MURRAY, Ky. — With a brand new team, the first couple of weeks of practice bring about plenty of opportunities. The same is true for Murray State, as the Racers are just over two weeks away from playing a Division I opponent for the first time under Ryan Miller when Murray State faces Xavier in an exhibition.
The first thing that pops to mind for Miller when asked about how the practices have gone to this point? The competitiveness of his team.
“They [are making] it really challenging for the coaches who are going to play and what type of rotational minutes we’re going to be doing,” Miller said. “The competition has been elite. Guys are buying in. Guys are being unselfish.”
The team practiced for over three hours on Thursday. The long practices are helping Miller and his staff determine who is stepping up and earning a potential starting role or significant minutes off the bench. Miller said the margins are “very small,” but reiterated how encouraged he’s been by the competition.
“The kids embody what we’re looking for,” Miller said. “They’re unselfish, they play together, they compete every single day, and they’re being very tough, both mentally and physically. They’re taking what we’re throwing at them every single day.”
Even with the season tipoff inching closer, the mindset of the team is simply to get one percent better each day.
“Practice today, I felt we got 1% better,” Miller said. “We’ll practice tomorrow at 1:00, hopefully we get a little bit better. And then Saturday, we have an intersquad scrimmage at 11, and hopefully you get a little better, and we do a dry rehearsal for our games that are coming up. Like I said, Xavier, a Big East team in an exhibition, we better be ready.”
After Murray State’s exhibition at Xavier, the Racers will have one more exhibition at home on October 26 before opening the regular season on November 3 against Omaha in the Field of 68 Showcase in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.