Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team taking step-by-step approach under new coach

Coach Rick Ray likes to compare the learning process of his men's basketball team at Southeast Missouri State to that of a math class.

Ray, whose undergraduate degree is in applied mathematics and secondary education, has stressed to his players that just like they'd do in a math class -- learn addition before you move onto subtraction and retain that before you move on to multiplication and division -- they must retain every step of the offensive and defensive schemes as they move onto the next.

But when it comes to goals for his team, the first-year Redhawks coach doesn't want to focus on the numbers.

"I think what we want to focus on is just a game-by-game process because I think if you start to lock in on those numerical goals, and then when those goals are not attainable, then what happens with the rest of your team?" Ray said. "We want to make sure that we're getting better every single day and then making sure that we're taking the information that we're giving them and each guy's growing as a player, as a team. I think the development of our individual players, the development of our team, is what we have to focus in on."

The Redhawks are coming off a season where they went 13-17 and 7-9 in the Ohio Valley Conference. They made the OVC tournament for the fifth straight year but lost in the opening round.

Year: SeniorPosition: GuardHeight: 6-4

Southeast Missouri State coach Rick Ray talks with his players on the bench during the second half of an exhibition game against Missouri S&T last week at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

They were picked to finish fourth in the OVC West Division in the preseason poll.

Southeast returns six players from last year's team, including starting guards Isiah Jones and Antonius Cleveland, who were the team's second and fourth-leading scorers.

Marcus Wallace, who finished his freshman season strong, and Jamaal Calvin also return to the backcourt for the Redhawks.

Trey Kellum is the only true forward back, and he sat out last year at Southeast after transferring from Florida A&M.

Ray's excited about the prospect of the newcomers but expects growing pains for the freshmen in their first season at the college level and for transfers adjusting to his system and their new teammates.

Year: SophomorePosition: GuardHeight: 6-3

"I think we have some talent. I don't think we have any experience. There's a difference," Ray said. "I think at the mid-major level when you've got talent along with an experienced team, that's when you start to have a lot of success. I think if you look at college basketball, you're no longer surprised when a mid-major beats a high major in the NCAA tournament because usually that mid-major team has a bunch of four-year, five-year guys on the team that know how to play basketball and have played together for a long time, and they're playing against guys on that high-major level that are freshmen or sophomores. They may be more talented, but they're not more talented and experienced. I think that's the thing that we have to concern ourselves with. All of our experience is in the backcourt, and I think we have some talent on the frontcourt, but do those two things match up with each other?"

Southeast played one exhibition game, defeating Division II Missouri S&T 93-64. The Redhawks trailed by one at halftime after turning the ball over 15 times in the first 20 minutes.

They held the Miners to 21.6 percent shooting in the second half while shooting 60 percent from the field in the second and outrebounded S&T 50-41 in the game.

"I think it's real simple on the offensive end. We want to make sure we take care of the basketball," Ray said in the weeks leading up to the exhibition. "The worst thing you can do on the offensive end is give the ball to the other team. You've got to make sure you reduce your turnovers. I think on the defensive end we talk about like we want to make sure we end a possession, and the only way you can end a possession in a positive way is to make sure that you get a defensive rebound. So those are the two things that we've really been focusing on the offensive and defensive end."

Ray hasn't gauged which of his 13 players will be ones that step up as leaders for the squad.

Year: JuniorPosition: GuardHeight: 6-1

"I think that remains to be seen because we haven't had to have leadership in any situation where there's terse times, so I think we'll get a chance to see that when you're going through a tough time or when the locker room maybe starts to go their own separate ways and guys start worrying about themselves instead of the team, so then we'll get a chance to see who actually our leaders are," Ray said. "I always say the coaches can talk as much as they want to, but until you get somebody in the locker room that's reinforcing and saying the same things you're saying when the coaches are not around, those are the guys who are your true leaders, and right now we don't know that information."

The Redhawks begin the season at Dayton today. Tip-off from UD Arena is set for 6 p.m.

It's the first meeting between the two teams.

The Flyers were picked to finish first in the Atlantic 10 Conference in the preseason poll. They were 27-9 and 13-5 in the A-10. They were 16-0 at home.

Six-foot-6 junior forward Kendall Pollard averaged 12.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest last year. He shot 55.2 percent from the field, had 30 steals and led the team with 32 blocks.

Year: FreshmanPosition: ForwardHeight: 6-9

Scoochie Smith, a 6-2 guard, started 35 and played in all 36 games last year, averaging 9.2 points and 3.1 rebounds. He had a 41.4 FG percentage and hit 41 3-pointers. He averaged 3.8 assists and 1.4 steals.

Darrell Davis, a 6-0 junior guard, averaged 7.1 points and started 35 games while 6-4 sophomore guard Darrell Davis played in all 36 games and knocked down 47 3-pointers at a 45.2 shooting clip.

Southeast plays at Evansville on Sunday as the Redhawks play six of their first seven games on the road.

"We've been banging on each other in practice for awhile now, and so they ought to be excited about getting a chance to go out and compete against somebody else and measure themselves," Ray said. "And the other thing is you can't look too far ahead. You've just got to worry about what's in front of you right now, and I think what's in front of us right now is continuing to prepare our team so we can go out and compete against someone else. We can't look too far ahead. We've just got to make sure that we're working on the day to day process of becoming better basketball players individually and as a team."