The 4th year forward comes to Purdue by way of Columbia and North Florida and should give Purdue some nice depth.
Purdue Basketball Offseason Homework: Liam Murphy
On this edition of offseason homework, we take a look at transfer forward, Liam Murphy. Murphy, a 6’7 forward from Staten Island, started his collegiate career with two seasons at Columbia, then one season with North Florida. In his time at Columbia, Murphy saw limited action, playing in just 36 games across both seasons. 20 of those games (all starts) came in his freshman season where Liam averaged 32.4 minutes, 12.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists on 38.7% shooting from the field and 35.9% from 3. His sophomore season did not go as well as he played in only 16 games, 6 being starts, and averaged 21.2 minutes, 7.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 0.8 assists on 35.5% shooting from the field including 31.5% from deep.
Following his two seasons in the Ivy League, Murphy took his talents to the sunshine state and became a North Florida Osprey, where his game dramatically improved on offense. Playing in 32 games at North Florida, Liam only started 2, but he was the team’s third leading scorer, fourth in minutes, and best 3 point shooter. On the years, Murphy averaged 23.9 minutes, 13.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.4 assists on 44.3% overall shooting and a blistering 42.3% from 3. Murphy made 104 3’s on the season (3.3 per game). Check out some highlights from Joe Jackson over at Feed the Post.
Liam Murphy – Purdue Transfer
The 6’7 Stretch-4 averaged 13.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 23.9 minutes a game during his senior season at North Florida
Murphy shot the ball at an elite level last year, shooting 42.3% from 3 on 7.7 attempts a game pic.twitter.com/s2aAwhzT5k
— Joe Jackson (@joejacksonCBB) April 17, 2025
So what can Murphy improve on? Some nitpicking in me would like to see the rebounds go up a little bit but as a 6’7 forward, 3 per game is not a bad amount. Murphy will likely need to take on opponents 3s, 4s, and 5s at Purdue, so he will need to be prepared to deal with size. But the biggest thing for Murphy to do is keep shooting like he did at North Florida. Purdue has shown that a corner shooter can bring this program a long way especially if they have a tenacity of getting open on the move. Liam Murphy can do that and if he continues to, he’ll do just fine in Old Gold and Black.