He isn’t necessarily the University of Florida’s most talented player, but Erik Murphy seems to cause more headaches for opposing coaches than anyone else on the roster.
When teams prepare for the Gators, Murphy’s offensive game is the greatest conundrum. The forward is 6-feet-10 with a respectable post game and has deep shooting range. He is the most dangerous 3-point shooter in the SEC at 46.4 percent and is averaging 12.4 points per game. Few opponents have had a solution, and he has shot 60 percent or better from the field 11 times this season.
“When he shoots the ball, there is there is very, very little stray from doing the same exact thing over and over and over,” said coach Billy Donovan, who has had a bevy of sharp-shooters in 17 seasons at UF. “It’s a tribute to his discipline. Erik is about as consistent as they come.”
Murphy is finishing a quality career and will be one of three seniors honored before No. 11 Florida’s home game against Vanderbilt on Wednesday (8 p.m., WTCN-15). The Gators (23-5, 13-3 SEC) already have clinched a share of the conference title and can claim it outright with a victory over the Commodores (13-15, 7-9).
When Donovan began recruiting Murphy out of South Kingstown, R.I., during his sophomore year of high school, he quickly recognized him as a rare find. Most players Murphy’s size pick up easy points near the basket simply by towering over defenders, but he already had a deadly outside shot.
“That was something I learned from a really young age,” Murphy said. “Having that skill, I think, put me in a little bit different position than a traditional post player. That kept developing, and I ended up how I am now.”
What is he now? One of the most valuable players in the SEC. He has long been a dangerous 3-point shooter, and this season he strengthened his defense and low-post scoring.
He is hitting 53.4 percent from the field this year and is one of only two players in the SEC to have a perfect shooting night with at least eight attempts. After watching him hit 10 of 10 shots for 24 points against his team in November, exasperated Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said, “We worked on how we were going to cover him … but the things that we worked on, we did the opposite.”
Murphy has become such a weapon that coach Billy Donovan believes he will get a shot at playing in the NBA, just as his father, former Boston College star Jay Murphy, did.
“He’s definitely going to have a chance,” Donovan said. “People always talk about having an NBA skill — he has an NBA skill. That guy can really, really shoot, and he’s got size.
“There will be enough intrigue. When you look at guys like Ryan Anderson or Kyle Korver or Matt Bonner, even a Mike Miller, that (skill set) has correlated and translated up there.”
CBS and DraftExpress project Murphy as a late second-round pick. He said he is preoccupied with Florida’s pursuit of conference and national titles and has not thought about a potential professional future.
When he arrived at UF, he endured two years of coming off the bench before emerging as a starter. He was frustrated enough to consider transferring, but he ultimately was confident that he could make an impact at Florida and proved it the following season with 10.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
When the team celebrates his career before Wednesday’s game, it will be a reminder of how glad he is that he stayed in Gainesville.
“There’s so much I can take away — life lessons, basketball lessons,” he said. “It’s been a roller-coaster ride, but it’s been the best four years of my life.”
