Dec. 6, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Irish head coach Mike Brey announced that Troy Murphy will not start in Notre Dame’s game against Miami of Ohio.
Saturday’s game will mark the first time in his career that he will not start a game that he will play in. Murphy will sit out the opening minutes of the game for disciplinary reasons.
Murphy, 20, along with teammates Tom Timmermans, 19, and Jere Macura, 20, got caught in a tavern in South Bend in October. The three were cited along with over a hundred other Notre Dame students for us of fake identification to gain admittance to a tavern.
The University’s Student Affairs office handles the punishment for incidents like Murphy’s. Student Affairs prefers to keep the punishment confidential. Although, the punishment usually entails a fine or community service.
Murphy is the only one of the three who received further disciplinary action from Brey.
“Troy’s situation on this basketball team with being a leader, takes more responsibility with it,” Brey said.
For that reason, Brey stated that Murphy will not start against Miami of Ohio. It is up in the air how long, he will be on the bench. Brey suspects that around the first media timeout would be discipline enough.
Brey did clarify if Murphy is unable to start due to his injured ankle, he would hold the punishment over until the next game.
Regardless, Brey views this punishment as sufficient due to Murphy’s string of consecutive starts. He started all 27 games in which he played his freshman season. Also he started all 37 games of his sophomore season.