# 2021–22 Murray State Racers men's basketball team

The 2021–22 Murray State Racers men's basketball team represented Murray State University in the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Racers, led by seventh-year head coach Matt McMahon, played their home games at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky as members of the Ohio Valley Conference. They finished the season 31–3, 18–0 in OVC play to finish as regular season champions. As the No. 1 seed, they defeated Southeast Missouri State and Morehead State to win the OVC tournament. They received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 7 seed in the East Region, where they defeated San Francisco in the first round before losing to Saint Peter's in the second round.
On January 7, 2022, Murray State announced that the season was the last season for the team in the OVC as they will join the Missouri Valley Conference in July 2022.
On March 21, head coach Matt McMahon left the school to take the head coaching job at LSU. On March 28, the school named former Murray State and Iowa State head coach Steve Prohm the team's new head coach. Prohm previously coached Murray State from 2006 to 2011 as an assistant and as head coach from 2011 to 2015.

## Previous season

In a season limited due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Racers finished the 2020–21 season 13–13, 10–10 in OVC play to finish in a tie for fifth place. In the OVC tournament, they were defeated by Jacksonville State in the quarterfinals.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 9, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Cumberland | W 109–77 | 1–0 | CFSB Center (3,109) Murray, KY |
| November 13, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Bellarmine | W 78–59 | 2–0 | CFSB Center (3,613) Murray, KY |
| November 16, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Illinois State | W 77–65 | 3–0 | Redbird Arena (2,094) Normal, IL |
| November 22, 2021* 4:30 pm, FloSports | | vs. East Tennessee State Naples Invitational First Round | L 58–66 | 3–1 | Community School of Naples (317) Naples, FL |
| November 23, 2021* 1:30 pm, FloSports | | vs. Long Beach State Naples Invitational Consolation 2nd Round | W 80–43 | 4–1 | Community School of Naples (307) Naples, FL |
| November 24, 2021* 1:30 pm, FloSports | | vs. James Madison Naples Invitational 5th place game | W 74–62 | 5–1 | Community School of Naples (117) Naples, FL |
| November 29, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Campbellsville | W 98–61 | 6–1 | CFSB Center (2,829) Murray, KY |
| December 4, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Middle Tennessee | W 93–87 | 7–1 | CFSB Center (4,114) Murray, KY |
| December 10, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Memphis | W 74–72 | 8–1 | FedExForum (13,607) Memphis, TN |
| December 15, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Tennessee Wesleyan | W 118–48 | 9–1 | CFSB Center (3,515) Murray, KY |
| December 18, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Chattanooga | W 87–76 | 10–1 | CFSB Center (3,791) Murray, KY |
| December 22, 2021* 5:00 pm, SECN | | at No. 12 Auburn | L 58–71 | 10–2 | Auburn Arena (9,121) Auburn, AL |
| Ohio Valley regular season ||||||
| December 30, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Southeast Missouri State | W 106–81 | 11–2 (1–0) | CFSB Center (3,630) Murray, KY |
| January 8, 2022 3:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at SIU Edwardsville | W 74–69 | 12–2 (2–0) | First Community Arena (537) Edwardsville, IL |
| January 13, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Tennessee State | W 67–44 | 13–2 (3–0) | CFSB Center (3,313) Murray, KY |
| January 15, 2022 4:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Belmont | W 82–60 | 14–2 (4–0) | Curb Event Center (2,432) Nashville, TN |
| January 17, 2022 3:30 pm, ESPN+ | | at Eastern Illinois Rescheduled from January 6 | W 72–46 | 15–2 (5–0) | Lantz Arena (1,117) Charleston, IL |
| January 20, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Eastern Illinois | W 91–51 | 16–2 (6–0) | CFSB Center (3,820) Murray, KY |
| January 22, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | UT Martin | W 74–66 | 17–2 (7–0) | CFSB Center (4,722) Murray, KY |
| January 24, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Tennessee Tech Rescheduled from January 1 | W 79–53 | 18–2 (8–0) | CFSB Center (3,524) Murray, KY |
| January 27, 2022 7:30 pm, ESPN+ | | at Tennessee Tech | W 80–75 | 19–2 (9–0) | Eblen Center (840) Cookeville, TN |
| January 29, 2022 4:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Morehead State | W 77–66 | 20–2 (10–0) | CFSB Center (5,529) Murray, KY |
| February 3, 2022 4:30 pm, ESPN+ | | at Austin Peay | W 65–53 | 21–2 (11–0) | Dunn Center (971) Clarksville, TN |
| February 5, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | SIU Edwardsville | W 79–59 | 22–2 (12–0) | CFSB Center (5,305) Murray, KY |
| February 10, 2022 7:30 pm, ESPN+ | No. 23 | at Tennessee State | W 73–62 | 23–2 (13–0) | Gentry Complex (4,567) Nashville, TN |
| February 12, 2022 3:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 23 | at Morehead State | W 57–53 | 24–2 (14–0) | Ellis Johnson Arena (3,960) Morehead, KY |
| February 17, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 21 | Austin Peay | W 91–56 | 25–2 (15–0) | CFSB Center (6,217) Murray, KY |
| February 19, 2022 3:30 pm, ESPN+ | No. 21 | at UT Martin | W 62–60 | 26–2 (16–0) | Skyhawk Arena (3,257) Martin, TN |
| February 24, 2022 8:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 19 | Belmont | W 76–43 | 27–2 (17–0) | CFSB Center (8,041) Murray, KY |
| February 26, 2022 4:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 19 | at Southeast Missouri State | W 70–68 | 28–2 (18–0) | Show Me Center (2,934) Cape Girardeau, MO |
| Ohio Valley tournament ||||||
| March 4, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPNU | (1) No. 22 | vs. (4) Southeast Missouri State Semifinals | W 88–74 | 29–2 | Ford Center (4,160) Evansville, IN |
| March 5, 2022 7:30 pm, ESPN2 | (1) No. 22 | vs. (3) Morehead State Championship | W 71–67 | 30–2 | Ford Center (6,491) Evansville, IN |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 17, 2022* 8:40 pm, CBS | (7 E) No. 20 | vs. (10 E) San Francisco First Round | W 92–87 $^{OT}$ | 31–2 | Gainbridge Fieldhouse (16,828) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 19, 2022* 6:45 pm, CBS | (7 E) No. 20 | vs. (15 E) Saint Peter's Second Round | L 60–70 | 31–3 | Gainbridge Fieldhouse (17,838) Indianapolis, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central. ||||||
Source

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Final |
| AP | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | 23 | 21 | 19 | 22 | 19 | 22 | 20 | Not released |
| Coaches | — | —^ | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | RV | 24 | 21 | 21 | 22 | 19 | 22 | 20 | 22 |
*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings. ^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.