Ole Miss Guard Matthew Murrell Discusses Growth During Offseason, Team Identity

Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball guard Matthew Murrell met with the media on Monday to preview the upcoming season.

OXFORD, Miss., -- The Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball team is a little more than a month away from its 2022-23 season opener on Nov. 7 versus the Alcorn State Braves, and the team met with the media on Monday to preview the upcoming season. 

Ole Miss junior guard Matthew Murrell was one of the players who met with reporters and talked about what he has been working on during the offseason.

"Of course, I always want to improve on shooting," Murrell told reporters. "I took a focus on ball handling, being a permanent ball handler in the pick-and-roll and making the correct reads, and coming out and playing with pace. Just different things that Coach [Kermit] Davis wanted me to work on."

After averaging 12.1 points per game his sophomore year, Murrell mentioned how his confidence is building heading into his third season with the Rebels.

"The goal each year is to get better and better," Murrell said. "I feel like I gained a lot of confidence last year, and I hope to take that confidence and build on it this year."

The Rebels have not appeared in the NCAA Basketball Tournament since 2019 and last season finished with a disappointing 13-19 record. Murrell discussed how this year's squad will be different from previous seasons. 

"One thing I like about this team is we have a good mixture of returners and guys who have played college basketball, and upcoming freshman," Murrell said. "We are all here and we all feed off each other, and I feel like it’s going to be a real good year."

Murrell also talked about the team identity heading into a new season.

"Just playing fast, creating offense out of defense, and always playing hard and being disruptive," Murrell said. 

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