Ole Miss working to get Matthew Murrell into ‘elite shape’ for senior season

This summer saw plenty of uncertain and fluctuation when it came to the Ole Miss men’s basketball roster as first-year head coach Chris Beard continued settling in.

With any coaching change there is always some degree of roster turnover and the Rebels were no different but Beard managed to keep the key core of returners, starting with Matthew Murrell and Jaemyn Brakefield.

Murrell’s return was one that looked on paper to be a strong possibility but the senior guard did go through the NBA Draft process and attended the draft combine, turning heads towards the end of it. Though ultimately Murrell made the decision to come back to Oxford and be a part of Beard’s first roster at Ole Miss.

The preseason officially began on Monday with Beard and his staff holding their first practice. A key part of that staff is strength and conditioning coach John Reilly, who has been a part of Beard’s staff for the last eight seasons.

There is a plan in place by Reilly to help get Murrell into “elite shape,” and elevate his game as much as possible head into the 2023-24 season.

“Just something, from my evaluation, and Jordyn (Kleve), our dietician, we just felt like (Murrell) being a little bit leaner just to help him be a little bit stronger,” Reilly said when speaking with The Ole Miss Spirit on Talk of Champions. “We’re not talking crazy skinny. No, not like that. Just getting in even better shape from what he was even last year.

“For him, just evaluating (and) looking at film, the ball was in his hands so much last year and really, he was doing a lot. Being able to simplify his game to where he’s coming off ball screens. Where he’s taking open threes instead of creating all the time. He being able to just sprint back and forth.”

Something this Ole Miss staff is going to also look to try and improve within Murrell is his play on the other end of the court.

Murrell will get his shots up, that is a given, but what Beard wants to do is get the Memphis native’s defense level raised.

Defense has never been something discussed when mentioned Murrell’s name. In fact about 99 percent of the time ‘Murrell’ and ‘defense’ are not in the same sentence. Reilly is looking to change that.

“How many people really think about defense for (Murrell)?” Reilly said. “We’re challenging him on the defensive end. To play both sides of the ball as opposed to everybody thinking about him being an offensive player. We’re looking at him to be a ‘D-and-three’ type of guy. To do that you have to be in elite shape. That’s something that we’re working on.”

The plan is laid out for Murrell and the mission statement is simple heading into the next month of preseason practices. Murrell is one of the leaders and veterans on this Ole Miss team and is going to be pressed by this staff, accordingly.

“To do that, within our program, is just being competitive,” Reilly added. “Something where I challenge him, where I expect him to win every competition. At least be top-two, for sure. That’s something that I’ve told him and he knows that.”

Ole Miss opens up the Chris Beard era on November 6 against Alabama State. To officially kick off the preseason the Rebels are holding their annual Square Jam event at the Downtown Oxford Square on October 6 at 6:30 p.m. CT.

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