Notre Dame big man comes up "big time" in win
Kathleen O'Brien
Assistant Sports Editor
The Irish basketball team needed a victory, and Troy Murphy delivered.
Big-time.
The sophomore forward scored 30 points and pulled down a career-high 18 rebo-unds in Notre Dame's 73-60 victory over No. 23 St. John's (13-5, 5-2) Saturday.
"Freaking guy gets 30 points and 18 rebounds," Notre Dame head coach Matt Doherty said. "That's big-time. Big, big big-time. He's done that time and time again."
The Irish (12-8, 4-3) were down 6-0 before Murphy hit a jumper with 16 minutes, 5 seconds to play in the first half.
But Murphy changed that in a hurry. On the next Irish possession, the 6-foot-10 Murphy had a slam dunk. With that basket, he joined the ranks of Notre Dame players who scored at least 1,000 career points.
Murphy played down the role of his talent and hard work in reaching the 1,000-point mark, instead focusing on how his teammates helped him along the way.
"You have to have great teammates to get you the ball," Murphy said. "They're really not tough shots. A lot of people in my situation could do the same."
In the next five minutes of play, Murphy scored 11 points, keeping the Irish in the game almost single-handedly.
And he kept up the stellar play all day long, shooting 11 of 13 from the field and adding seven free throws to lead the game in scoring.
Murphy led the Irish on both ends of the court, with 13 of his 18 rebounds coming on defense. He also added two blocks and two steals, with only one personal foul.
Yet he didn't seek to think his performance was any big deal. When asked about his play, Murphy shrugged, grinned and gave credit for the victory to point guard Jimmy Dillon.
Murphy said it was Dillon's steal and slam dunk with 2:19 remaining that turned the game in Notre Dame's favor.
"It was a great play and that was what won us the game," Murphy said.
But no matter how key Dillon's play was, the Irish never would have been in the game without Murphy.
Irish opponents have a slightly different take on Murphy's impact than he has. They know that containing Murphy is a prerequisite for beating the Irish.
Ranked teams like Connecticut and St. John's learned that the hard way. Neither team found an answer to defending Murphy — a fatal error. Murphy snagged at least 16 boards and put up 30 or more points in both games, and the Irish went home victorious.
In eight Irish losses this season, Murphy has been held below his scoring average seven times. The lone exception was an 81-64 overtime loss at Indiana, where Murphy scored 25.
"He can do so many things in so many different ways to hurt you," St. John's coach Mike Jarvis said. "He's an exceptional player' an unbelievable competitor. He's having an All-American year."
Murphy is doing everything he can to make Jarvis's words ring true.
Murphy seems an obvious pick for All-American teams as the only player in the nation ranked in the top ten in both scoring and rebounding. He was named to midseason All-America teams by Dick Vitale, USA Today and The Sporting News.
And he's just a sophomore.
Big East teams know better than to overlook Murphy, who could drive the Irish into contention for a Big East title.
Although Notre Dame is tied for fifth in the Big East right now, only Syracuse is more than one game ahead of Notre Dame in the standings. If Murphy and the Irish play the way they did against St. John's Saturday, they may be able to make a run at Syracuse, if not in the regular season, in the Big East tournament.
Murphy leads the Big East in scoring and rebounding, and has been selected as Big East player of the week five times this season.
Doherty knows how lucky the Irish are to have a player like Murphy.
"One thing I don't want to take for granted is Troy," Doherty said. "I'm fortunate to be his college coach."
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, February 1, 2000
