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Western Kentucky Basketball: Auburn Grad Transfer DeSean Murray becomes a Hilltopper

By Jonathan Goehring

SAN DIEGO, CA - MARCH 16: Desean Murray
SAN DIEGO, CA - MARCH 16: Desean Murray /
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Western Kentucky basketball has gotten even stronger, landing a transfer from Auburn. The strong presence inside will fill a need the Hilltoppers have.

Yet another impact player is off to play at Western Kentucky. And this time, it’s an experienced power forward, a position the Hilltoppers have been wanting to find.

DeSean Murray only has one year of eligibility left, and has elected to spend it at Western Kentucky in the Conference USA. The announcement came from a tweet of his this past Wednesday.

Murray was solid at the power forward position for the entire 2017-18 season at Auburn. He started all 34 games and helped lead the Tigers to a regular season SEC title and a #4 seed in the NCAA tournament. Auburn outlasted Charleston in the first round before falling to Clemson in the round of 32.

Murray isn’t going to make a huge difference in the scoring department, as he averaged just over 10 points a game last season in 24 minutes. He will, however, be a strong presence defensively who can protect the rim, get a hand on some shots, and rebound the ball effectively.

He can also create opportunities for others by being a strong presence on the interior. The hope for the Hilltoppers is that his game fully translates to Conference USA, and he can still be enough of a threat on the interior to draw enough attention which allows other young and talented Hilltoppers to get open. Coming from a superior SEC conference, it seems likely that this will be the case.

This move continues a strong beginning to Western Kentucky’s offseason, a 27 win team in 2017-18. Also earlier this week Carson Williams committed from Northern Kentucky, and though he will need to sit out a year, he too is part of a promising future for the Hilltoppers.

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With a strong base already in place and two transfers to solidify positions at which Western Kentucky could still use some help, the Hilltoppers look to be on the rise. Murray only has one season left, but he too will be part of an improving team who might just surprise a lot of college basketball fans over the course of the next couple of seasons.