Honor Roll
Murphy was a three-time All American who scored 2,548 points in 77 games played for the Purple Eagles. His 33.1 point average during his college career ranks fourth on the NCAA career chart behind Pete Maravich (LSU - 44.2 ppg), Austin Carr (Notre Dame - 34.5 ppg) and Oscar Robertson (Cincinnati - 33.8 ppg). In his junior campaign, Murphy netted a career high 68 points in a 118-110 victory over Syracuse University, the third highest single game scoring effort in NCAA history. In 1970, he helped lead Niagara to its first berth into the NCAA Tournament, where the Purple Eagles upset the University of Pennsylvania in the first round. Murphy was selected as the 18th overall pick of the 1970 NBA Draft by the San Diego Rockets (now Houston Rockets). He played for 13 seasons for the Rockets, registering 17,949 points, 4,402 assists and 1,165 steals in over 1,000 games played. After retiring from the NBA in 1983, he was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993. Murphy's number 23 jersey has been retired by both Niagara and the Rockets.