TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Sycamores are set to face first-year Valley member Murray State for the first time since 2008 on national television Saturday, Jan. 21. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. ET on ESPNU from CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
 
Indiana State will be looking to get back on track Saturday after dropping its third straight game this past Wednesday, 78-67 to Bradley at Hulman Center. This is the second three-game skid for the Sycamores this season, and after the previous streak, ISU bounced back to win the next four straight games to open Valley play 6-0 for the first time since Larry Bird's team in 1978-79.
 
For the first time all season, Indiana State is a full game back of first place in the Valley standings. Of the 10 Valley teams with two or more league wins, ISU is riding the longest current losing streak.
 
Wednesday's 11-point loss to Bradley is ISU's largest margin of defeat all season. Before Wednesday, ISU was 8-0 in games decided by 11 points or more with all six of its losses coming by a deficit of 10 points or less, including three losses by three points or less.
 
Indiana State has been outscored in the second half 11 times this season, with nine of those occurrences happening after holding the lead at halftime. The Sycamores have lost three games this season in which they led at halftime and were outscored in the second half.
 
At 13-7, head coach Josh Schertz has already surpassed last season's amount of total (11) and Valley (4) wins. Only four ISU coaches have improved win totals from year one to year two.

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday will be the 11th all-time meeting between Indiana State and Murray State, but the first as co-members of the MVC. The series dates back to 1945 and the Sycamores lead the all-time series 7-3. The two teams have not met since 2008, facing each other twice in that calendar year including an ISU road win in the ESPN BracketBuster game Feb. 23, 2008 in which the Sycamores erased a 17-point deficit in the first half to win 79-62. The Racers are 2-1 in the last three meetings and took the most recent matchup, 67-61, Nov. 26, 2008 at Hulman Center.
 
MURRAY STATE AT A GLANCE
In their first season in the Valley, Murray State was picked to finished eighth, right below Indiana State at seventh, in the Valley preseason poll. The Racers are currently a game back of the Sycamores are 5-4. Murray State is 21-2 at home over the last two seasons, including 6-1 this season. That lone home loss came against Southern Illinois Dec. 29 by a score of 63-57, Murray State's first Valley loss.
 
The Racers are coming off an 80-65 loss at Belmont Wednesday night. The first half provided four tied scores in the first five minutes and a big run for each team. The Racers went first with a 12-2 run when they held the Bruins to no field goals for seven minutes to take a 21-11 lead at 8:40. However, the Bruins ended the half outscoring the Racers 16-4 to take a 34-30 lead into the halftime intermission. The Bruins opened the second half on a 15-4 run and put the Racers behind 54-36 at the 13:00 mark, and Murray State never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
 
Rob Perry scored 14 points to lead the Racers at Belmont, while JaCobi Wood scored 12 points and Jamari Smith added 11. Perry leads Murray State in scoring with 14.9 points per game, and he is joined in double-figure average scoring by Wood and Smith with 12.3 points per game each.

LAST GAME AGAINST THE RACERS
Indiana State was looking for its first win of the 2008-09 season in a match-up against Ohio Valley Conference foe Murray State Nov. 26, 2008. The Sycamores (0-3) held an eight-point lead during the first half and went into the locker room with a two-point lead at halftime, but they could not reign in the Racers (3-1) in the second half and dropped a 67-61 decision at the Hulman Center.
 
Jay Tunnell led the way for the Sycamores with 12 points and seven rebounds in the defeat, while Keenan Barlow recorded a career-high 11 points and five rebounds in the loss for ISU. Aaron Carter also finished in double figures with 10 points to go along with three assists.
 
Murray State's Danero Thomas led all scorers with 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting, including a 4-for-6 effort from three-point range.

LAST TIME OUT
The second-half woes continued for the Indiana State Sycamores Wednesday night as they led by five at halftime before being outscored by 16 in the second half en route to dropping their third straight game, falling 78-67 to Bradley at Hulman Center.
 
Indiana State held Bradley to one field goal through 7:22 in the first half while going on a 16-2 run in that span and led the Braves by 10 points with just under four minutes to go in the opening frame. After the Sycamores led 39-34 at halftime, the Braves used a 12-0 run in the second half to help outscore ISU 44-28 in the period.
 
Courvoisier McCauley led the Sycamores with 12 points and eight rebounds, and Cameron Henry put up 11 points and seven rebounds while dishing out a new career-high nine assists. Each of them would receive a technical foul in the game, with Henry's coming at 0:25 in the first half followed by McCauley's at 14:39 in the second half.
 
