The ex-JUCO standout scored 7.6 points per game in his lone season at Pitt
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Pitt guard Ryan Murphy entered the transfer portal on Sunday, according to Jake Weingarten of Stockrisers. Although he was listed as a redshirt junior during the 2019-20 season, he graduated from Pitt early and will leave the program as a graduate transfer.
Pittsburgh guard Ryan Murphy will enter the transfer portal as a grad transfer, he told @Stockrisers.
— Jake (@jakeweingarten) March 15, 2020
Murphy averaged seven points a game. Shot 35% from three.
Murphy came to Pitt from New Mexico Junior College, where he stood out as a solid long-distance shooter despite an injury-shortened season. During his time in Hobbs, New Mexico, Murphy posted a team-high 18.5 points per game and shot 46.7 percent from distance through his first three games. But by the end of the 2018-19 season, that had dipped to 28.0 percent. Murphy played in 13 games for New Mexico Junior College, making 13 starts, but he missed 20 games with a foot injury.
At Pitt, Murphy followed a similar trajectory, getting off to a hot start before eventually cooling off amid injury issues. He scored 13 points on 3-for-7 shooting from the field in his debut with the Panthers, helping Pitt defeat Florida State 63-61. He followed that up with a breakout performance, as he scored 28 points on 10-for-17 shooting in a 75-70 loss to Nicholls State. All told, he averaged 15.5 points per game while shooting 42.9 percent from long range through his first four games.
However, inconsistency became an issue for Murphy, as his three-point percentage dipped to 28.8 between Nov. 18 and Dec. 30 of last year and he struggled to contribute in other ways while his shot wasn't falling. That issue was exacerbated after Murphy suffered a concussion during a team practice on Jan. 30. While he would return from the injury and play in nine more games at Pitt, he averaged just 1.9 points per game and went 3-for-17 from three-point range during that span. He was also held scoreless in five of his final 10 games at Pitt, contributing to their late-season slump.
It is unclear where Murphy intends to transfer to at this point. Before playing at Pitt, he spent one season at Charlotte and one at New Mexico Junior College. Previously, he held offers from Cal Poly, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara in California, where he attended high school. He also held offers from Power Five programs like Texas Tech and Washington State.
Murphy finished his season at Pitt averaging 7.6 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. He made 36.2 percent percent of his shots from the field while converting on 33.1 percent from beyond the arc.
