MURRAY, Ky. – In-state foe Murray State awaits Bellarmine Saturday afternoon in Calloway County in western Kentucky. The Knights and Racers are set to tip off at 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT).
 
Bellarmine (4-4, NET No. 270) is riding their first three-game winning streak in almost three years to the week and has not been .500 this late in the season since 2021-22 when they won the ASUN championship. With a win at the CFSB Center Saturday, the Knights would have their first three-game winning streak against Division I opponents since capturing that conference title in Freedom Hall in March of 2022.
 
The game will be a homecoming for the Knights' Grant Whitaker. The redshirt sophomore guard was a five-year varsity player and four-year team captain at Murray High School, where he was named Mr. Murray High Senior Class Most Outstanding Male in 2023. (Click his name to see a detailed list of his prep accolades.)
 
About Murray State
Murray State (6-3, NET No. 93) is coming off consecutive wins against George Washington, 96-95 in the Cayman Islands, and at home by blowing out another Bluegrass team, Morehead State, 84-52. GWU is their best win according to the NET rankings—the Colonials currently reside at No. 47. Of their three losses, two came in the multi-team event in the Caymans against Middle Tennessee, 90-87, and McNeese State, 73-70. Their other was a 102-91 setback at SMU.
 
Like the Knights, the Racers shoot the ball well, ranking 76th in Division I and 3rd in the Missouri Valley with their .556 effective field goal percentage. MSU shoots 29.3 threes per game, 36th-most in the country, and ranks 99th connecting at a .360 clip. Defensively, the Racers are in the bottom third of the country allowing 77.3 points per game, a trait that could spell good fortune for the hot-shooting Knights on Saturday.
 
Javon Jackson, playing at his fourth school in as many years, averages a team-best 16.3 points for MSU, 4th in The Valley. The senior guard has taken 116 shots, 52 more than anyone else on the team, but is shooting just .388. Fred King, a former Louisville commitment who played three seasons at Creighton, shoots a team-best .733 and is second behind Jackson with 12.2 points per game. On the perimeter, Bellarmine will need to keep an eye on Mason Miller, who is shooting .512 from deep.
 
The Racers are led by Ryan Miller in his first season as a head coach. The Mitchell, S.D., native has a lengthy list of previous stops as an assistant, including filling the associate head coach post at Auburn (2012-14), UNLV (2014-16), TCU (2016-21) and Creighton (2021-25).
 
Versus Murray State
The Knights and Racers split their first two meetings with each winning on their home floor. MSU was victorious 78-59 on November 13, 2021 and Bellarmine returned the favor on December 10, 2022, 69-58. Garrett Tipton scored 25 points in that win at Freedom Hall.
 
Bellarmine is 5-12 (.294) against other Division I teams from Kentucky since 2020-21.
 
Knights Knotes

• Michael Wilson Jr. scored a season-high, and Division 1 career-best, 20 points in just 19 minutes to lead all scorers Wednesday against Midway. In eight games since making the jump from Division II North Greenville to Bellarmine, Wilson is averaging 11.5 points, third on the team, and shooting at a .548 clip, including an 8-for-11 performance Wednesday. After going 0-for-4 from deep over his first two games, he has knocked down 8 of 17 treys (.471). The sophomore also leads the Knights averaging 1.4 steals.
• With Wednesday's win, Bellarmine has won three straight games for the first time since Dec. 4-10, 2022 when they defeated Alice Lloyd (NAIA), Wabash (Division III) and Murray State. They have not won three straight games against Division I teams since going 3-0 in the 2022 ASUN Championship, but could do so with a win Saturday.
• Bellarmine leads the ASUN and ranks 13th nationally with their .522 field goal percentage. They also lead the ASUN and rank 14th nationally with their .791 free throw percentage. Additionally, Bellarmine has raised their three-point percentage from .294 after their first four games to .343 after going 32-for-81 (.395) over their last four games.
• With a win against the Racers, Bellarmine would have their first four-game winning streak since winning five in a row in ASUN play January 8-22, 2022.

 
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