• Preseason Releases: Men, Women | Media Poll | OVC Basketball Media Guide | Media Day Recap
The Murray State men's team was picked second in the 2018-19 OVC preseason poll, while the Racers women's program was tabbed 12th.
A year ago the MSU men's team was 26-6 overall and 16-2 in OVC play as it captured its 25th OVC regular season and 16th OVC Tournament championships. The Racers earned a 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament where they came up short against West Virginia. This season fourth-year head coach
Matt McMahon, who became the eighth-straight Murray State coach to reach the NCAA Tournament, welcomes back three starters from that team, including sophomore guard
Ja Morant. Morant was one of the top freshmen in the nation a year ago, averaging 12.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists (15th nationally) per game. He recorded just the 17th triple-double in OVC history when he had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists in a victory over Eastern Illinois and was named to the OVC All-Tournament team after averaging 13 points, four rebounds and 6.5 assists/game during the Racers run. Morant was named a Preseason All-OVC selection along with senior guard
Shaq Buchanan. In his debut season with MSU, Buchanan averaged 9.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals/game.
The Racers women's team returns just five players and two starters from a year ago with perhaps the biggest hole to fill being left by the 2017-18 OVC Player of the Year Ke'Shunan James. With just four players returning that saw action last season, MSU will look to replace 79.6 percent of its 70.1 points per game in 2017-18.
Brianna Crane leads all returners for Murray State averaging 7.2 points and 5.7 rebounds a season ago. To help fill the scoring gap in 2018-19, Murray State will have eight new faces this season including
Evelyn Adebayo, who sat out due to NCAA transfer rules last year, the hometown trio of
Lex Mayes,
Macey Turley and
Alexis Burpo. This year marks the second for head coach
Rechelle Turner.
The MSU teams will look to be one of eight teams in each gender to qualify for the 2019 OVC Basketball Championships, which will be played March 6-9 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. For more information on the championship,
click here.
BELOW VIDEOS
Head Men's Coach Matt McMahon
Head Women's Coach Rechelle Turner