WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA — It’s certainly no secret that one of the main reasons why West Brighton resident Liam Murphy finds himself in a Purdue University men’s basketball uniform this season is because of his ability to shoot the rock.
One day after Purdue assistant coach Sasha Stefanovic first discovered footage of Murphy draining three-pointers for North Florida, the Big Ten program arranged a Zoom call with him. It was then head coach Matt Painter and his coaching staff first envisioned Murphy getting open looks off feeds from highly touted point guard Braden Smith.
Murphy is confident in his shooting prowess and is aware it’s the bread-and-butter of his game, but he fully understands it’s only one aspect that’ll help him get playing time for the Boilermakers.
Rebounding, for instance, is also a priority, but probably not as much as learning Purdue’s system on the defensive end of the floor. According to Murphy, it’s not as much a physical issue as it is a mental one. In a perfect world, the coaching staff believes the 6-foot-8 Murphy — yes, that’s what they’re listing him at now — is capable of guarding anybody from a shooting guard to center.
Liam Murphy looks to find his ‘niche’ at Purdue University
He believes he’s the lone player on Purdue’s roster with that kind of defensive versatility and if he can handle it, it gives Painter plenty of lineup options.
Murphy said the key to locking in on Purdue’s system is learning the finer points of ball-screen coverage.
“I think ball-screen coverage is going to be super important,’’ Murphy told the Advance/SILive.com a few weeks ago. ”We had some coaches meetings right after we got back from the break (at the end of August) and the one thing that stood out to me was assistant coach (Paul Lusk), who told me to let my experience win out. Meaning, I’m competing for time with some younger guys and I have to let my communication, experience and positioning on defense help me.
“And that’s especially in those ball-screen coverages where I’m not the most comfortable guarding continuous ball screens from a center,’’ added Murphy. ”There’s constant rolling; constant screening and rolling; hard hedging and getting back hard.
“So I think continuing to push myself on covering those because if I really cover those up, the way they want me too, as a hard hedge guy, I’m really the only forward on the team who they see as a hard-hedge guy,’’ he continued.”I’m a little more mobile (than some of the other bigs), so they want me out there pressuring the ball, hard-hedging, changing the direction of the ball. Kind of impacting the game that kind of way. That’s something that they voiced to me that’s going to be super important for my role, so that’s something that I have been trying to focus on — communicating early, loud and continuous on all those ball screens.
“I’ve been pushing myself to really make sure that my veteran leadership kind of shows through when I’m on the court. Not only my play and IQ play, but by communicating and making it easier for everybody else.’’
Murphy thinks he’s picked up the Boilermakers’ defensive concepts rather quickly. In addition, the fact he’s normally matched up against 6-9 Trey Kaufman-Renn in practice has given him an edge.
“A lot of the things I’ve highlighted is not physical, if you will, it’s really mental and being alert and being focused to it,’’ the former St. Peter’s star added. ”You know what they always says, ‘it’s the guy in the right position that’s the better defender, not necessarily the quicker guy.
“If I can be in the right spot and use my length to D-up ball handlers and kind of throw them off of their advantages and the ball screens, I think that coach will be very pleased.’’
As far his ability to guard multiple positions, Murphy is getting plenty of experience matching up against the screener, as well as the player being screened. He’s already made strides and is looking forward to the challenge regardless of what position he’s defending.
“Obviously (the shooting guard) is a tough cover for me, as is a (center), depending on the match-ups, and I know we’re going to get into that more,’’ said Murphy, noting Purdue started official practices on Sept. 24. ”They view me a lot different than any other guys at my position they have, obviously on offense because I can shoot it and space the floor.
“But, on defense, because I can stay with those guards more, they’ve voiced to me different options that I have. If I’m behind on a ball screen and I can’t go and hard-hedge, to redirect the ball (for instance), they want me to switch it and they don’t have a problem with that.’’
Murphy said a lot of PT decisions will be based on match-ups, but his flexibility should have him in the mix regardless of whether Painter wants to go with a big or small lineup.
“I’ve been told time and again that (coach Painter) is diligent and thorough in his pre-game preparation, so we’ll have a lot of different looks to throw at (the opposition),’’ said Murphy. ”But the thought is to definitely utilize me on both sides of the ball and, defensively, in a variety of (ways).
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