His heroics fueled an 80-77 Ole Miss victory over the Tigers (5-2), sustaining the Rebels’ unbeaten run to begin life under new coach Chris Beard.
Beard, sensing the conversation might revolve around the big buckets and the team-high 22 points Murray scored, redirected the postgame news conference toward what he found important on the stat sheet.
“This is the problem, Juju,” Beard said, using Murray’s nickname. “This is like rat poison. They’re gonna ask you about your points. Not one of these guys is going to ask you about your nine assists and one turnover. That’s the job here at Ole Miss.”
Beard neglected to include Murray’s four rebounds and two blocks, despite his status as the smallest player on the court for either team.
But the thesis remains: It was a truly complete performance from the St. Peter’s transfer. He stuck the Tigers in a pick-and-roll blender all game, orchestrating the Ole Miss offense for the entire 40 minutes. And in a game that saw the Rebels (7-0) cede the advantage inside to the visitors, Murray cashed in four 3-pointers to carve out a path to victory from distance. Matthew Murrell, his backcourt partner, drilled another six as the Rebels shot 11-for-22 as a team.
Murray’s mission, in his mind, didn’t involve as many components. It was simple.
“Going into this game, it was just a winning my matchup deal,” Murray said. “Coach Beard had told me, if I’m the better guard that my team is gonna win.”
On paper, that would seem unlikely against Jahvon Quinerly, who transferred to Memphis after a strong three years at Alabama.
Murray was not a player on everyone’s transfer portal radar. 247Sports did not include him on its list of the top 383 available transfers last offseason. On3 placed him at No. 101.
Coming from the MAAC, where Murray started 14 games over two seasons with St. Peter’s, Tuesday’s victory over NC State marked the first time he’d ever played more than 30 minutes against a power conference team.
Yet Beard believed. And the early returns look promising.
“I think a big part of it is evaluation,” Beard said. “We all think of recruiting. You look at the four-stars, the five-stars, the internet, y’all’s articles and stuff. But there’s also basketball to be played. … We still believe in evaluation. I think with Juju, I was really impressed when I started watching him play. I watched him play for several days, just game after game after game.
“I was convinced that he could be a really good player in the SEC. We’ll see. It’s early season, guys. But I do have confidence in Juju’s talent. I’m starting to trust him more as the season goes on.”
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