BREAKING: Mississippi State transfer forward KeShawn Murphy has committed to Auburn, per On3 Sports

 BREAKING: Mississippi State transfer forward KeShawn Murphy has committed to Auburn, per On3 Sports

The 6-10 junior from Birmingham averaged 11.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game this season

This happened throughout the Tigers’ best-ever season, and it’s happened countless times during Pearl’s time on the Plains. One memorable time came in early January, right before Auburn was set to play Mississippi State.

“The kid from Birmingham, who’s done a great job and really improved tremendously and a guy that we looked at before, who plays some center — KeShawn Murphy, really, has gotten better,” Pearl said. “KeShawn Murphy’s a great story, I think, in the sense that, went to Mississippi State, and we liked him a lot. Knew he was going to be a really good player.

 

“But (he) was patient, and has been there now three years. Kind of reminds me a little of Jaylin Williams. Played some early, saw signs, now he’s a terrific player. Getting rewarded for being loyal to Mississippi State.”

 

Second Lesson: When Auburn gets a second chance at landing a player it liked a lot the first time around, Pearl and his staff have a high hit rate.

 

After a breakout season with Mississippi State, Murphy entered the transfer portal last week. Now he’s set to spend his final season of SEC basketball at Auburn, where he’ll be a centerpiece of a brand-new frontcourt in the post-Johni Broome era.

 

Murphy announced his commitment to Auburn on Tuesday afternoon, choosing the Tigers over a list of transfer portal contenders that included Alabama, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and a potential return to Mississippi State.

 

Murphy is an in-state product, as he was a 3-star prospect out of Ramsay in Birmingham in the Class of 2021. He chose Mississippi State over Auburn and Alabama, then redshirted his freshman season in Starkville under Ben Howland. After Chris Jans became the head coach, Murphy spent two seasons as a reserve big.

 

Things took off for the 6-foot-10 Murphy this past season, though. While Jans elected to start Miami transfer Michael Nwoko at center most of the time, Murphy emerged as one of the most efficient big men in the SEC — even off the bench, where he played nearly 60% of the available minutes.

Murphy averaged 11.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game last season. He was fourth on the Bulldogs in offensive rating and second in defensive rating. His usage rate (23.4%) only trailed the volume-heavy Josh Hubbard for Mississippi State, and he made the most of his opportunities to impact the game on both ends of the floor.

 

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In SEC play alone, his effective field goal percentage of 60.4% ranked third in the league. He ranked inside the top five in the SEC in 2-pointers made (163), overall rebounding percentage (16.8%) and defensive rebounding percentage (23.7%). He also was inside the top 10 in block percentage (5.8%) and inside the top 15 in offensive rebounding percentage (10.4%).

 

His Player Efficiency Rating for the season was 24.6, which ranked sixth in the SEC. He’s on track to be the league’s leading returner in that category for next season. This past year, the only SEC players who came back after a season of 24+ in PER were Broome, South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles and Alabama’s Mark Sears.

That bodes well for Murphy, who was better in SEC play than he was in non-conference action in almost every single statistical category.

 

While Murphy’s per-game averages might not jump off the page to some, a deeper dive into the numbers show a fantastic addition.

 

On CBB Analytics, Murphy’s closest player comparisons from the past season include Murray-Boyles, Maryland star Derik Queen, Texas Tech star JT Toppin and well-traveled Kansas standout Hunter Dickinson.

 

On T-Rank, Murphy’s historical comparisons include recent second-team All-SEC selection Tyrese Samuel, former Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Xavier Tillman, former third-team All-American and national champion Luke Maye and two seasons of former consensus first-team All-American Brice Johnson.

 

That’s great company.

 

Murphy should immediately plug into the center spot on a new-look Auburn roster that is reloading after an SEC title and Final Four run. He was one of the most impactful bigs in the entire conference last season,