By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
MURRAY, Ky. – Offensive struggles proved to be the difference-maker Saturday evening for the Tennessee Tech men's basketball as the Golden Eagles fell on the road to long-time Ohio Valley Conference rival Murray State, 72-63.
The first half proved to be a challenge for both squads in terms of putting the ball in the bucket, with neither team shooting above 35 percent from the field. Tech finished the first 20 minutes shooting just 33.3 percent from the floor and 18.8 percent from downtown while the Racers were 34.3 percent overall and 27.8 percent from deep, taking a 33-26 lead into the break.
"I thought tonight our guys competed really hard once again," Pelphrey said. "We certainly didn't have a very good offensive first half. We didn't move the ball well. It got stuck in our hands. We ended up going one-on-one and we're really not built that way. We don't have those types of players. We're a basketball team offensively that needs to rely on each other with good fundamentals, sharing the basketball and to relax to start the game."
In the second half, Tech found a groove early, but so did Murray State, which seemed to find an answer every time it needed one. The Racers extended the lead out to 15 at one point, but the Golden Eagles worked their way back to within single digits. Tech just couldn't find a run to pull closer and Murray made more clutch shots down the stretch to pull away for good.
"I think, in the second half, Murray got really aggressive with us, posting up on the backboard and it just turned into an offensive affair," Pelphrey explained. "From our side of it, we were just trying to score with them. You can't win on the road like that. You have to bring your offense and you have to bring your defense. This is just something else we have to learn from. We'll go back and get some good workouts on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and get back to work on the next homestand. We've got two more good teams coming in and let's see how we measure up."
Shandon Goldman led the purple and gold on the offensive end of the floor, scoring 17 points while carrying the load in the first half to the tune of 13 of the team's 26 points. He finished the night 4-for-10 from 3-point grange and hauled in five rebounds.
Junior guard Jr. Clay was the lead man on the boards for the Golden Eagles, tying his career-high with nine rebounds. He collected 15 points with three assists as well. Fellow backcourt mate Keishawn Davidson joined his teammates in double figures, scoring 12 with a team-high four helpers.
"I don't know if it was a quick turnaround, back-to-back road games, a lack of energy, some element of fatigue after a hard-fought battle at Austin Peay," expressed Pelphrey, "but if that's the case, that's why it's really important for us this spring, this summer to really figure out what it's going to look like in our program, because we really haven't had that yet from a strength and conditioning standpoint. Our guys haven't had that yet. After year one, there wasn't time for that with the tornado and pandemic hitting us.
"It really looked like tonight we struggled with our conditioning, our ability to bounce back from one tough, hard-fought game to another. Our play really reflected that. Our attitudes were good, our body language was good, but we physically just didn't have it. We know we have to grow and develop – develop them in the weight room, develop them in the classroom. We have to continue to do a good job in recruiting and add pieces to the program."
Pelphrey added, "Tonight, we were just lacking physically with the stamina, conditioning, being able to compete against a big, strong Murray State team for 40 minutes. We have really got to improve that area in our program."
Tech will return home to the comfort of the Hooper Eblen Center Thursday night for a rematch with Eastern Kentucky. Tip is set for 8:00 p.m. CT and will follow the Golden Eagle women's tilt scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
Photo by Dave Winder, Murray State Athletics
