Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team holds first practice under Rick Ray

Editor's note: Statistics for Antonius Cleveland and Isiah Jones have been corrected.

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Rick Ray prepped for his first Redhawks practice like it was one of the biggest presentations of his life.

Ray stayed up until 3 a.m. coming up with the plan for practice, trying to make everything perfect for when his players took the floor of the North Recreation Center as a team for the first time in a closed practice on Friday afternoon.

"You want to make sure you get everything in, but you also want to make sure you don't have a long practice," Ray said on Friday at the Show Me Center. "You want those guys coming back the next day, enthusiastic about the second day of practice and not just that first day."

Southeast Missouri State's Isiah Jones takes a shot during the Redhawks first practice Friday, Oct. 2, 2015 in the Student Recreation Center at Southeast Missouri State University. (Fred Lynch)

A big grin stretched across the face of 6-foot-6 junior guard Antonius Cleveland when asked about beginning practice.

He said he was "eager to see us put it all together" after a challenging first summer, during which a major emphasis was placed on weight room and individual development during player workouts, under Ray's tutelage.

"He's hard-nosed and his intensity is always high," Cleveland said. "It's kind of a different feel from [former] coach [Dickey] Nutt. Coach Nutt, he was a great coach and all, but Coach Ray he just matches your intensity. There's nothing cool about him. He's just going to get everything out of you or he's going to let you know. If you're not meeting his expectations he's going to make you step to the challenge."

The Redhawks' lone senior, guard Isiah Jones, said he'd had tough coaches at his prep school in Texas and at UAB where he played as a freshman, and Ray was a similar type of coach.

Southeast Missouri State's Antonius Cleveland works during the team's first practice Friday, Oct. 2, 2015 in the Student Recreation Center at Southeast Missouri State University. (Fred Lynch)

"You stay focused the whole time because you know if you mess up, he's going to be on you," Jones said. "I mean, Coach Ray, I feel like that's the way you should be because you should be worried when a coach is not saying nothing to you, but when they're always on you that means they want the best for you and they're going to find a way to get it out of you."

Jones and Cleveland are the top returners for the Redhawks. Jones averaged 9.8 points and 1.9 assists per game last year while Cleveland, who started all 30 games, averaged 10.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists.

Guards Jamaal Calvin and Marcus Wallace, who played in 27 and 29 games, respectively, return along with JT Jones and Ladarius Coleman, who each saw limited minutes last season.

Southeast went 13-17 and 7-9 in the Ohio Valley Conference in Dickey Nutt's final season, and lost in the opening round of the conference tournament.

"We all know what it takes," Cleveland said. "We kind of had a rough season last year and we weren't too happy about that, so we're ready now to get started and get a fresh start."

The Redhawks have eight newcomers this season, plus redshirt junior forward Trey Kellum, who had to sit out last season due to NCAA transfer rules.

Freshmen forwards Jaylin Stewart, Tony Anderson and Kyle Gullett, freshman guards Eric McGill and Robby Dosier and junior forwards Joel Angus, Clyde Santee and Xavion Dillon round out Southeast's roster.

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Rick Ray directs the team's first practice Friday, Oct. 2, 2015 in the Student Recreation Center at Southeast Missouri State University. (Fred Lynch)

Ray laughed when asked what he would consider a successful few weeks of preseason practice.

"We're going to run a motion offense and oftentimes when you start off playing motion offense you've got to deal with motion sickness first," Ray said. "We've got to make sure we don't get frustrated with the process. It's going to look ugly at the very beginning offensively, but we've got to just make sure we're growing every single day in our motion offense. On the defensive side we just want to make sure that guys are going hard, but they're playing smart."

The Redhawks first game in the newly-renovated Show Me Center, which features new seating and a video scoreboard, is an exhibition against Division II Missouri S&T on Nov. 7.

Six of their next seven games will be on the road, including the season opener on Nov. 13 at Dayton.

Southeast's home opener is Nov. 28 vs. Loyola Marymount.

"What I do see is guys that are willing workers and willing learners, and so you've got a chance to have a good team if guys are being receptive to what you're teaching," Ray said.