Whenever Erik Murphy sets a screen for one of his fellow big men and fades back behind the 3-point arc, he presents a dilemma for opposing defenders.
They can stay back and help their teammates prevent a powerful dunk from center Patric Young or a high-percentage shot from fellow sophomore Will Yeguete.
Or they can trail the 6-foot-10 Murphy out to the perimeter and hope their defense can handle the Gators in the paint.
On Saturday afternoon at the O’Connell Center, Mississippi State forwards like Arnett Moultrie made the wrong choice more often than not in a 69-57 Bulldogs loss.
Murphy, a junior forward, hit a game-high 4 of 7 shots from 3-point range and scored 14 points to help springboard No. 14 Florida to its fifth straight Southeastern Conference victory.
“A lot times, guys are running at [Murphy] and he’s able to get it off,” coach Billy Donovan said.
“Moultrie is getting caught in-between like, ‘OK, do I got to help on Patric Young rolling to the basket with Murphy standing over here?’”
While Young scored 10 points in the second half and Yeguete wreaked havoc defensively with two steals, a block and a pair of drawn charges, it was Murphy who drew the most praise from Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury following the game.
Though Murphy was a 40-percent 3-point shooter last year, he only attempted 30 shots. This season, he has already made 33 threes, leading Stansbury to describe Murphy as the player who alters the way teams traditionally guard the Gators.
“Last year, he’s on this roster; he’s no factor,” Stansbury said. “Ya’ll know that, he was no factor. Right now? Shoot. He’s the one guy (who) now changes their team totally. … He is the one guy who is difficult to defend. He stretches you out. He is the fourth guy out there who can really shoot the basketball and he stepped up tonight.”
In a game in which UF failed to make a free throw until 1:13 left to play and only had two points from leading scorer Kenny Boynton, a confident Murphy helped salvage Florida’s outside shooting.
Boynton was held without a 3-pointer for just the second time this season and senior point guard Erving Walker shot 1 of 5 from three before hitting his second with 10 seconds left to play.
Murphy’s four 3-pointers pushed the Gators into double-digit threes for the 15th time this season and improved his shooting percentage from three to 48.5 percent, which leads the SEC among players who average two attempts per game.
“I’m trying to be more aggressive and shoot whenever I’m open,” Murphy said. “I’ve always been pretty confident in my shot, but right now it’s falling a little bit, so it feels good.”
Murphy said beating Mississippi State, a team known for its strong post presence, without large offensive contributions from Boynton and Walker should put an end to discussions about Florida’s frontcourt toughness.
“No, I don’t think we have a lack of depth,” Murphy said. “Pat’s been coming off the bench because of an injury, Will’s been playing great, Cody (Larson) steps in and plays well.
“I mean, other guys that haven’t gotten a chance to play, they’re talented. They can play; they just haven’t gotten the chance, so I don’t think we have a lack of depth at all.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Florida forward Erik Murphy scored 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range in Saturday’s 69-57 win against Mississippi State.
