December 13, 2011

Murphy named Mid-Major Player of the Week by CollegeHoops.net

Tennessee Tech senior guard Kevin Murphy has been named Mid-Major Player of the Week by CollegeHoops.net for his performances in victories over East Tennessee State and Lipscomb.

Click here to view CollegeHoops.net report

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Tech senior guard Kevin Murphy has been named Mid-Major Player of the Week by CollegeHoops.net for his performances in victories over East Tennessee State and Lipscomb.

The web site publishes its Mid-Major Player of the Week as part of a review of the previous week of college basketball action published each Monday.

Murphy, the leading scorer in the Ohio Valley Conference, enjoyed the best week of his stellar senior season to-date, scoring 23 points in an 83-74 win over East Tennessee State and tossing in 29 in an 89-87 overtime victory over Lipscomb.

Against Lipscomb, Murphy scored 19 of his points in the second half, helping to spark a rally from an eight-point deficit at intermission. He went 10-for-13 from the field against ETSU and got hot from three-point range against Lipscomb, going 4-for-8 from beyond the arc.

Murphy led Tech in scoring in both games and contributed on the boards, grabbing seven rebounds against Lipscomb and five against ETSU. He also moved into eighth on Tech’s all-time scoring list against ETSU, surpassing Hall of Famer Kenny Sidwell. Murphy has now scored 1,525 career points.

The Fairburn, Ga., native also extended his streak to 14 consecutive games with a made three-pointer on Saturday. The streak began against Jacksonville State on Feb. 26 of last season.

Murphy is averaging 20.8 points per game this season, a number that ranks him first in the OVC and 19^th nationally. He is also pulling down 5.7 rebounds per contest to go with 1.7 assists and 1.3 steals and is shooting 43 percent from three-point range.

“Kevin is having a good season,” head coach Steve Payne says. “Our guys are doing a good job of screening for him and getting him the ball in situations where he can score. He is playing at a high level offensively and improving defensively. The challenge is for him to continue to be efficient on offense and continue to get better on defense.”

The Golden Eagles are taking final exams this week and return to action on Saturday at Evansville. Tip-off is set for 1:05 p.m.