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The Ja Morant Show continues Thursday night at the CFSB Center, as Murray State hosts Tennessee Martin in an Ohio Valley matchup.
The game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET. While it won’t be broadcast nationally on television anywhere in the US, you can still watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone, or streaming device via ESPN+, the new digital streaming service from ESPN (no cable required) that has exclusive coverage to dozens of college basketball games — and several other sports — every week.
You can start a free seven-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other compatible streaming device via the ESPN app.
If you can’t watch live, all games — including UT Martin vs Murray State — that are streamed on ESPN+ are also available to be watched afterwards on-demand via ESPN.com or the ESPN app.
UT Martin vs Murray State Preview
In the grand scheme of things, this game doesn’t really matter too much. After losses to Belmont and Jacksonville State over the last month, Murray State is firmly outside of the bubble and will likely need to win the OVC tournament to gain entry into the Big Dance. These last four games of the regular season will affect seeding in the OVC, and the top two seeds receive a bye to the semifinals, so the Racers still need to take care of business, but the stakes aren’t exactly massive at this point.
Nevertheless, the presence of Mr. Temetrius Jamel “Ja” Morant makes every Murray State game must-watch basketball.
If you like NBA prospects, the sophomore is the potential No. 2 pick in June behind Zion Williamson. If you like high-flying dunks, he has those in droves. If you like statistical monsters, Morant is averaging a silly 24.3 points and 10.2 assists per game, putting him on pace to be the first ever college basketball player in the 20-point-10-assist club for a season.
Morant’s ability to break down defenses and then either dunk all over their faces or find an open teammate has Murray State as one of the most efficient offenses in the country. They are seventh in two-point field-goal percentage, 26th in effective field-goal percentage and 40th in Ken Pomeroy’s offensive efficiency rankings, which adjusts for the Racers’ weaker strength of schedule.
Tennessee Martin, though, represents an interesting matchup, as it comes in playing its best basketball of the season. After a nine-game losing streak through December and January, the Skyhawks have won four in a row and five of their last seven. They are now tied with Eastern Kentucky for the all-important eighth spot in the OVC (just eight teams make the conference tourney), but they still have work to do if they’re going to sneak into the tournament.
The Skyhawks’ defense has been a major reason for the turnaround, as they have given up 263 points (65.75 per game) on 272 possessions during the four-game winning streak, good for an excellent mark of just 0.97 points per possession.
As such, it will be intriguing to see what happens on Thursday night when Morant and the efficient Racers offense go up against a UT Martin team that appears to be putting things together at the perfect time.