April 7, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Notre Dame consensus All-America forward Troy Murphy announced today that he will return to the University of Notre Dame for his junior season in 2000-01.

“I first off would like to thank Coach (Matt) Doherty, my parents, my teammates and my AAU coach, Mr. (Tony) Sagona, for helping me come to this decision,” said Murphy, who announced his decision at a late-afternoon press conference at the Joyce Center.

“I’d just like to say that I’m going to stay here at Notre Dame. I think we can accomplish great things with this group and I look forward to a great year next year.

“It was a difficult decision. In the end it came down to that there are things that you can’t trade, the experiences I have here at Notre Dame, the experiences I have with my teammates. Things that you can’t trade for anything is what did it in the end.”

“There has been a lot of speculation through the year about Troy’s future,” said Doherty.

“I’m proud of the way Troy’s handled this process. There’s been a lot of pressure on the young man. He’s trying to concentrate on the game and after games people are asking him questions and after the season it got a little crazy. He wanted to step it up and make a decision as soon as he felt comfortable with it. I think it says a lot of about the way he feels about his teammates and this University that he’s decided to come back.”

A first-team Associated Press All-American this season, the 6-10 sophomore from Morristown, N.J., also became Notre Dame’s first consensus All-American since Adrian Dantley in 1974-75 and 1975-76. He averaged 22.7 points and 10.3 rebounds in 1999-2000, leading the BIG EAST Conference in both categories. He marks the first person to lead the BIG EAST in both scoring and rebounding in league play in the same season — and he ranked as the only player nationally to rank in the top 10 in both categories through the end of the regular season.

Murphy earned the BIG EAST player-of-the-year award this season after being named the league’s rookie of the year as a freshman in 1998-99. He became the first person in league history to win those awards in consecutive seasons — and he was a candidate for all the national player-of-the-year awards.

Murphy has scored 1,358 career points (16th on the all-time Irish list) and pulled down 647 career rebounds. His 839 points this season rank as the fourth-highest single-season total in Notre Dame history.

Murphy is enrolled in the College of Arts and Letters.