Murray State at Xavier (Exhibition) preview
MBB: It's the first of two October exhibitions for the Racers
Murray State will play the first of two exhibition games, leading up to the November 3rd season-opener, as they take on the Xavier Musketeers Saturday afternoon. Here’s what you need to know:
Murray State at Xavier — 1:00pm CDT at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio
KenPom Preseason Rankings: Murray State #134; Xavier #62
BartTorvik.com Preseason Rankings: Murray State #125; Xavier #74
Series history: Xavier leads the all-time series 4-0; the last meeting came in November of 2014 when Xavier won 89-62
You can watch the game on Xavier+ for $10 — the link to purchase the stream is here
Kenny Roth and I will have the radio call, with the pregame show starting at 12:30pm CDT on Froggy 103.7 locally, or GoRacers.com. You can listen to the game here
Murray State Scouting Report
In The Bahamas in August, we got to see, for the most part, equal opportunity playing time for the Racers. As we tick closer to the start of the regular season, Head Coach Ryan Miller said we will get a better sense of his rotation in today’s exhibition game. Miller has talked about playing ten to 11 guys, but not for an equal amount of time. The mystery all summer has been, with so much talent on this team, who WON’T be getting minutes in the Murray State rotation? Some of those questions could be answered today.
One thing to keep an eye on today with the Racers will be shot selection. Miller is very analytically driven in the shots he wants his team taking — three-pointers and layups. Conversely, those are the exact shots he doesn’t want Murray State’s opponents to have. If the Racers are knocking down threes and finishing at the rim, while forcing mid-range jumpers on the other end, Miller will be a very happy head coach.
Coaching at Creighton the last four years, Miller is very familiar with Xavier and the Cintas Center. He told local media this week the team was preparing for Xavier like it was the Missouri Valley Conference championship. I expect a full-throated effort from the Racers today for 40 minutes.
Xavier Scouting Report
Much like Murray State, Xavier has a new head coach as well. After four years at New Mexico, Richard Pitino has taken over the Musketeer program.
Xavier has just one scholarship player returning off last year’s roster, and he didn’t play one second last year. Roddie Anderson III, who transferred in from Boise State two years ago, sat out last season.
Pitino, like so many new coaches, used the transfer portal to fill out his roster. While he was in the portal, he was able to grab three former Missouri Valley Conference players Murray State fans will be very familiar with. All Wright (Valparaiso), Isaiah Walker (Belmont) and Gabriel Pozzato (Evansville) all signed with the Musketeers. We’ll see how much action Wright and Walker get today, but we will not see Pozzato. He is out indefinitely with a torn meniscus.
This is the only public exhibition game for Xavier, as they’ll use their option to do a secret scrimmage next week.
The Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook picked Xavier 8th in the 11-team Big East.
I’ll have a ‘Ride Home’ podcast later tonight.