TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State men’s basketball returns home to the Hulman Center on Thursday night to host Murray State in a Missouri Valley Conference matchup. Here’s the second meeting between the two teams this season, with the Racers taking the first contest on January 17, 85-81. The Sycamores are looking to rebound after a recent 80-65 loss to Southern Illinois on Monday. Bruno Alocen led Indiana State in that game with 17 points, a career high for the guard, who also made a career-best six field goals – 16 of his 17 points coming in the second half. Ian Scott added 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds, while Camp Wagner contributed 11 points. Xavier Hall dished out five assists, tying for the game high. Murray State enters the game with a 19-3 overall record and a 10-1 mark in MVC play, following a 78-71 victory over Belmont where Halli Poock scored 23 points. Indiana State is 7-13 overall and 4-7 in conference games. Indiana State has shown a tendency to share the ball effectively, recording 18 assists on 24 made field goals against Southern Illinois. This marked the seventh time this season the Sycamores have assisted on 75% or more of their field goals. Cooper Bean also saw a career-high in minutes played against Southern Illinois, logging 10 minutes and 44 seconds on the court. The Sycamores are 8-1 when holding opponents to 73 points or less, but struggle when allowing 74 or more points, holding a 2-14 record in those contests. Statistically, Murray State is third in the MVC in offensive rebounding (11.77 per game), while Indiana State is fourth in defensive rebounding (26.4 per game). The Racers are also third in the league in three-pointers made per game (9.58), compared to Indiana State’s sixth-place ranking (8.36). Murray State leads the MVC in scoring, averaging 85.27 points per game, though they have averaged 76.6 points over their last five games. Indiana State is shooting 38.4% from the field this season, 6.1 percentage points lower than the 44.5% Murray State allows to opponents. Conversely, Murray State shoots at a 42.3% clip, 0.4 percentage points higher than the 41.9% shooting percentage Indiana State allows. The matchup on Thursday represents the first conference game between the two teams this season. Indiana State leads the overall series 11-6, but has lost the last two meetings. Following Thursday’s game, Indiana State will travel to Valparaiso for a Sunday afternoon contest at 2 p.m. ET.
