let them go on a 13-3 run, whatever the heck it was to start the game. It just can’t happen. We need to start games better. It’s on me, and I’ve got to figure it out, and my staff, we’ve got to figure out how we can get our guys ready to play the game with a little bit of a warrior’s mentality to start games. They beat us in transition early, they got on the offensive glass early. All this toughness stuff that we try to really preach, they kind of kicked us in the tail.”
Jackson leads the Racer offense again
With his 26 points, Javon Jackson, playing in front of two dozen friends and family, led the Racers again on the offensive end. The 26 points were the second-most in his college career — he scored 30 points last season in a double overtime win over Murray State when he played at UIC.
Jackson finished 8-of-14 from the field, and showed a consistent ability to get to the rim and finish, even when being contested by SMU’s 7’2 center Samet Yigitoglu.
“It’s just the work,” Jackson said, when asked about what he owes all his recent success to. “The work and preparation, and then the coaching staff just believing in me. That’s what they brought me here for, to be honest, so that’s what I plan to do.”
“He can really score the basketball,” Miller added. “We recruited him to score the ball, and we recruited him to score efficiently, and we’re trying to help him score efficiently. He’s really buying into the system and our style of play. He’s scoring, and he’s doing it in an efficient matter, which is just more impressive.”
Jackson went 8-for-8 from the free throw line against SMU, improving to 18-for-18 on the season. Jonathan Stark made 38 in a row during the 2017-18 season, which is the longest streak in at least the last 12 years.
King gets his first extended minutes of the season
After playing 13 minutes against Mississippi Valley State in his first action of the season, senior forward Fred King played 25 minutes against the Mustangs. King, who has been recovering from a minor knee injury, had ten points and eight rebounds as he worked around some foul trouble throughout the night. Overall, Miller was happy with King’s production.
“When he’s out there and he’s playing with a full motor, he’s really, really special,” Miller said. “Obviously, he got tired a few times tonight, and that was to be expected, just because he hasn’t done much. We hope to get him more in condition, more in shape, so we can stretch some more minutes out.”
“He’s definitely a presence on the court,’ Jackson said. “It felt good to have him back, and I can’t wait until he’s 100% fully going and being able to play a lot of minutes. Once he’s going, the wheel’s going to be turning.”
Next up: A pair of games at the CFSB Center
The Racers will fly home Wednesday morning, and then begin preparations for Saturday afternoon’s matchup with Nicholls. After Tuesday’s home game with Little Rock, Murray State will head to the Cayman Islands for three games in three days against McNeese, Middle Tennessee and George Washington.