Senior guard draws mention on SportsCenter

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COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The nation has spoken, and Tennessee Tech senior guard Kevin Murphy’s 50-point outburst against SIU Edwardsville was the top performance in the country last week.

On Wednesday, Murphy was named the winner of ESPN’s Capital One Cup Impact Performance of the Week, the result of nationwide voting on ESPN.com which saw Murphy win 46 percent of the country’s vote.

As a result, he drew mention on SportsCenter, where highlights of the only 50-point game in Division I this season were shown to a national audience. 

Voting for the honor began on Monday and closed Wednesday afternoon, with Murphy beating out Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger, who took 24 percent of the vote, as well as Iona’s Lamont Jones and Kansas’ Thomas Robinson.

A Capital One Cup Impact Performance of the Week is named each week of the season beginning in January. Past winners this season include Iowa State forward Royce White, Illinois guard Brandon Paul, West Virginia forward Kevin Jones and Oakland guard Travis Bader.

The Capital One Cup recognizes the best men’s and women’s Division I athletics programs and annually awards a combined $400,000 in student-athlete scholarships to the winning schools.

Murphy’s 50-point game marked the first time a Division I player has scored 50 points in a game since BYU’s Jimmer Fredette poured in 52 on March 11, 2011. It also set the all-time single-game scoring record at Tech and moved Murphy into second all-time on Tech’s career scoring list.

The Golden Eagles return to action tonight, hosting Eastern Illinois at 7 p.m.