Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team has been virtually eliminated from any chance at a high Ohio Valley Conference finish, but that shouldn't prevent the Indians from being emotionally charged tonight.

That's because it's Murray State time.

The Indians and their fiercest OVC rivals -- who tied for the league's regular-season title last year -- will square off in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Ky.

"Getting ready for a game pretty well takes care of itself when it's Murray State," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "It's a great rivalry, one I think the players and fans really enjoy."

Southeast, however, hasn't been able to enjoy a victory for a while. The Indians are in the midst of a three-game losing streak, something that has happened just one other time since Garner took over the program four years ago, that coming during his first season in 1997-98.

The Indians, 13-10 overall, have fallen into a seventh-place tie in the nine-team OVC with a 4-7 record. The Racers, 11-10 overall, are a fourth-place 6-4 in the conference.

Garner is the first to admit that it's tough to be an Indian these days -- especially since expectations were high entering the season -- but he commends his players for the way they've been handling things.

"The good thing about this team, the guys are hanging in there tough as heck," Garner said. "They're working hard every day, trying to fight through this.

"Any team that doesn't meet expectations, like us, it's tough. Anybody that tells you it's easy, is not telling the truth. It's especially tough on the players. You think they don't hear things?"

Continued Garner, "It's easy when things are going good. It's times like this that really show what you're made of."

Toward that end, Garner's team quote for the day at Wednesday's practice was this: Gods are well pleased when they see great men contending with adversity.'

"And we've definitely had our share of adversity," said Garner with a laugh.

As for Murray State, the tradition-rich Racers have also not done quite as well as they've been accustomed to over the past decade, but they have kept their heads above water despite fielding an extremely inexperienced team.

As expected, Murray State's leader has been senior forward Isaac Spencer, the only experienced Racer back from last season's squad. Spencer is the OVC's fourth-leading scorer at 19.9 points per game.

"Isaac Spencer is a great player," said Garner.

Junior guard Justin Burdine (14.9 ppg), sophomore guard Chris Shumate (13.4 ppg) and freshman forward Antione Whelchel (12.1 ppg) are the Racers' other double-figure scorers.

Shumate is the OVC's second-leading 3-point shooter (behind Southeast's Amory Sanders) at 48 percent while Whelchel is the league's third-leading rebounder at 8.1 a game.

Southeast must also be wary of freshman forward Cuthbert Victor, who in his first collegiate start scored 14 points and blocked a potential game-tying shot during the Racers' 60-58 win over Southeast at the Show Me Center on Jan. 11.

"Spencer is their leader, but they've got other very good players around him," Garner said.

The Indians and Racers have played several classic games over the last few seasons and Garner expects another good one tonight.

"I look for it to be a very close basketball game," he said. "I look for a typical Murray-SEMO game."