Bracket Buster Best: St Mary’s versus Murry State

THE STORY:  Murray State was the last unbeaten team in the nation and was upset at home on Feb. 9 by Tennessee State after starting the season in school-record style at 23-0. Saint Mary’s has lost two of its last three after a 12-game winning streak and is coming off a surprising 15-point home loss to Loyola Marymount on Wednesday.

TV: 6 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN3.com

ABOUT SAINT MARY’S (23-4): The Gaels are led by the inside-outside combination of Matthew Dellavedova and Rob Jones. Dellavedova leads the team in scoring (15.3) and assists (6.4). He is ninth in the nation in assists and needs one to set the school record. Jones averages 15.3 points and 10.8 rebounds. Jones leads the West Coast Conference in rebounds, which in eighth in the nation, and his 16 double-doubles are fifth in the country. Stephen Holt averages 10.4 points. The Gaels are eighth in the nation in rebound margin (plus-7.4) and ninth in assist to turnover ratio (1.4). Saint Mary’s leads the WCC by a half game over rival Gonzaga.

ABOUT MURRAY STATE (25-1): The Racers have rebounded from their home loss to Tennessee State last week with a pair of convincing wins, most recently 75-66 at Southeast Missouri. The Saint Mary’s game will mark the sixth consecutive sellout for Murray State at CFSB Arena. Isaiah Canaan is 23rd in the nation in scoring (19.2), sixth in 3-point field goal percentage (47.3) and 10th in 3-point field goals per game (3.0). The senior class of Ivan Aska, Donte Poole and Jewuan Long has won 98 games. The school record for a class is 99 set by the 1996-2000 group. Murray State also clinched its third straight outright Ohio Valley Conference title and 23rd in school history. 

TIP-INS:

1. This will be the third meeting. The Gaels won the previous two meetings in 2004 and 2006, both in Moraga, Cal.

2. Saint Mary’s is one of eight teams have won 25 or more games the past four years and three of those schools are from the WCC (Gonzaga and BYU).

3. Basketball Hall of Famer Dick Vitale will make his first appearance in Murray, Ky., on Saturday and broadcast the game for ESPN. Vitale has only done two Saint Mary’s games and those were in a preseason tournament in New York City in 2004.

Related posts:
NCAAB - College basketball preview: St Mary’s at Portland (SportsOptions.com) 0
NCAAB - College basketball preview: Still undefeated Murray State (Tony Finn) 0
NCAAB - West Coast Conference Championship: Zags vs Gaels (Tony Finn) 0
NCAAB - College betting preview: Murray St – the lone unbeaten (SportsOptions.com) 0
NCAAB - Gonzaga’s near-record WCC streak on line at Saint Mary’s (James Payton) 0

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