The Murray State Racers and the Drake Bulldogs meet in college basketball action from the Knapp Center on Saturday.
The Murray State Racers will look to build on their 67-58 win over Bradley last time out. Rob Perry leads the Racers in scoring with 15.5 PPG along with 4.6 RPG and 2 APG while Jamari Smith has 13.2 PPG with 5.4 RPG and JaCobi Wood has 11.2 PPG with 4.4 RPG and a team-high 4.7 APG to lead Murray State in assists and to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Murray State up to this point in the season. DJ Burns also has a team-high 7.9 RPG to lead the Racers on the glass up to this point in the year. As a team, Murray State is averaging 71.1 PPG on 44.8% shooting from the field, 31.2% from three and 72.3% from the foul line this season.
The Drake Bulldogs will try to rebound from back-to-back losses after a 53-49 loss to Southern Illinois in their last game. Tucker DeVries leads the Bulldogs in scoring with 18.3 PPG along with 5.9 RPG while Roman Penn has 10.2 PPG with 3.9 RPG and a team-high 4.3 APG to lead the Bulldogs in assists as the only other double-digit scorer for Drake up to this point in the year. Darnell Brodie also has a team-high 7.8 RPG as well for the Bulldogs this season. As a team, Drake is averaging 71.9 PPG on 44.9% shooting from the field, 34.2% from three and 76.2% from the foul line this season.
Murray State is 0-6 ATS in their last 6 Saturday games and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 games following an ATS win. Drake is 16-35-2 ATS in their last 53 games overall and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 home games while the under is 12-2 in their last 14 home games.
I get the case to be made for Drake being favored at home, but this line is a lot for a Bulldogs team that isn’t the same cover machine from the last couple of seasons. Murray State is no world-beater, but they’re not this far off from Drake and I think the Racers at worst get themselves a cover in this game. Give me the Racers and the points.
