Healthy again, Taylor ready to help lead Racer backcourt
MBB: The sophomore guard played at Central Arkansas last season
Central Arkansas opened the 2024-25 season at BYU last November, falling to the Cougars, 88-50. Playing in his first collegiate game, freshman guard Layne Taylor scored just five points for UCA.
It was the only time last year that Taylor was unable to reach double-figures in scoring.
After such a promising start to his career, Taylor’s season was prematurely over following a 73-71 loss to Austin Peay on January 23rd.
“I tore my labrum,” Taylor explained. “I think I tore it about eight games into the season. I ended up playing 20 (games), so I was kind of hobbled all year playing with it. It’d slide out every other practice. That really stung. That's the first time I've ever had a serious injury where I missed games. I never missed games in high school or growing up, so that was tough for me. I also got to step away, and you learn things about yourself when you're away from the game. You learn how to be a good teammate. You learn how to still contribute to a team even though you're not playing. That was really good for me, trying to be a locker room guy, trying to be good for the team even though I can't be on the court.”
When he was on the court with Central Arkansas, Taylor showed he can be a dynamic offensive threat. He scored at least 20 points seven different times, including a career-high 29 in a win over Bellarmine. After averaging 17.4 points per game in an injury-shortened season, Taylor earned a spot on the ASUN’s All-Freshman team. When it was time to find a new basketball home, the reason for coming to Murray State came down to just two words.
“Coach Miller,” Taylor said, emphatically mentioning Murray State’s first-year head coach. “Him being at Creighton, seeing how Creighton played, really fit me. (He has a) plan for me to get better. I've changed my body since I've been here. I’ve done a lot of things to get better. Then being around such talented guys. We talked about the recruiting class on my visit, how good the players are he’s going to bring in, the vision for Murray State Basketball. It kind of all went hand-in-hand, but it started with Coach Miller.”
“I coached a kid very similar to him in Steven Ashworth last year (at Creighton), Ryan Miller added. “A smaller point guard, but very skilled. Maybe not the most athletic guy on the court, but gets a lot more done with his ability to think the game, his toughness, his ability to run a team. I think he saw how the success that Steven had, being one of the best point guards in the Big East, and he thought he could emulate it in our offense and our defense.”
After his labrum surgery shut Taylor’s freshman season down, his rehab kept him from starting his sophomore season on time. Murray State started summer workouts around Memorial Day, but it took a little while before Taylor was able to showcase his skills to his new coaches and teammates.
“The whole month of June, I couldn't do any live stuff,” Taylor said. “I was just shooting, lifting weights. I was really excited to show everybody that I can play a little bit. You look at me, you might not think I'm that good of a player, but I was just kind of excited to prove myself. Watching us practice, I was really excited to get to play with such talented guys. It's fun throwing lobs to JJ (Traynor) and Freddie (King), and Mason (Miller) hitting a three, giving me an assist. I was really excited to get back playing.”
Once he was cleared to start practicing in July, Taylor still needed to get into playing shape, and that has been a work in progress.
“He was hurt, so his body fat percentage was up there a ways, probably like 16 or 17%,” Miller said. “For him to play point guard for our system, we're going to play 94-feet of defense, we're going to play with space and pace offensively, and then he needs to run the show for us as a point guard. He needs to get that body fat down to 10%. I think the last time we checked it, it's at 11. He'll probably start the season where we targeted, 10% body fat, which is really an accomplishment for him. He couldn't do much with the labrum surgery, then he had a hamstring injury in the summer that kind of held him back. He's made great progress with that, got his body right, and we're pretty excited.”
So many of Murray State’s new additions this year are looking forward to finally getting their chance to play at the Division I level. Taylor is one of the few Racers who excelled, especially on the offensive end, last season, but he’s not feeling any pressure to try to recreate that this year.
“Being around such good players, my game is going to change,” Taylor said. “Now, I might not be coming off the ball screen looking to shoot it. I might be coming off the ball screen looking to feed it to Freddie or hit someone for a three. It's been really good for me. I think as I progress in my career, I want to play professionally, and I'm going to have to be more of a true point guard. Obviously, I know in my back pocket I can score the ball, but being able to set people up, I think that's really where I can separate myself from a lot of other guys.”
The Racers will hold their first official practice of the preseason on Monday afternoon.