Former Tech men’s basketball player Kevin Murphy starts his first professional season in the NBA this fall with the Utah Jazz.
Murphy came to Tech as a freshman in 2008 from Creekside High School in Fairburn, Ga. He spent all four of his college years at Tech, majoring in general curriculum.
Murphy graduated from Tech in May 2012, and by June he had signed a two-year professional basketball contract with the Utah Jazz.
He was the 47th overall pick in the draft, landing him the third highest NBA Draft pick in Tech’s history.
Murphy is the first Tech athlete to sign an NBA contract since John Best in 1993.
According to TTUSports.com, Murphy said, “I’m really looking to come in here and show all the doubters that said I couldn’t make it, I couldn’t play, or that I was going to be a bust, that I can do it.”
In Murphy’s four years as a starting forward for Tech, he accomplished a record of 2,019 career points in 128 games, making him the 14th overall record holder in Ohio Valley Conference history. His highest point average in a single game was 50 points against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
“I’m excited for him,” Terrell Barnes, senior on Tech’s men’s basketball team and former teammate of Murphy, said. “I think it’s a great opportunity, and I think he will do great things.”
Murphy participated in the NBA Summer League in Orlando, Fla. He played for five days in July and averaged a score of 8.6 points a game, which he played a minimum of 20 minutes per game.
Murphy’s professional season with the Utah Jazz will open the 2012-2013 season against Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks at the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Murphy’s college basketball number, 55, will carry over to his new team this season.
