NASSAU, The Bahamas — Through two games in the Baha Mar Summer League, the Murray State men’s basketball team has managed to do two things especially well.

The Racers have badly outrebounded both of their opponents, with strong emphasis on the offensive side, while they also have built strong turnover margins. Monday’s first opponent — Canadian college power Calgary — learned this the hard way in a 103-77 loss to Murray State.

Tuesday, it was one of the two host teams for this week’s event in the Atlantic Ocean paradise off the Florida Coast — Raw Talent Elite — having its own unpleasant education in a 120-59 loss as the Racers continued to show their interest in quickening the pace. 

“Today, we took 82 shots to their 63 and the way you do that is with good offensive rebounding (where the Racers owned a 20-13 edge) and making them turn the ball over (27-10),” said Murray State Head Coach Ryan Miller in a postgame interview on YouTube, after his team needed a few minutes to find its stride, trailing 6-3. 

“Yeah, it took a little bit to get the beach out of us (after the team had celebrated Monday’s win with some oceanside recreation) but, once we got going, we were playing pretty good. We were making the hustle plays, competing for loose balls. 

“All of those things were good to see.”

The Racers’ defensive pressure was particularly troublesome to the home squad on Tuesday as those 27 turnovers led to a strong 37-2 edge on points-off-turnovers. Unlike Monday, though, the Racers had several moments against Raw Talent Elite where they would create opportunity with the defense, then deliver momentum-building blows at the other end. 

One of those moments came after the Racers had taken their first lead — 9-8 — on a 3-pointer from guard Brayden Shorter. This was followed by a dizzying sequence where both teams took turns handing the ball to one another that finally ended when guard/forward Lachlan Crate drained a 3-pointer off a turnover that sent the Racer bench and fanbase into a frenzy  as the lead grew to 12-8. Seconds later, guard Javon Jackson further stoked the Racers’ fire with a behind-the-back feed to forward Fred King that ended in a dunk and an 18-10 lead.

A few minutes later, guard Ben Shtolzbert capped a 6-0 run by lobbying an alley-oop pass to guard Mathis Courbon, who took to the sky for a furious two-fisted slam dunk that increased the lead to 33-20 and produced one of the loudest response so far of the tournament.

By that point, the Racers were rolling and they would maintain the momentum to take a 64-29 lead into halftime.

Hitting from long range was a bit of a battle Monday for the Racers as they ended 9-for-27 from that distance. Tuesday was more successful as the Racers bagged 12 of their 34 attempts. 

Something else that had to be encouraging to Racer fans is the continued display of depth. Once again, Murray State played a double-digit amount of players, going with 13 on Tuesday, which was one more than Monday. Of those 13, more than half of them scored in double digits with King (after a 23-point, 11-rebound double-double Monday) and Jackson both scoring 16 to lead the attack. Courbon had 14, while Crate, Shtolzbert and guard K.J. Tenner all had 12. Shorter followed that with 11.

Forward J.J. Traynor barely missed double figures with nine but he led the way with eight boards on Tuesday. Traynor said he has been impressed with the Racers’ depth so far in The Bahamas. 

“I think we see that as an advantage because, once we’re out there, we can give it all we’ve got, truly. That’s because we know we’ve got a good guy behind us, so that also makes it hard for (opposing teams) to guard because they’re having to honor so many guys. We’re versatile,” Traynor said. “I actually feel bad for our coaches who are deciding who’s going to play what amount of minutes.”

Murray State’s final appearance in this event will be at 10 this morning as it faces Calgary, defending Canadian national runner-up, in a rematch from Monday. That game can be seen on YouTube.