Murphree Adjusting Well to Division I Basketball
November 28, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 28, 2006
By Matt Dowdy, Texas Tech Athletic Media Relations
For Lady Raider freshman Jordan Murphree, the wait to finally play in the United Spirit Arena is over.
After committing herself to Tech during her sophomore year in high school, Murphree has practically lived and breathed basketball. During the school year, she focused on leading the Brock Lady Eagles to the girls' 2A state title. During the summer, she traveled across the nation playing for the AAU Team Texas and Lubbock Lady Hawks.
All the hard work finally paid off November 10 when Murphree made the transition to Division I basketball scoring a team-high 17 points in the regular-season opener against Texas-San Antonio.
"It's a big transition," Murphree said. "Division I is a lot more intense, a lot more fast paced, and everyone is a lot better. Luckily, I got to play AAU basketball and things like that, so I was kind of a step ahead."
Murphree's start against UTSA marked the fourth time in the last seven years that a true freshman has started the season opener. She joins a group consisting of Tiny Henderson, Erin Grant and Plenette Pierson.
"It was kind of nerve-racking at first, but it was a really good experience," she said. "It showed that Coach (Kristy) Curry had a lot of confidence in me to be able to start."
The transition from high school to college hasn't seemed too difficult as Murphree is averaging 11 points per game along with 4.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists through the first six games.
According to Murphree, the shift from Brock to Lubbock hasn't been difficult, either.
"Tech is kind of spread out," she said. "I got lost a lot in Lubbock right away because we didn't even have any stop lights in Brock, but I like it a lot. Everyone is very nice just like in Brock, so it wasn't much of a change."
In high school, Brock head coach Skip Townsend would often schedule 5A non-district opponents that would give his Lady Eagles an opportunity to upend the big schools.
To the 6'0 Murphree, there was never a difference between playing basketball at a small school instead of a large school.
"My coach was a very good coach, and he let us have a chance to play against 5A people," she said. "I kind of got the feel for both worlds, so it really wasn't that big of a difference." Murphree earned all-state honors three times leading Brock to the 2A state title her junior year while also being named the TABC Player of the Year following her junior and senior seasons.
In AAU, Murphree's Team Texas won the BCI National Championship from 2001 to 2003. Murphree was the Tournament Outstanding Player in 2003. She also garnered BCI All-American honors in 2005 while playing with the Lubbock Lady Hawks.
All this success eventually led to Murphree being selected to play in the McDonald's All-American, WBCA, and the Texas vs. Oklahoma All-Star games that consisted of mostly future Division I players.
"They were really great experiences," she said. "Everyone at those games were top players. It was a good experience to kind of get a feel as to what it'll be like in college."
If the college experience ever becomes too difficult, though, Murphree has two sources for advice. Her father, David, played football at Texas A&M-Commerce, while her brother, Aaron, played baseball at the University of Arkansas.
"Dad's pretty hard on me. He says `never give up' and helps me out," she said. "They haven't really given me any advice besides never give up." With her success early on, Murphree likely could have played at any college in America, but her allegiance always lay with Texas Tech.
"I had always really wanted to go to Texas Tech, so I didn't really consider other schools," she said. "I committed my sophomore year and didn't look elsewhere."
