The Murray State Racers learned of their 2018 NCAA Tournament assignment Sunday when a large gathering of fans and supporters enjoyed Selection Sunday at the CFSB Center in Murray.
The Racers’ 16th foray into one of the biggest shows in all of sport will take them to San Diego, California for a Friday game with the West Virginia Mountaineers. Game time at the Viejas Arena will be around 3pm. Murray State (26-5) was given a No. 12 seed and will meet WVA (24-10) for the first time. The winner of Murray State’s game will meet the winner of No. 4 Wichita State and No. 13 Marshall on Sunday in San Diego.
If the Racers could manage to win against the West Virginia, it will mark their third-straight NCAA appearance with a victory. In 2010, Danero Thomas’ buzzer beater edged MSU past Vanderbilt and in 2012, and Isaiah Canaan led the No. 6 seeded Racers past Colorado State in 2012. The 2010 win over Vandy was also in the state of California when the Racers won in San Jose.
Murray State earned an automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament after taking the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament last weekend with wins over Jacksonville State (70-63 on March 2) in the semifinals and Belmont (68-51 on March 3) in the championship game. The Racers were also OVC regular season champions in going 16-2 and they’ll enter the NCAA’s with the nation’s longest win streak which stands at 13.
(From Murray State Athletics)