Ironically, it was a trip to Iowa this winter that made Murray State head coach Rechelle Turner realize her team could advance to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in program history.
The Racers, who just joined the Missouri Valley Conference three years ago after being in the Ohio Valley Conference since its inception, had never defeated the University of Northern Iowa or Drake — until they dropped both of the MVC powerhouses on a cold road trip in January.
First, Murray State defeated UNI, 95-89, in Cedar Falls on Jan. 16. The Racers then traveled to Des Moines on Jan. 18 and defeated MVC preseason favorite Drake, 81-59. The wins gave Murray State the swagger to finish the regular season as co-champions and win the MVC Tournament last weekend for the automatic bid to the Big Dance.
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“We just got off that plane ride with a new sense of courage and a new sense of pride and confidence that we had to have,” Turner said in a press conference on Friday talking about the January road sweep. “That helped us tremendously.”
Now, 11-seed Murray State (25-7) will face sixth-seed Iowa (22-10) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 11 a.m. CT Saturday in Norman, Okla.
“I actually thought this team could be special in June. When they got to campus and we got together, I felt like they were built different, and they’ve answered the call every single time our backs have been against the wall,” Turner said.
The Racers are led by fifth-year forward Katelyn Young, who has been named as a first-team all-conference member all five years in her career — twice in the Ohio Valley Conference and three times in the MVC.
With 3,023 points in 154 games over five seasons, Young moved into 15th place on the all-time NCAA Division I scoring list, passing USC legend Cheryl Miller who had 3,018 in 128 games.
Young passed the 3,000-point mark last Sunday with her 34-point performance in the MVC Tournament championship game in which Murray State defeated Belmont, 83-62. She was named the MVC Tournament MVP, averaging 25.7 ppg on 31-52 from the field, 7-16 from the 3-point line and 8-9 from the free throw line in the Racers’ wins over Bradley, Drake and Belmont.
The Oakwood, Illinois, native has been on the top of Iowa head coach Jan Jensen’s scouting report this week.
“She’s a heck of a post player. I would have loved coaching her,” Jensen said Friday. “Everybody’s talking about their transition. They run a lot of great sets. She’ll catch it at the elbow, and she’s a heck of a passer. She’ll look, she’ll look and doesn’t like it. And when her defense’s hands are down after two seconds, she’s able to pull it and it’s nothing but net. And that is a very underrated skill that I don’t think people talk about with great shooters enough.”
A leader off the court, Young also was named first team Missouri Valley Conference Scholar Athlete. She has earned her bachelor’s degree from Murray State in Organizational Communication and currently holds a 4.0 GPA in her master’s program working towards a degree in Human Development and Leadership.
Her No. 31 jersey was retired March 1 at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky., in a senior day program before the Racers’ 87-64 win over Southern Illinois.
Similar playing styles
Coming into the NCAA Tournament, Murray State leads the NCAA D-I in scoring with an average of 87.8 points per game. Turner sees a lot of similarities between the way her team and the Hawkeyes play.
“It’s a lot of similarities,” she told reporters Friday. “They play well in transition. They shoot the 3 extremely well. They’re able to go inside-out. You’ll see a lot of inside-out 3s, and they’ve got the ability to score in different ways.”
She added that in order to stay on pace with Iowa, her team will need to make even more 3-pointers than usual.
“We always shoot for 12 3s per game. That’s one of the keys to winning the game,” she said. “It’s about volume shooting. We know for us to have a chance to score, it’s got to be extremely high. We’re not going to win a game in the 60s.”
Jensen will look to her defense to slow down the Racers.
“I think both of us like to go fast. We’re probably going to try to minimize each other. They go a little faster than us. And back in the day, two or three years ago, maybe, we went as fast,” Jensen said Friday. “But I think defense will be key. I think shot selection will be key. If you’re not hitting, I think that’s true for both teams. … But if you’re not hitting shots and you can’t get the discipline for shot selections, then I think that’s where the story will lie. And I think defense will dictate that.”
Mutual respect for each other
The Hawkeyes and Racers have much different experiences in the NCAA Tournament. While it’s just Murray State’s second appearance (they lost to Duke, 78-57, in 2008), Iowa has advanced to the National Championship Game the past two seasons.
But Iowa is not overlooking Murray State, and the Racers are beyond the happy-to-be-here stage and ready to face the Hawkeyes.
Jensen, who played at Drake and was Lisa Bluder’s assistant coach there for 10 years, is familiar with the MVC’s competitiveness.
“I have spent a lot of my life in the Valley,” Jensen said. “So, I have incredible respect for the Valley and am incredibly impressed with Murray State.”
Last Saturday, she was able to tune into the MVC Tournament semifinal game in which Murray State defeated Drake, 96-90, in the highest scoring game in MVC Tournament history.
“They [Murray State] were up 30 when I turned it on, and I’ve never seen Drake down 30 many times in my life. I was, like, ‘Whoa,’” Jensen said. “Drake closed the gap, but I remember thinking, ‘That team’s hot, they’re kind of fun.’ Then the next day we get the draw and it was like, ‘Gosh, we’ve got Murray State.’ That’s what’s fun about the tournament.”
Turner, who played at Murray State from 1991-94 and coached at Murray High School for 21 years before being named the Racers’ head coach in 2017, admires Jensen and the Iowa program.
“I have so much respect for Iowa women’s basketball and Coach Jensen. The loyalty she’s shown to Iowa for 25 years and they’ve shown back means a lot to us in the coaching community,” Turner said.
“I would love for us to be able to build an Iowa-type program for the Missouri Valley Conference because they have great players and great individuals on their team and have one of the best fanbases in the country. They’re definitely a team we would love to mimic,” she added.
Mostly, Turner is proud of what the program has been able to accomplish since she moved from the high school to college ranks in 2017.
“I’ve said all along, this has been eight years in the making. Every assistant coach, every player, everybody, trainers, strength and conditioning, that have played a part in building this program brick by brick to get to this moment should be celebrating this moment,” she said. “This particular team gets to be the champions and gets to be in this situation, but this program wasn’t built in a day.”
The winner of Saturday’s game will face the winner of No. 14 FGCU vs. No. 3 Oklahoma.
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