Eric Lloyd Murdock (born June 14, 1968), nicknamed "Man of Steal", 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

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 Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

in the first round (21st pick overall) of the

1991 NBA draft The 1991–92 NBA season, 1991 NBA draft took place on June 26, 1991, in New York City, New York. Larry Johnson (basketball, born 1969), Larry Johnson was selected first overall; he won the 1992 NBA Rookie of the Year award and as a two-time All ...

Biography

Murdock grew up in

Bridgewater Township, New Jersey Bridgewater Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Somerset County, New Jersey, Somerset County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located within the heart of the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region. Situated within Central Jersey, Cen ...

, 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. A 6'1"

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

, Murdock then played at

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, it offers 47 undergraduate Academic ...

, 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 College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

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

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

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 Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. The Grizzlies competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Midwest Division (NBA), Midwest Division of the Western Conference ( ...

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 Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

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 Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

New Jersey Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

and

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

. 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, 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 (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 Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

, 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 of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

, 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 ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, 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. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

over alleged racial discrimination and false imprisonment. Murdock's cousin, Jason Murdock, played college basketball at Providence, as well, from 1993 to 1997. On November 27, 2018, Murdock filed a lawsuit against United Airlines for racial discrimination. In July 2018, while flying back from the All Star game, he alleged that he was discriminated against by one of United's flight attendants. He claimed that he was then unjustifiably removed from the flight in front of the other passengers, despite the fact that he posed no security risk and committed no wrongful acts. The matter was settled in July 2019, for an undisclosed amount with a stipulation of confidentiality.https://ecf.nyed.uscourts.gov/doc1/123115676072

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, 50 , , 0 , , 9.6 , , .415 , , .192 , , .754 , , 1.1 , , 1.8 , , 0.6 , , 0.1 , , 4.1 , - , align="left" , 1992–93 , align="left" ,

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, 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 List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, 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 List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, 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 is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, 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 located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, 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 , 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 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen 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 Somerset County, 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 Sportspeople 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