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Murray State vs San Francisco: 2022 NCAA Tournament preview, TV schedule

By Harry Schroeder

Feb 10, 2022; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Murray State Racers head coach Matt McMahon disagrees with a call during the first half against the Tennessee State Tigers at Gentry Complex. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 10, 2022; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Murray State Racers head coach Matt McMahon disagrees with a call during the first half against the Tennessee State Tigers at Gentry Complex. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /
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Murray State and San Francisco meet in a battle of high-level mid-major teams; will Murray State win its 21st straight game?

TV schedule, Thursday, March 17, 8:40 pm on CBS

Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana

Murray State (30-2) has won twenty straight games and the Racers feel like they have earned the opportunity to be a single-digit seed in the NCAA Tournament. They believe they belong and want to make some news in the Big Dance.

The Racers bounced back from a substandard 2020-21 season where they won just 13 games by dominating the Ohio Valley Conference and setting records along the way. Senior stars and three-time all-conference performers K.J. Williams and Tevin Brown were two of the OVC’s top three scorers and Williams was named the league’s ‘Player of the Year’. Brown is the OVC’s most prolific career three-point shooter (348).

Junior guard Justice Hill joined his teammates on the Ohio Valley all-conference team.

Murray State is the OVC’s only NCAA Tournament team.

San Francisco (24-9) finished fourth in the suddenly highly regarded West Coast Conference. Five WCC squads won 20 games and of course the nation’s top team, Gonzaga was the league champion. Five of their nine losses have come at the hands of the Bulldogs and St. Mary’s.

Three double-digit scorers guards Jamaree Bouyea (16.7 ppg) and Khalil Shabazz (14.0 ppg) and forward Yauhen Massalski (13.5 ppg) lead the Dons. Bouyea and Shabazz have combined to make 146 three-pointers. Bouyea and Massalski were first-team all-WCC performers and Shabazz was a second-teamer.

USF won just eleven games last season and this year’s 24 wins are the program’s most since being reinstated in 1985-86.

Coach Todd Golden has led the Dons to 57 wins in three seasons and Matt McMahon has guided the Racers to 153 in seven. Both have their names arise for every ‘power conference’ coaching opening.

Next. 2022 NCAA Tournament East Region preview. dark

The winner earns the right to play the winner of Kentucky and St. Peters. While neither team wants to look past this opening-round game, the idea of possibly playing the Wildcats has to be on the mind of the Murray State (Kentucky) players.

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