Murphy Out to Be Heard on Floor

Saturday, December 19

Sunrise, FL

8:00 PM

Florida Gators

Oklahoma State

After injuring his foot in UF's exhibition game, senior Alex Murphy took on the role of player/coach for the Gators.

Murphy Out to Be Heard on Floor

Saturday, December 19, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

SUNRISE, Fla. -- His voice has been booming from the Florida bench since the season began. It screams for the Gators to get into the right spots on offense. To watch for screens on defense. Keep hands up. Close out the 3-point line. Box out. Talk.

"He's loud over there," junior forward Justin Leon said. "We can definitely hear him."

So can UF coach Mike White, who through his team's first nine games has been a few seats down the bench from forward Alex Murphy. Before Murphy suffered a plantar fascia tear to the right foot in the team's Nov. 5 exhibition game, White and his staff saw a noticeable difference in the way the Gators communicated on both ends of the floor when Murphy was on it. They lost a little bit of that when Murphy lost the first nine games to injury.

Now (and with apologies to Mick Hubert), the voice of the Gators is expected back on the court when Florida (6-3) faces Oklahoma State (7-3) Saturday night in the Orange Bowl Classic at the BB&T Center. Whether Murphy's presence would have altered the outcomes in any of UF's three defeats no one will know, but the passionate and animated way he remained engaged from the sidelines is a testament to the fifth-year senior's investment in this team.

"I don't want to sound like a hypocrite, but I've been really hard on some of the guys while watching and yelling at them from the bench," Murphy said. "Now that I'm about to be back out there, I think about what it's been like when I was out there before and, no, it's never as easy as you think; never as easy as it looks from the sidelines. When you're out there, you realize that, 'Man, this is a tough game.' It's hard work."

And Murphy loves his work and is excited for another chance to play.

Since he transferred from Duke nearly two years ago to the day, Murphy has been part of a memorable version of the Gators (as a scout teamer on the 2013-14 Final Four squad) and part of a very forgettable one (as a key reserve on the 2014-15 team that posted the program's first losing record in 17 years). He knows great cohesion on the court and chemistry off of it. Unfortunately, he knows not-so-great, as well. He's lived both.

Now, with his collegiate clock winding down, Murphy wants to finish with a flourish.

"I don't want to go out with any regrets," he said. "I know in the past I've looked back on a year and had regrets. I want to do everything in my power to avoid that."

For the past 44 days -- since collapsing to the O'Connell Center floor just two minutes into the team's exhibition game against Palm Beach Atlantic -- Murphy has been rehabbing like a maniac, doing what the training staff could clear him for without putting stress on the foot. A lot of heavy stationary bike work eventually gave way to straight-line running.

The 6-foot-8, 225-pound Murphy wasn't cleared to cut until two weeks ago; and not for full contact until just last week.

His voice, however, was never on the shelf.

Alex Murphy is confident his productivity will increase this season.

"Alex is infectious with his personality. He's as good a teammate as I've ever been around," White said. "I'm sure a lot of staffs preach ownership. I could tell one of our guys the same thing 10 times, but if their teammates are telling them that same thing it's just as good; sometimes even more valuable. He's a coach amongst the players. He's really good with understanding what we're looking for."

Added sophomore forward Devin Robinson: "He's told us that [sitting out] really opened his eyes to what he sees out there, so he really became more vocal. Now that he's back, he knows what he saw and he's trying to adjust it when he's in there. He gets people talking, he gets people going. He encourages people and that's what we need."

There's something else the Gators need: offense. The Southeastern Conference season is two weeks away, but UF ranks last among the league's 14 teams in field-goal percentage (.413) and free-throw percentage (.641), plus next-to-last in 3-point shooting percentage (.283).

Murphy averaged 5.1 points, 2.0 rebounds and shot just 18-percent (6-for-33) from long-distance in 23 games last season, so rolling him into a rotation already 11 deep, on paper, would project little impact. Murphy, though, isn't putting stock in numbers amassed on a team with so many flaws anymore than he's putting limitations on this season.

"I don't want to put expectations on myself by saying I'm going to average this and than. I've done that in the past. It doesn't work," he said. "But I'm also confident those numbers are going to change."

Worth noting: Murphy is a career 46-percent shooter from the floor, but nearly 64 percent when inside the 3-point line. He's worked a ton on his long-ball shooting since the end of last season (when he went 6-for-33, missing his first 11 attempts) and while he'll never be his brother Erik, he's better than what's he put on tape to date.

"I could list a number of things that have held me back at points in time during my career, but the biggest thing for me -- no question -- has been self-confidence and playing with a free mind," said Murphy, a consensus Top 50 players coming out of Wakefield, R.I. "I felt I was doing that in preseason, but I've also said that before. I'm older now, though. I'm not afraid to speak up. My role has changed and I think the way I was playing changed."

Now, he'll get a chance to prove it. Ironically, he made his UF debut on the same BB&T floor a year ago after completing his mandatory one-year NCAA transfer sit-out.

Murphy was anxious then. More so now.

"He's been on the bench just blowing out his mind, yelling at us and wanting to win so much," Leon said. "You just know, and you can see, what it all means to him."

You can hear how much. Time to see it.