As little as two and a half weeks ago, Gophers men's basketball practices were punctuated, often, with coach Richard Pitino yelling three words.
"Low-motor Murph."
The phrase — "constant mocking" as Pitino described it then — was directed at freshman forward Jordan Murphy, who had the tendency to disappear on the court at times, the coach often lamented.
"I was calling him a Volvo," Pitino said then. "Told him I wanted him to be a Dodge Ram."
Five games later, those nicknames have all but disappeared after Murphy once again played star in Minnesota's 70-52 victory over Chicago State on Wednesday night at Williams Arena. Pitino, meanwhile, is finding new phrases to describe his athletic forward, ones like "all-conference."
"He's just doing it on talent alone, and he's just scratching the surface," Pitino said. "He wants to win, and I don't think that's ever going to change. He is a special kid.
"If he continues to play with that high motor like we talk about, I think he could be an all-conference player [down the road]."
Wednesday, "High-motor Murph" — who is beginning to be recognized as simply "Murph" — again played a huge role in a game in which the Gophers (6-5) lost freshman Kevin Dorsey to injury and struggled to take control early. Murphy scored 12 points, and his career-high 18 rebounds were the most since Trevor Mbakwe corralled the same number against North Dakota State in December of 2012. That helped Minnesota end a three-game skid and avoid suffering four consecutive nonconference losses for only the second time since 1963. It was the fourth double-double in five games for Murphy, who never has started, and that's just fine by him.
