Kris Murray evaluates breakout season at Iowa, playing for Fran McCaffery

Kris Murray ended up with the Portland Trailblazers with the 23rd pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Two major reasons why he says he turned out as a first-round pick is what all he was able to do and learn at Iowa and under Fran McCaffery.

Murray thanked McCaffery and the Hawkeyes in his rookie press conference with the Blazers last week. He said that the opportunities that McCaffery gave him to grow worked wonders in his development, especially when McCaffrey trusted him to work through mistakes and develop on the court.

“I think last summer was big for me. Just the opportunities I’d gotten, just being able to grow every single year. That’s kind of something that the University of Iowa, especially Coach McCaffery, really emphasizes. Just getting better every single year,” Murray said. “I feel like I did that my freshman year going into my sophomore year. And then sophomore year into my junior year.”

“For me, it was definitely just kind of honing in my skillset. And just kind of getting the opportunity to show it a lot more. So I definitely thought I did this past year. Just kind of showed everything in my game,” said Murray. “I knew that coach trusted me and that’s really all I needed. He’d let me play through my mistakes. Mentally, that helped me a lot just knowing that he trusted me like that. Honestly, I just kind of got the opportunity to show what I could do. And that’s kind of what made me take the jump the last few years.”

The Murray brothers were the shining examples of development over their time in Iowa City. For Keegan Murray, he more than tripled his points per game and shot 10.2% from three in his pair of collegiate seasons on his way to becoming a top-five pick and instant contributor for the Sacramento Kings.

As for Kris Murray, he made two leaps in his college basketball career. In 13 games as a freshman, he started with averages of 0.6 points and 0.6 rebounds on 23.1% shooting. Then, as a sophomore, he made his first jump as he averaged 9.7 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 47.9% in 35 games.

Finally, as a junior, he made his Keegan-like leap as he averaged 20.2 points and 7.9 rebounds on 47.6% shooting from the field as a full-time starter in 29 games.

Over three seasons at Iowa, Murray transformed from a three-star recruit and Top-250 prospect into a first-round pick in the NBA Draft. That’s impressive growth and, in his words, he has McCaffery and those in the Hawkeye program to thank for it.