The Path To Success isn’t Always a Straight Line

No successful athlete ever has an easy path to success, and the same is true for Iowa Star and former DME Academy standout, Keegan Murray. 

Typically, star athletes are offered scholarships in High School and head right to college following their graduation. Well, Keegan Murray didn’t follow the traditional star athlete path. Following a senior season at Prairie High School (Cedar Rapids, IA) he decided to forgo his college scholarship offers and head to basketball powerhouse, DME Sports Academy (DME) for a Post Graduate year, in search of more lucrative Division I opportunities. 

DME was all business as soon as Keegan arrived on campus, training for about 6 hours a day, between strength and conditioning, practice, film sessions, and individual workouts. “Keegan is a very coachable athlete with a strong work ethic, which helps me become a better coach,” says Wesam Al-Sous, Head Post-Graduate Coach at DME, when asked about Keegan’s character. “But not only is he just coachable, he’s a selfless team player, and does anything he can in order for the team to be successful, which means putting in the work at practice —he definitely shows up in practice just as much as he shows up in the game.”

That work ethic, and his coachable mentality, helped Keegan gain interest from over 40 Division I programs, before landing a scholarship with his dream school, the University of Iowa, where his father, Kenyon Murray, also played. “When Keegan joined us [DME], he had great potential, he just needed to be pushed and compete at a higher level, in order to show his full potential,” commented Al-Sous on Keegan’s. Showing his full potential is exactly what Keegan did at DME, averaging 22.4 points per game on 50.75% shooting (41.7% from 3-point range), which helped put Keegan on people’s radar, ultimately  landing a scholarship at the University of Iowa.

Since arriving at the University of Iowa, Keegan has helped boost the Hawkeyes to a #5 national ranking, while averaging 6.8 points per game and shooting a 55.8% field goal percentage on 15.8 minutes per game.

“At DME, we focus on improving every single student-athlete, through individual training schedules and customized programs for each of our athletes, we were able to give Keegan that personalized attention he needed to help elevate his game and get him to the next level,” explained Al-Sous. 

If you’re interested in elevating your game to the next level, connect with one of our sport advisors here!