Murphy earns sixth Big East player of week honor
Special to The Obsever
Forward Troy Murphy has been named the Big East Player of the Week for the sixth time this season after scoring 35 points, grabbing eight rebounds and blocking three shots in his team's 76-74 victory at 25th-ranked Seton Hall.
Murphy's sixth player-of-the week honor ties him with John Wallace of Syracuse who also was a six-time winner during the 1995-96 campaign.
The 6-foot-10 sophomore leads the league in both scoring and rebounding as he is averaging 23.5 points and 10.7 rebounds, respectively.
His 35 points against the Pirates ties his career-high and marks the ninth time this season he has scored 30-plus points in a game.
Murphy has led the Irish in scoring in 22 of its 26 games.
Riley, Ratay outrank
competition
Junior center Ruth Riley and freshman guard Alicia Ratay were winners of the Big East weekly awards after leading the fifth-ranked Irish to a 2-0 week with victories on the road at Villanova (70-52) and at eighth-ranked Rutgers (78-74 in overtime).
Riley was named the player-of-the-week along with Svetlana Abrosimova of Connecticut earning the award for the second time this season.
She averaged 20.0 points and 11.0 rebounds, scoring 14 points and grabbing eight rebounds against Villanova and then recording her fourth double-double of the season with 26 points and a season-tying 14 rebounds against Rutgers.
Ratay is named the rookie-of-the-week for the sixth time (the most by any freshmen) in 1999-2000 as she averaged 19.0 points and 7.0 rebounds. In the overtime win at Rutgers, Ratay set the Big East three-point field goal percentage record as she made all seven of her attempts.
She finished the game with 26 points and 10 rebounds in recording her second double-double of the season. Ratay also had 12 points and four rebounds against Villanova. In the two games, the freshman guard shot 73.3 percent from the field (11-15) and was seven-of-nine from three-point range.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, February 22, 2000
