Murphy to be inducted into TTU Sports Hall of Fame Friday, Nov. 4
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Little doubt can be had on the effect Kevin Murphy had on the Tennessee Tech men’s basketball program during his four-year career from 2008-12. A starter almost immediately from the day he set foot in Cookeville, the Atlanta, Ga. established himself as one of the all-time great scorers in school history.
By TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Little doubt can be had on the effect Kevin Murphy had on the Tennessee Tech men's basketball program during his four-year career from 2008-12. A starter almost immediately from the day he set foot in Cookeville, the Atlanta, Ga. established himself as one of the all-time great scorers in school history.
The program's all-time record holder with 128 games played, he made a whopping 110 starts (fourth in team history) while becoming just the second player in school history to surpass 2,000 career points, finishing with 2,109, just 87 shy of Earl Wise. His 681 points scored during the 2011-12 campaign ranked as the third most ever by Golden Eagle.
That senior season was highlighted by the single greatest scoring display in program history, a 50-point outburst over SIUE in front of the Tech faithful. The performance broke a more-than-50-year-old record of 48 points set by Jimmy Hagan in February 1959 and tied by Ron Filipek in February 1966.
He is one of five inductees into the 48th class of the Tennessee Tech Sports Hall of Fame. Along with Murphy, David Collett (football, 1998-2001), Tacarra Hayes Barnes (women's basketball, 2008-12), Ottis Phillips (football/supporter, 1969-present), and Dave Pratt (baseball/men's basketball, 1964-67) will be inducted during the annual Hall of Fame Dinner on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Roaden University Center's Multipurpose Room. Tickets for the dinner are on sale by calling (931) 372-3940, visiting the Eblen Center ticket office, or by visiting TTUsports.com.
After averaging 9.6 points as a true freshman, he continued to improve each season, increasing his scoring average to 15.3 points as a sophomore, 17.0 points as a junior, and a whopping 20.6 points as a senior, which ranked 10th nationally in the 2011-12 season. He also shot a career-best 41.6 percent from 3-point range his final season, ranking in the top-10 in single-season history.
Playing 3,718 minutes in his career (third-highest mark in program history), he rounded out his time in Cookeville also ranked in the top-10 for a career in field goals made (706 – fourth), field goal attempts (1,594 – third), 3-point field goals made (191 – seventh), 3-point field goal attempts (515 – seventh), free throws made (416 – sixth), free throw attempts (568 – sixth), 20-point games (39 – fourth), and 30-point games (seven – fourth).
As a junior and senior, Murphy led the Golden Eagles to two of the program's seven total postseason appearances, invites to the CIT in 2011 and 2012. He also led Tech to just its third-ever appearance in the OVC's postseason tournament title game, a close loss to eventual champion Morehead State in 2011.
For his on-court efforts, Murphy was a two-time member of the All-OVC First Team in 2010-11 and 2011-12, as well as an OVC All-Newcomer Team selection as a rookie in 2008-09. He was twice named to the OVC All-Tournament Team as a junior and senior and collected NABC All-District honors both years as well. Following his senior campaign, he was selected to take part in the Reese's College All-Star Game and was just the second Golden Eagle ever to earn All-Tournament honors at the revered Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.
Following his illustrious career, Murphy became the third-highest and ninth-ever NBA draft pick in program history, taken in the second round with the 47th overall pick of the 2012 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz. He went on to play 17 games with the Jazz as a rookie, making his professional debut on Oct. 31, 2012. He scored a career-high nine points in a contest against Houston on Jan. 28, 2013.
The next summer, he was involved in a three-team trade that sent him to the Golden State Warriors. After playing in the 2013 NBA Summer League, he was waived and played professionally overseas in France before heading back to the U.S. in January 2014 for a spot on the NBA D-League's Idaho Stampede.
He was named to the All-NBA D-League First Team in 2014 after averaging 25.5 points per game. That same season, he also broke the Stampede's all-time scoring record with 51 points nearly two years to the day after setting Tech's scoring mark.
Following the 2013-14 season, he spent time playing professionally overseas again in China, Japan, Croatia, Turkey, and the Philippines through the 2017-18 seasons. In that time, he dropped a career-high 67 points in a contest for Guangxi of the Chinese National Basketball League. Murphy also spent parts of the 2014-15 season with a pair of NBA D-League clubs.
In 2016-17, he played 45 games for the D-League's Grand Rapids Drive, averaging 23.1 points per game. He returned to the league for the 2021-22 season as a member of the NBA G League Ignite, a developmental team affiliated with the newly re-branded NBA G League.
Since 2021, he has competed for the 3 Headed Monsters of the BIG3, a 3-on-3 basketball league founded by hip-hop musician and actor Ice Cube. The league consists of 12 teams with both former NBA players and international players. Drafted with the seventh overall pick in the 2021 draft, he won the BIG3 Rookie of the Year trophy after ranking fourth in the league in scoring with 20.4 points per game. He upped the ante in year two in the league, winning BIG3 MVP and being named the Too Hard To Guard player for the 2022 season after averaging 25.9 points per game.
Murphy graduated from Tech in the spring of 2012 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies.
