Murphy shared Big East Conference Player of the Year honors with Troy Bell of Boston College in 2001 and joined an elite group of four players—Chris Mullin (St. John's), Patrick Ewing (Georgetown) and Richard Hamilton (Connecticut)—as the only two-time winners of the award. He was named to the John R. Wooden Award All-America Team for the second consecutive year, finished fifth in the balloting for the Wooden Award and was among the top three finalists for the Naismith player-of-the-year honor. A first-team all-Big East selection for two seasons, Murphy also was named the Big East Rookie of the Year in 1999.