In what was the fans’ first glimpse at the new-look Murray State men’s basketball team, the Racers knocked off Calgary 103-77 on Monday afternoon in the first of three exhibition games to open up the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League in Nassau, Bahamas.<\/p>\n
Creighton transfer and Bahamas native Fred King led all scorers with 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Racers, who outrebounded the Dinos by 21 (44-23) and shot 56 percent from the field.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of good things that happened out there, got to play a lot of guys,” first-year Racer head coach Ryan Miller said to Murray State Sports Information Director Dave Winder postgame. “There [are] a lot of things that we need to work on as we go through this process.”<\/p>\n
According to Miller, the good: the team’s 71 field goal attempts, 14 offensive rebounds, and forcing more turnovers (15) than their opponent (11). But the beauty of summer exhibition games: Being able to put their work on tape and pinpoint ways to improve.<\/p>\n
“We need to shoot the ball a little better, we need to transition from full-court defense to our half-court defense a little bit better, it wasn’t great today,” Miller said.<\/p>\n
King led the way with 23 points. JJ Traynor chipped in 15 points and 6 rebounds. Lachlan Crate was a perfect 7-of-7 from the field and had 15 points. Brayden Shorter (11 points) and Mason Miller (10 points) also finished in double figures.<\/p>\n
“It feels good to be back home,” King said. “It’s just nice to show out in front of people like my family and like people who don’t really know me yet from the Bahamas, just being able to represent.”<\/p>\n