When discussions pop up about the Virginia men’s basketball team, the focus falls on the bookends. UVA’s roster, after all, features a lot of older experienced players and a four-man freshman class that’s garnered a lot of interest. In the middle, however, sophomore Taine Murray is trying to carve out a spot.

Murray, along with long-time walk-on Chase Coleman, was the only member of the bench last season that stuck around for the Hoos. Carson McCorkle (Wofford) and Igor Milicic Jr. (Charlotte) opted to transfer for new opportunities as scholarship players. Walk-on Malachi Poindexter (Illinois State) did the same, while walk-on Jayden Nixon (Johns Hopkins) moved on as a graduate student.

Those moves, in part, left Murray as the only sophomore on the roster. After spending last season as a limited-use reserve that even played some as a power forward defensively despite his 6’5”, 205-pound frame, the New Zealand native is competing for a bigger role. The Cavaliers expect to have more depth this year so he’ll be up against experienced players like Armaan Franklin and newcomers like Isaac McKneely, Leon Bond III, and Ryan Dunn for minutes.

During Virginia media day Wednesday at the John Paul Jones Arena, The Sabre caught up with Murray for a Quick Take interview. Check it out.

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