The Murray State Racers (MSU) said they hope their trip to Ottawa can help their young team develop for the upcoming season.
With newly-minted head coach Matt McMahon guiding an MSU basketball team which lost four of its five starters from last season—most notably point guard Cameron Payne to the NBA Draft—the Racers’ pre-season tour of Canada could be the key to a successful campaign in 2015-16.
“We’ve faced two outstanding programs,” said McMahon, whose roster features eight new players, five recruits, and three transfers. “These teams up here can put you in some tough positions, having so many three-point shooters on the court—we learned some things about ourselves.”
The trip started with loss for the Racers, who were defeated by the Ottawa Gee-Gees 81-57 on August 2.
“Ottawa’s a really good team—they exposed our defence in a couple areas, stretched us out with their four’s and five’s that can shoot the ball so well from three,” McMahon said. “We came here to commit to the process of growing our basketball team, and [the loss] was good for us.”
Monday night’s game against the defending Canadian champion Carleton Ravens turned out better for McMahon’s MSU team—senior Jeffery Moss led the way with a team-high 18 points, Damarcus Croaker entered the lineup after sitting out Sunday’s game with an ankle injury, and the duo of Wayne Langston and A.J. Patty dominated on the inside. When the final buzzer sounded, the Racers had beaten Carleton 63-59.
“This trip is critical for us,” said McMahon after his team’s win against Carleton on Monday. “We lost some incredible pieces, but it’s not about what we’ve lost, it’s about what we can do to become the best team possible with the group we have here.”
As for Murray State’s student-athletes, the Canada experience has been the chance of a lifetime.
“It’s been great,” said Racers senior Jeffery Moss, “We got to see the great city of Ottawa—my first time here—and experience Canada.”
Moss, a native of Madison, Alabama, believes that playing the best collegiate teams in Canada on the weekend served as a quality warm-up for his team as they gear up for another season in the Ohio Valley Conference.
“These teams would be pretty good (in NCAA)—they can stretch the floor, shoot the three’s and create match-up problems,” Moss said. “For us a team, it’s really good to experience these new things together.”
