The Road To Success-Kennedy Encouraged With Racers

Murray State Head Basketball Coach Billy Kennedy met with members of the media today in the Racer Room at Stewart Stadium for his weekly update on the Racers. MSU is coming off a split week in which they led for most of the game last Thursday before losing at home to Eastern Kentucky 64-62, then came back to score a 74-62 win Saturday over Morehead State. MSU has won five of six and are 11-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference, in a tie with Tennessee Tech for third place. This week, the Racers host Tennessee State Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Regional Special Events Center before traveling to New Jersey for Saturday's ESPNU BracketBusters game at Rider.

Here are Kennedy's comments from today's news conference.

Opening statement

We're Excited about how far we've come as a team. When I look back to April when I got the job, I see now we have come a long way in short amount of time. I watched the Morehead State tape and we forced 20 turnovers against a good team. For us to be able to do that is a positive thing. If we can start playing a little bit better we can finish this thing on a good note and that is something I didn't think was possible a couple of months ago.

What is your take on the improved shooting of Danero Thomas and Ray George?

First, Morehead played a lot of zone the other night, so those two got some good looks at the basket. They're both very capable shooters. Danero is having the game is slow down for him a little and he's settled down. When Ray gets his legs into his shot and takes shots within the offense he is very good.

What is your comment on Tennessee State coming into the RSEC Wednesday?

They're a very dangerous team and everyone is playing for something right now, they're trying to get a good spot in the tournament. They want to finish strong for the ovc tournament. They have Matthews and Turner, two seniors that are a tough battle for us. TSU is a streaky team and if you catch them on a wrong night and they score a bunch of points, you could be in trouble. We have to take care of the ball and limit the turnovers, and also hit the boards; make sure to limit their offensive rebounds.

How concerned are you about eliminating turnovers?

Ray George is the first culprit and Bruce Carter and Shawn Witherspoon have both turned the ball over at a rate that is not acceptable. If we could cut our turnovers by four or five a game and get a few more blockouts on defense that's 10 or 14 more points for us.

Talk about Ray George and the process of him integrating into the program.

When he came in during the fall semester, he couldn't be involved with anything we did as a team. For most transfers, it takes a year anyway for them to get adjusted. Ray has not only adjusted to sitting out for a year and a half, he's also had to adjust to a brand new team in the middle of the year. He's had to adjust socially, academically and to this program. I'm happy with what he has done. If Ray plays defense like he did on the ball the other night and is a big factor like he was in the games against SEMO and Austin Peay; he can really help us.

What do you think about MSU's ESPNU BracketBusters game Saturday at Rider?

We haven't thought about it a whole lot. We'll do what UCLA did in going across the country to play West Virginia the other day. You go in there and try to improve and win the game. I don't think we can make a big deal about it one way or the other, win or lose. You can't put a whole lot of emphasis on it, our main concern is the OVC. Why it is played this time of year, I don't understand. I think it's a watered down event now, and I'm not excited about playing it this time of year. We're going up there at try to get a win and make it the best trip we can.

Murray State University Athletics

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