By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
A late season surge a year ago left plenty of reason for future optimism for the Murray State men's basketball team.

Now with a full year under Josh Davis' system and addition of a talented group of recruits, expectations are admittedly higher as they head into Wednesday night's season opener with visiting Neosho County Community College starting at 7:30 inside Beames Fieldhouse.

"We have a lot of high character, hard-working guys so expectations are higher," Davis admitted. "We have guys being recruited at higher levels. We expect our scoring to be better and we have a clear-cut go-to guy, which is important."

That go-to player is Los Angeles freshman point guard Isaiah Lewis, a 6-foot-2 combo guard with sensational quickness, skill and instincts for a playmaker. He can finish around the rim and shoots it well from long distance as well as the mid-range jumper.

Another dynamic freshman prospect expected to make an immediate impact is 6-8 forward Ignas Juskevicius from London, England. He has a tremendous wingspan that can give opponents problems with his size and ability to step out and shoot the ball as well.

Returning sophomores Stanley Harley and Tarrance Austin had some big moments last season while helping the Aggies to 12 victories and should be even better with that year of seasoning under their belts. Harley averaged eight points while making 17 starts, including a season-high 21 points against Eastern. Austin shook off early injuries to average nearly five points per contest, pumping in double figures in three of the team's final four contests. Jackson Lawley, Seth Wilkins and Brevon Ford also return in the mix.

"We have capable guys in most areas," Davis said. "Austin is a solid returning player that came into his own at the end of last year and was our leading scorer three games in a row before suffering a concussion. We are also expecting big things from Harley, who is our top returning scorer. Those two along with three others that saw limited time a year ago are a nice group to build upon. We just have to figure out the chemistry of putting them all together."

Davis also pointed to new assistant coaches Jeremy and Justin Wagner, who come from Arkansas-Monticello as the team's defensive coordinators, looking to improve an area where the Aggies allowed opponents to shoot nearly 48 percent from the field last season.

Murray State will also aim for more consistent shooting on the offensive end where they lit things up from three-point range in some games but were ice cold in others, finishing the year connecting on 29 percent from long distance.

"Shooting was our Achilles heel at times last year," Davis admitted. "We needed to shoot the three well in order to win because we struggled to outscore people if we didn't. In this league you have to be able to shoot it. The key though is still creating transition scoring opportunities and making layups first to have a good offense.

"Our defense is a little different with our two new assistants. I think they will really help us in holding opponents to a lower shooting percentage as well as with rebounding."