Murray State University Athletics
MSU Prepares for Exhibition Battle With York
11/3/2006 2:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Racers begin the journey that is the 2006-07 season with an exhibition game against the Lions of York University of Toronto, Canada. New MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy puts his first team on the floor including 10 new players and Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Player of the Year Shawn Witherspoon. York is coached by Bob Bain who is in his 32nd season with the Lions and has recorded 650 wins and 28 appearances in the Canadian CIS National Championship eight times. He has twice been named CIS Coach of the Year. York has played two exhibition games. Sept. 2, York lost at Dayton 76-57 and Sep. 3 they lost to Lipscomb 70-57. The Lions return nine players from last season's 14-8 squad.
They were scheduled to play an exhibition game Thursday at Middle Tennessee.
After the York exhibition, the Racers will fly to the San Francisco area next Wednesday to participate in the Shamrock Invitational hosted by St. Mary's College in Moraga, Calif. The Racers will play three games in as many days while in California. Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. MSU takes on San Diego State, a team like the Racers, played in the NCAA Tournament last March. Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. the Racers take on D-II power Seattle-Pacific, a team that won 26 games last season and advanced to the national semi-finals. Nov. 12 at 9 p.m. the Racers face the host team St. Mary's, a team that won 17 games a year ago and went 11-5 at McKeon Pavilion. The California trip will mark the Racers second appearance in the St. Mary's event, after having played there in 2004. The Racers will also be going for their first season opening road win since 1997 when they beat Dayton.
First Year Coach:
Billy Kennedy, MSU's first year head coach is the Racers 14th head coach since the program began in the 1920's. He'll try and join nine others before him who managed to turn in a winning season in their first year on the job at MSU. The last five MSU head coaches: Steve Newton, Scott Edgar, Mark Gottfried, Tevester Anderson and Mick Cronin all had winning campaigns in their first season at MSU.The Squad: The Racers have 10 newcomers on the 2006-07 squad which makes the team very much like the one from the 2004-05 season when they also had 10 new players on the roster. The Racers do return three players that had a bunch of experience in last season: Shawn Witherspoon, Tyler Holloway and Rob Kennedy. Billy Kennedy and his staff has done a wonderful job of finding talent on short notice. They first signed Bruce Carter from JUCO National Champion Forth Smith, Ark. and then found a pair of talented players from Birmingham Southern. When the school announced plans to drop from D-I to D-II, Dwayne Paul and Ed Horton became eligible to transfer and play this season. MSU also picked up point guard Kevin Thomas from Compton JC in Calif. MSU signed five freshman that will give the Racers a bright future. Daniel Ard, Danero Thomas, Marvin Williams, George Fotso, and Forrest Smallwood are now Racers.
A Spoonful: Shawn Witherspoon, poised to become the 33rd student-athlete to join the Murray State 1000-Point Club needs 235 points to reach the magic mark. Witherspoon was selected to the All-Ohio Valley Conference First Team as a junior and this fall was named the OVC's Preseason Player of the Year. Witherspoon is one of the great all-around players in the college game. Late last season, he was one of a few players in the nation who where leading their teams in scoring, rebounding and assists at the same time. He turned in eight double-doubles last season.
Home Opener: The Racers will try to win their home opener for the 17th straight year. MSU hasn't lost a home opener in eight seasons of games in the Regional Special Events Center and haven't lost such a game since 1989. MSU plays Belhaven Nov. 16.
Road Opener: The Racers open on the road when they play in the Shamrock Invitational in Moraga, Calif. The Racers will play three games in the San Francisco Bay area: Nov 10 vs. San Diego State, Nov. 11 against Seattle-Pacific and Nov. 12 vs. the host team St. Mary's. The Racers last road season opener victory was a 76-69 win at Dayton in 1997. MSU is 6-7 all-time in road season openers. MSU lost last season in overtime in a close game at Cincinnati.