The Sycamores jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first minute of the game, but Bradley responded with back-to-back threes, and ISU trailed 13-8 at 16:21 when both teams went cold from the floor. Cade McKnight broke the field goal drought for the Sycamores with a layup at 13:21, but Bradley's scoring drought continued as the Sycamores went on an 8-0 run including six points from McKnight in that span. ISU led 16-13 when Bradley finally capped its scoring drought with 10:44 left in the first half.
 
Indiana State went on another 8-0 run that featured a steal and dunk from Henry, and Henry later took advantage of a Bradley turnover, driving all the way in for a layup while drawing a foul in the process. He completed the and-one to put the Sycamores up by 10 at 36-26 with 3:57 to go. Jayson Kent knocked down a triple at 2:41 to give the Sycamores a 39-30 lead, and Bradley closed the half with four free throws to make it 39-34 going into halftime.
 
Bradley got a couple quick buckets back in the second half to cut the deficit to one point, and then ISU went on a 9-2 run to go up 48-40 at 15:15. After that, a Sycamore tech triggered a 12-0 Bradley run which the Braves used to take a 52-48 lead at 12:15. A three-point and-one from Kailex Stephens would pull the Sycamores within one point of Bradley at 9:56, but that's as close as ISU would come to retaking the lead the rest of the way.
 
LARRY NAMED MVC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Julian Larry was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week Jan. 10 after posting back-to-back 18-point outings, helping the Sycamores go 2-0 on the week and remain unbeaten in Valley play. Larry shot 12-of-14 on the week including 3-of-3 from distance. He also connected on 9-of-10 from the charity stripe and dished out 10 assists with four steals across the two games. In Wednesday's win at Illinois State, Larry shot a perfect 7-of-7 from the field with five assists and not a single turnover.
 
LARRY GETS HOT
Julian Larry is the lone Sycamore to play in all 20 games this season but just recently emerged as he has played his way into the starting lineup. He has started each of the last seven games, and through the first five of those games, he led the Sycamores in scoring with 15.6 points per game. He has posted 18 or more points in three of those games and twice has shot 100 percent from the field (8-of-8 against Evansville, 7-of-7 at Illinois State), and he is shooting 78.4 percent from the field.
 
Larry dished out 4.6 assists per game across those first five starts and committed just one or no turnovers in three of those games. He held a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio while averaging two steals per game in that span.
 
NEW FACE SETS THE PACE
Going into the Jan. 15 game at Missouri State, grad transfer Courvoisier McCauley is leading the way for the Sycamores in his first year at Indiana State. Through the first 18 games he leads the team in total points (283, 105 more points than ISU's second leading scoring Cameron Henry with 178 points) while averaging a team-high 16.6 points. He also leads the Sycamores on the glass with 5.5 rebounds per game. His 16.6 points per game rank sixth in the Valley, and he's top-20 in the league in boards per game.
 
McCauley has two double-doubles this season and is one of just 15 players in the Valley to record two or more on the year. He is also the lone Valley player with multiple 30-point outings this season. With five 20+-point games, McCauley joins just eight other Valley players with five or more this year.
 
A TALE OF TWO HALVES
The Sycamores have struggled to put together 40 consistent minutes of basketball this season, as shown by their scoring margin in the first half (+9.4) compared to the second half (-0.4) through 20 games so far.
 
The Sycamores have now given up a double-digit lead six times this season. They recovered to win two of those games but have dropped the last four games in which they blew a double-digit lead. Jan. 18 against Bradley was the second time that has happened against a Valley opponent, both times occurring at home, after giving up a double-digit lead to lose to Southern Illinois Jan. 11. In four of those five games, Indiana State led by 14 or more points in the first half.
 
The Sycamores let go of the lead against Drake and Southern Illinois in their first two Valley games but still won each of those games. Since then, ISU has blown a double-digit lead and lost to Southern Indiana (in overtime), Duquesne, Southern Illinois, and Bradley.
 
BIG WINS, NARROW LOSSES
Before Wednesday's 11-point loss against Bradley, Indiana State was 8-0 in games decided by 11 or more points this season and 5-6 in games decided by 10 or less points. Three of those five wins were against Valley opponents while the other two were against opponents at the Gulf Showcase. Three of those five losses were by three or less points, one by six points, one by eight points, and one by 10 points.

FOLLOW THE SYCAMORES
For the latest information on Sycamore Basketball, be sure to visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from both the App Store and the Google Play Store.
- -March On- -