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Former Pitt shooting guard Ryan Murphy is returning to the Steel City, but he will be wearing blue and red as a member of the Duquesne Dukes. Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot announced the addition of the graduate transfer to the Dukes roster on Thursday night, noting that the sharpshooter will be eligible to play on Dec. 11.
“Ryan is an experienced player who is game-tested,” Dambrot said in a statement released by Duquesne. “He reminds me a lot of Baylee Steele with his work ethic and business-like approach to the game. He just wants to get better every day, and he felt our place was a good fit for him. He contacted us and expressed his interest. We look forward to having him as part of our team.”
The move follows an eventful offseason for Murphy, as he transferred from Pitt to Tulane on April 2. At the time, he chose the AAC program from a top four that also included BYU, East Carolina and UC Santa Barbara. He then announced plans to leave Tulane and pursue a career in the professional ranks on July 31, but that did not come to fruition.
As a result, he will join a 1-1 Duquesne team that posted a 21-9 record in the 2019-20 season, and he will arrive in time for the team’s Atlantic 10 opener at No. 19 Richmond, a team that knocked off No. 10 Kentucky 76-64 at Rupp Arena on Nov. 29. Duquesne’s 20-win season was its first since 2009, and the program has only had three such seasons since 1980. However, the team has trended in the right direction under Dambrot.
When Murphy last played, he found himself on a cold streak. From Feb. 12 to March 11, he went 3-for-17 from beyond the arc, making zero three-point shots in seven of the nine games played in that span. Prior to that, he had been Pitt’s top three-point shooter. However, he suffered a concussion that kept him out of several games, and upon his return, he failed to regain his form as a long-range threat.
Over the course of a college career that has included stops at Charlotte, New Mexico Junior College and Pitt and three seasons played, Murphy has averaged 10.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game while shooting 33.7 percent from three-point range. At the Division I level exclusively, he has averaged 7.3 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists while shooting 35.7 percent from beyond the arc.