Gage Johnson
Sports Editor
gjohnson17@murraystate.edu
Murray State basketball season has arrived. With the first steps on the hardwood for college basketball a week away media, players and coaches met in Evansville, Indiana, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, for OVC Media Day.
Between the morning and afternoon sessions, OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche spoke to those in attendance about multiple topics. One being thanking the city for its passion for the OVC, including the gift of a new floor that won’t include the OVC decals that caused multiple players to slip and fall last postseason.
“When we talk about this city, it certainly cannot go without being stated that there’s been a level of commitment,” DeBauche said. “That’s been demonstrated by the new court behind us. As the court was being updated for the University of Evansville, civic leaders also sought to include an OVC logo as part of that structure that can be inserted in.”
After the commissioner’s statement, Murray State men’s basketball Head Coach Matt McMahon and women’s basketball Head Coach Rechelle Turner addressed the media regarding the upcoming season.
Men’s basketball
The men’s team is coming off of claiming its second-straight OVC Title. They return a slew of players including starters such as sophomore guard Tevin Brown, sophomore forward KJ Williams and senior forward Darnell Cowart.
Murray State fans will also get to see senior forward Anthony Smith take the floor again, after being sidelined last season with an ankle injury.
McMahon said Smith was ambitious in his efforts to get back to peak physical shape for the upcoming season.
“Credit to him [Anthony Smith], he really attacked the surgery and rehabilitation process the way he attacks every workout and every practice,” McMahon said. “He only knows one speed and that’s all out. If you watch him right now you’d have no idea he was ever injured. I think our team greatly benefits from [having] his leadership and toughness back for his fifth year.”
While the Racers are returning over half of their roster from a season ago, they will be without “bounce bros” Ja Morant and Shaq Buchanan.
Luckily for Murray State, its depth at each position should help take care of the offensive and defensive load to the two pros had in 2018.
“We don’t make it about who do we have to replace, it’s about this our team and how do we build this group into the best team we can be,” McMahon said. “I know we lost one of the best players in the world of our team from last year, but we do return about half of our production. It doesn’t guarantee you anything, but it does show that there are some pieces in place and if they’ve done what they were supposed in the offseason, then they’ll be ready to step in and make a bigger impact this season.”
Brown and Cowart were both named to the Preaseason All-OVC First Team, while the Racers were voted to finish second in the OVC Preseason Poll behind Belmont University.
Women’s basketball
The Racers are coming off a season in which they finished sixth in the OVC and had their season ended in the first round of the postseason by UT Martin.
Murray State will be without Evelyn Adebayo who transferred to UCONN and Janika Griffith-Wallace who transferred to VCU. The two combined for 29.9 ppg last season.
However, they are returning the 2018 Freshman of the Year in sophomore guard Macey Turley. She averaged 12.0 ppg and 4.4 apg last season and her efforts earned her a spot on the Preseason All-OVC First Team for the 2019-20 season.
On a young team with plenty of newcomers and one senior in forward Cekeya Mack, Turner expects it to be a team effort in terms of leadership outside of Turley and Mack.
“We feel that Mack and Macey are people we look to for leadership,” Turner said. “But we have some other kids that have stepped up verbally and said ‘hey this isn’t how we do things, this is how we do things.”
While the expectations from the OVC aren’t high, as they were voted to finish eighth in the OVC Preseason Poll, Turner thinks the ceiling for the Racers is very high.
“I think this team’s definitely not even close to the ceiling that it can be,” Turner said. “If everybody does and leans on their strengths of this basketball team with the effort and attitude, I think we can surprise some people. I tell our players all the time ‘you’re either going to prove people right or prove people wrong every time you take the court.’ Our job is to prove everyone wrong because we have a lot of doubters.”
Racer fans can get their first glimpse of each team when they take the floor for Racer Mania at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 24, at the CFSB Center.