Purdue's Liam Murphy gets March Madness moment in first NCAA Tournament
Purdue's Liam Murphy made his NCAA Tournament debut after six years, sinking a 3-pointer in the Boilermakers' win.
ST. LOUIS — Liam Murphy made three stops on his college basketball journey. His final one finally provided him an opportunity to play with a winning program, but Purdue basketball 's deep roster didn't afford many opportunities for 6-foot-7 sharpshooter who previously spent time at Columbia and North Florida.
With the Boilermakers pulling away in a first-round March Madness game against Queens at the Enterprise Center on Friday, March 20, Murphy checked into an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in his career with 4:35 to go. "I've been through college without getting to the dance," Murphy said after Purdue's 104-71 victory. Purdue men's basketball: Complete Boilermaker coverage from the Journal & Courier Not only did Murphy get to the dance, he got in the scoring column.
With 46 seconds left, Murphy caught the ball at the top of the key and fired a 3-pointer for the Purdue's final points in a first-round victory . "PJ (Thompson) yelled at them to get a pindown for him," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "He can really shoot the basketball.
That was a really cool moment for him to make that shot. " Murphy had played in just 11 games and scored 25 points this season, 11 of those in a Nov. 7 win over Oakland .