Eric Lloyd Murdock (born June 14, 1968) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player who was selected by the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference, Northwest Division. Since the 1991–92 season, ...

in the first round (21st pick overall) of the 1991 NBA draft.

Biography

Murdock grew up in

Bridgewater Township, New Jersey Bridgewater Township is a township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. The township is both a regional commercial hub for Central New Jersey (home to Bridgewater Commons and different corporate headquarters) and is a bedroom suburb o ...

, where his mother was hit and killed by a reckless driver when he was less than one year old. He played high school basketball at

Bridgewater-Raritan High School West Bridgewater-Raritan High School (commonly abbreviated as BRHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school. It is the lone secondary school of the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District serving students in ninth through twelfth grad ...

. A 6'1" point guard, Murdock then played at

Providence College Providence College is a private Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the local diocese, it offers 47 undergraduate majors and 17 graduate programs. It requires all of its undergradua ...

, and held several school records at the time of his graduation, including most career steals (376, also an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

record that held until 2002), most points in conference games in a season (435, also a

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

record), most points in a game (48, another Big East record) and most free throws in a season (238). His skills at PC earned him the nickname "EMT" standing for Eric Murdock Time. Murdock played 9 seasons in the NBA from 1991 to 2000. He played for the Jazz,

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. They were part of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along w ...

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

and

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

. His best year as a pro came during the 1993–94 season as a member of the Bucks, appearing in 82 games (76 starts) and averaging 15.3 ppg. That same year, he ranked 6th in three-point percentage in the league. The following preseason, while only 26 years old, his career was derailed by an eye injury. Though he recovered later that season, he lost playing time to

Lee Mayberry Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

, and never seemed to play as well again upon being traded to the Grizzlies. In his NBA career, Murdock played in 508 games and scored a total of 5,118 points. He has also played in Italy for

Teamsystem Bologna Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna 103, commonly known as Fortitudo Bologna and currently known as Fortitudo Kiğılı Bologna for sponsorship reasons, is a basketball club based in Bologna, Italy and currently plays in the second division. Histor ...

(1996–1997, reached the Italian Championship finals) and

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

(2002–2003). On April 2, 1994, in a game against the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

, Murdock stole the ball nine times. On January 24, 1995, in a game against the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Divisio ...

, Murdock scored a 75-footer at the buzzer in the third quarter. From 2010 to 2012, Murdock served as the director of basketball player development for

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and wa ...

, working with Rutgers coach Mike Rice. He was fired in July 2012. After his dismissal, Murdock acted as a whistleblower by showing recordings of Rice launching homophobic slurs to players to Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti in late 2012, leading to the eventual firing of Rice and the resignation of Pernetti in April 2013. In 2016, Rutgers settled Murdock's wrongful termination lawsuit for $500,000. In December 2018, Murdock and a fellow airplane passenger filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

over alleged racial discrimination and false imprisonment. Murdock's cousin, Jason Murdock, played college basketball at Providence, as well, from 1993 to 1997.https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3194&context=cowl

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 1991–92 , align="left" ,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

, 50 , , 0 , , 9.6 , , .415 , , .192 , , .754 , , 1.1 , , 1.8 , , 0.6 , , 0.1 , , 4.1 , - , align="left" ,

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

, align="left" ,

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

, 79 , , 78 , , 30.8 , , .468 , , .261 , , .780 , , 3.6 , , 7.6 , , 2.2 , , 0.1 , , 14.4 , - , align="left" , 1993–94 , align="left" ,

, style="background:#cfecec;", 82* , , 76 , , 30.9 , , .468 , , .411 , , .813 , , 3.2 , , 6.7 , , 2.4 , , 0.1 , , 15.3 , - , align="left" , 1994–95 , align="left" ,

, 75 , , 32 , , 28.8 , , .415 , , .375 , , .790 , , 2.9 , , 6.4 , , 1.5 , , 0.2 , , 13.0 , - , align="left" , 1995–96 , align="left" ,

, 9 , , 0 , , 21.4 , , .364 , , .261 , , .667 , , 1.6 , , 3.9 , , 0.7 , , 0.0 , , 6.9 , - , align="left" , 1995–96 , align="left" ,

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

, 64 , , 14 , , 23.1 , , .422 , , .320 , , .809 , , 2.4 , , 4.6 , , 2.0 , , 0.1 , , 9.1 , - , align="left" , 1996–97 , align="left" ,

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

, 12 , , 0 , , 9.5 , , .455 , , .400 , , .917 , , 0.9 , , 2.0 , , 0.8 , , 0.2 , , 3.8 , - , align="left" , 1997–98 , align="left" ,

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

, style="background:#cfecec;", 82* , , 1 , , 17.0 , , .422 , , .308 , , .801 , , 1.9 , , 2.7 , , 1.3 , , 0.2 , , 6.2 , - , align="left" , 1998–99 , align="left" ,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, 15 , , 8 , , 26.7 , , .395 , , .364 , , .808 , , 2.3 , , 4.4 , , 1.5 , , 0.1 , , 7.9 , - , align="left" , 1999–00 , align="left" ,

L.A. Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

, 40 , , 15 , , 17.3 , , .385 , , .381 , , .638 , , 1.9 , , 2.7 , , 1.2 , , 0.1 , , 5.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 508 , , 224 , , 23.4 , , .438 , , .343 , , .786 , , 2.5 , , 4.9 , , 1.6 , , 0.1 , , 10.1

Playoffs

, - , align="left" , 1991–92 , align="left" ,

, 3 , , 0 , , 3.7 , , .600 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 2.7 , - , align="left" , 1997–98 , align="left" ,

, 5 , , 0 , , 25.0 , , .344 , , .222 , , .821 , , 4.0 , , 3.0 , , 1.4 , , 0.0 , , 9.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 8 , , 0 , , 17.0 , , .378 , , .200 , , .833 , , 2.9 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.1 , , 6.9

College

, - , align="left" , 1987–88 , align="left" , Providence , 28 , , - , , 27.4 , , .413 , , .355 , , .738 , , 3.0 , , 3.0 , , 3.2 , , 0.1 , , 10.7 , - , align="left" , 1988–89 , align="left" , Providence , 29 , , - , , 32.3 , , .457 , , .349 , , .762 , , 4.7 , , 4.7 , , 3.3 , , 0.3 , , 16.2 , - , align="left" , 1989–90 , align="left" , Providence , 28 , , - , , 29.8 , , .419 , , .365 , , .762 , , 4.1 , , 4.1 , , 2.8 , , 0.5 , , 15.4 , - , align="left" , 1990–91 , align="left" , Providence , 32 , , - , , 34.7 , , .445 , , .350 , , .812 , , 5.3 , , 5.3 , , 3.5 , , 0.2 , , 25.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 117 , , - , , 31.2 , , .436 , , .354 , , .784 , , 4.3 , , 4.3 , , 3.2 , , 0.3 , , 17.3

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murdock, Eric 1968 births Living people African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players American whistleblowers Basketball players from New Jersey Bridgewater-Raritan High School alumni Denver Nuggets players Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna players Grand Rapids Hoops players Idaho Stampede (CBA) players Los Angeles Clippers players Miami Heat players Milwaukee Bucks players New Jersey Nets players People from Bridgewater Township, New Jersey Point guards Providence Friars men's basketball players Sportspeople from Somerville, New Jersey Utah Jazz draft picks Utah Jazz players Vancouver Grizzlies players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople