Jordan Murphy wasted no time making a statement in his first game that he's one of the best power forwards in the country and was named Big Ten player of the week for what he accomplished.

The Gophers junior captain dunked and muscled his way to a career-high 35 points and 15 rebounds in Friday's 92-77 win against South Carolina Upstate, the most points scored for a U player since Andre Hollins' 41 points in 2012.

Murphy shot 13-for-22 from the field and 9-for-15 from the free throw line, setting career highs in field goals, field goal attempts and free throws made. The last Gopher with 13 field goals in a game was NBA forward Kris Humphries against Virginia in 2003-04.

It's only one game into the 2017-18 season, but Murphy has a chance to make a significant jump offensively from his first two years in college. The San Antonio native averaged 11.6 points as a freshman and 11.3 points as a sophomore. He also averaged 8.0 and 8.8 rebounds in two seasons, respectively.

ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas and former Indiana coach Tom Crean both said last week that Murphy would be the breakout player for the Gophers this season.

"One of the guys that I think will probably make the biggest jump from last year to this is probably Jordan Murphy," Bilas said. "He's a double-double guy and gives them a lot. I think he can be one of the more consistent producers in the league."
Crean, who now works for ESPN, offered Murphy a scholarship at Indiana after he got out of his signed letter of intent at Virginia Commonwealth when Shaka Smart left for Texas in 2015.

"He was one of those late signs that have been one of the whole keys to that turnaround at Minnesota," Crean said. "Because he's been able to play from Day One, and he's had success from Day One. Didn't always transfer into winning, but it certainly has now."

Murphy offseason feature story here on him being ready to be a low-post scoring threat.

-- The Gophers moved up to No. 14 in the latest Associated Press top 25 poll released Monday. They were No. 15 in the AP preseason poll, the highest ranking to open the season since 1993-94.