Ryan Miller era of Racer basketball officially underway

Murray State Racer basketball held its first official practice session on Monday under new coach Ryan Miller.

It's only been six months for Miller to be named, round up a new coaching staff and bring in a fresh complement of 15 players, including five freshmen.

The revamped Racers were picked as the No. 1 transfer class in the Missouri Valley Conference, according to 247Sports. The team has already played three competitive games this year, bagging three victories during the Racers' foreign tour to The Bahamas.

Seniors Fred King and Mason Miller arrived from Creighton, JJ Traynor joined the team from DePaul and Ben Shtolzberg and Javon Jackson came on board from UC Santa Barbara and UIC. 

Dylan Anderson and Brayden Shorter are juniors from Boise State and Washburn. 

Sophomores Layne Taylor and KJ Tenner combined to play in 50 games as freshmen at Central Arkansas and West Virginia, and Brock Vice is a talented two-year player who was part of the programs at Creighton and North Texas.

Murray State's underclassmen will pique the interest of Racer fans with the addition of French players Mathis Courbon and Roman Domon and Lachlan Crate from New Zealand as freshmen, along with Tristian Ford from Chicago and Dillon Butler out of Memphis. 

The Racers' schedule begins with an exhibition contest Oct. 18 at Xavier and home exhibition Oct. 26 vs Northern State. 

MSU is part of the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon against Omaha in Sioux Falls. 

The home opener is against Mississippi Valley Nov. 7 and MSU has home games against Nicholls Nov. 15, Little Rock Nov. 18, Morehead State Dec. 2 and Bellarmine Dec. 6. 

The Racers travel to SMU Nov. 11 and compete at the Cayman Island Classic Nov. 23-25 against Middle Tennessee, McNeese State and George Washington.

Interest appears to be high for the upcoming campaign as season tickets are being renewed at a 92 percent pace, the highest since 2022. Single-game tickets will go on sale in coming weeks.



(Photo Dave Winder/Racer Athetics)