It was the launch, not the landing.
When Tiara Murphy tore the ACL in her left knee against Colgate on Dec. 4, it ended her season in an unexpected fashion.
“I knew something was wrong immediately when I jumped up,” Murphy said. “I felt it pop on my way up. I wasn’t thinking torn ACL but the way I felt the pop, I thought it was something. In practice, that has happened before, where my knee buckled, so I was thinking it was just a buckle. But I couldn’t even bend my knee afterward.”
And soon, it was determined that Murphy had torn the ACL, idling her for the season just as she was starting to make a bigger impact. Colgate was her best game, as she scored a career-high 10 points in 14 minutes. She would have had more, but the free throws — she was fouled on the layup, taking an impact that spun her around — went to a teammate.
“It was on the takeoff,” Murphy said. “I’m not sure what happened. It was just a regular layup. I don’t know if I didn’t stop correctly and go up. It just didn’t work.”
A silver-lining: Murphy’s injury seems to have come just a game under the redshirt cutoff. The sophomore will be able to apply for a medical after the season, and Coach Sharon Versyp expressed confidence that she’d receive it from the NCAA.
“We’ll do the filing and the paperwork and hopefully it’ll all work great,” Versyp said.
Meanwhile, Murphy will have surgery on Monday, then start in rehab.
“I’m still in disbelief,” she said. “I’m probably not going to really believe it until I get surgery, ‘Oh, I’ve got both knees cut.’”
The injury will leave Purdue without much experience at the point next season, as it will have Murphy, sophomore-to-be Miracle Gray, who has playing only sparingly this season, and incoming rookie Leony Boudreau.
Versyp says Purdue could spend spring looking for help.
“We’re looking,” Versyp said. “We’re looking to maybe bring in a fifth-year point guard, maybe a junior college (player), if that happens. If it doesn’t, we have Murph and Leony, and Miracle, so we have places (filled), but if we can have somebody who has some experience, because (Murphy) is obviously missing a lot.
“But we’ll see how it goes. We’re not just going to find somebody just to find somebody. They’d have to come in and make an impact immediately.”
Murphy doesn’t have a timeline for a return, but perhaps she could be cleared for summer conditioning in hopes to be 100 percent by the start of next season.
“I don’t even know how long the recovery process is supposed to be,” she said. “(Trainer) Jess (Lipsett) is going to get me back as soon as possible. I don’t want to rush anything. I’m going to take my time, but I know she’s going to push me through.
“I’m prepared to do anything it takes to get me back.”
