GAME NOTES: With one of the highest win totals in all of Division I basketball, the Murray State Racers find themselves relegated to the NIT as they host the Miners of Texas-El Paso at the CFSB Center on Tuesday night.

Murray State, which is playing in the NIT for the eighth time and first since four years ago, earned an automatic bid to the tourney by winning the regular- season title in the Ohio Valley Conference, the 24th time the program has captured the crown. The Racers didn't just win the title, they ran away with it as they posted a perfect 16-0 mark, part of what became a 25-game win streak.

Unfortunately, losing to Belmont in the OVC Tournament by a single point, 88-87, with just seconds remaining was enough to snap the lengthy win streak, bounce the team out of the national rankings and keep MSU out of the NCAA Tournament.

In the case of the Miners, they too are back in the tourney for the first time since 2011, making their 11th appearance overall. This season the program finished 13-5 in Conference USA play and defeated FIU in the quarterfinals of the league tournament, 83-71, before bowing to Middle Tennessee, 53-50, last Friday.

As far as the all-time series between the programs is concerned, Murray State holds a slim 2-1 advantage, although the squads have been estranged for more than half a century.

The winner of this game will move into the second round of the tourney to face off against the survivor of the William & Mary/Tulsa tussle.

According to the stats for the Miners, they utilized a total of 10 players all season, one of them played a total of just two minutes, so clearly they try to get by with a central core of performers that have managed to generate 69.1 ppg. At the top of that list is Vince Hunter with his 15.0 ppg on 53.0 percent shooting from the floor, but while he has shown the ability to hit the glass hard for 9.2 rpg, his efforts at the free-throw line (.592) are sorely lacking.

Earvin Morris chips in with 11.0 ppg and is one of the more successful 3-point shooters for the Miners with 54 triples, but the team as a whole still converted an average of less than six 3-pointers per outing. Cedrick Lang and Julian Washburn were responsible for 10.5 and 10.4 ppg, respectively, the former hitting on an impressive 62.1 percent from the floor but also limiting his productivity due to constant foul trouble and being disqualified seven times.

One of the top scoring threats in the nation, Cameron Payne and his 20.3 ppg helped push Murray State to an impressive 79.1 ppg, outscoring the opposition by 11.4 ppg in the process. Payne, a decent 3-point shooter at 37.2 percent, was a fixture at the free-throw line (126-of-158) and also found plenty of opportunities to ring up 186 assists, against just 79 turnovers. Add to all of that his 65 steals and 3.7 rpg and it was hard to find another player as well- rounded in the OVC.

Jarvis Williams accounted for 15.5 ppg and a team-best 8.3 rpg, followed by T.J. Sapp and Jeffery Moss with 12.1 and 11.1 ppg, respectively, while Jonathan Fairell, who completed the starting five for every single game this season, pitched in with 5.4 ppg and 6.8 rpg as he connected on 54.6 percent of his field goal tries.

Keeping the same starting lineup all season long is quite a feat for the Racers and it clearly served them well as they ran off one of the longest win streaks in the nation. However, this deep into the season not having an adequate support staff could count against them, but time will tell.