With the graduation of guards Jewuan Long and Donte Poole, and forward Ivan Aska, the Murray State Racers were going to need sophomore guard Zay Jackson to raise his production from a season ago.
The impact that Jackson may have on the reigning OVC champions is now in doubt thanks to an incident in a Walmart parking lot on Sunday.
According to WPSD-TV in Paducah, Kentucky, Jackson was arrested on two counts of first-degree assault on Sunday afternoon.
To say the least this is bad news for a team coming off of a 31-2 campaign, and with point guard Isaiah Canaan and forward Ed Daniel returning the Racers are capable of repeating in the OVC.
But they need a third option to make up for the departures of Long, Poole and Aska, who combined to average 33.2 points per game in 2011-12.
Jackson averaged just 4.9 points and 2.3 assists per game last season, and his 18.4 minutes per game ranked second among the Racers’ reserves.
Murray State has six freshmen and six seniors on this season’s roster, so obviously Jackson would be an important figure both this season and in the future.
But that future likely became a bit more uncertain with this news.
Raphielle is also the assistant editor at CollegeHoops.net and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.
