Murray State (19-4, 10-2) vs. Austin Peay (18-7, 10-2)
Winfield Dunn Center, Clarksville, Tennessee; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Austin Peay looks for its fifth straight conference win against Murray State. Austin Peay's last OVC loss came against the Belmont Bruins 96-92 on Jan. 26. Murray State won easily 86-55 over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in its last outing.
TEAM LEADERS: Austin Peay's Terry Taylor has averaged 19 points and 8.3 rebounds while Chris Porter-Bunton has put up 12.4 points and 5.3 rebounds. For the Racers, Ja Morant has averaged 23.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 10.2 assists while Shaq Buchanan has put up 13.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and two steals.
RAMPING IT UP A NOTCH: The Governors have scored 82.7 points per game across 12 conference games, an improvement from the 76.9 per game they recorded in non-conference play.
FACILITATING THE OFFENSE: Morant has made or assisted on 55 percent of all Murray State field goals over the last five games. The sophomore guard has accounted for 36 field goals and 44 assists in those games.
UNBEATEN WHEN: The Governors are 12-0 when they hold opposing teams to 71 points or fewer and 6-7 when opponents exceed 71 points. The Racers are 16-0 when they hold opponents to a field goal percentage of 44.6 percent or worse, and 3-4 when opponents exceed that percentage.
ACCOUNTING FOR ASSISTS: The Racers have recently used assists to create buckets more often than the Governors. Austin Peay has 42 assists on 86 field goals (48.8 percent) across its past three matchups while Murray State has assists on 50 of 89 field goals (56.2 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: Murray State has committed a turnover on just 17.4 percent of its possessions this season, which is the second-best percentage among all OVC teams. The Racers have turned the ball over only 12.3 times per game this season.
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This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com
