Remembering a classic duel between Eric Murdock and Terry Dehere and the heights Seton Hall reached at the time
Just over 20 years ago (Jan. 2, 1991) Providence’s Eric Murdock and Seton Hall’s Terry Dehere went head-to-head in an outstanding personal duel in the Meadowlands in New Jersey.
Murdock, a senior, was blowing up for Rick Barnes and the Friars. The New Jersey native and eventual first round pick of the Utah Jazz (21st overall) had a senior season for the record books.
He set the NCAA career record for steals, all while averaging over 27 points per game in Big East play, and 25.6 points a night on the season overall. He took a ridiculous 293 free throws that season, and made 238 of them. Murdock averaged over nine free throw attempts per game, and threw in over five rebounds and four assists a game as well.
Murdock finished the 1990-91 season third in the country in free throw attempts, second in steals (111), and 12th in scoring.
He committed to Rick Pitino after being discovered by Stu Jackson, yet never played for Pitino as he left for the Knicks prior to his arrival.
Murdock was exploding around this time of his senior year. A week prior, he scored 45 at Arizona and three weeks later went for 48 versus Pittsburgh.
On this night against Seton Hall, Murdock’s 40 points weren’t enough to overcome a very good Pirates team, as the Friars fell, 98-93. Murdock went 17-17 at the free throw line in this game.
Seton Hall was two years removed from a national championship appearance (falling to Michigan in 1989). They had a pair of first round picks on their roster as well as in sharpshooting sophomore Terry Dehere (13th overall in 1993) and the powerful Anthony Avent (15th overall in ’91).
While Murdock shined on this day in Jersey, Dehere was equally impressive with 37 points on seven made 3-pointers.
These were heady times for the Hall. P.J. Carlesimo had three legitimate chances at a Final Four appearance in the years following the national championship game run of ’89.
Later on in the 1991 season, the Hall reached the Elite Eight, after knocking off Arizona, and matched up against one of the greatest teams in NCAA basketball history in UNLV. The Running Rebels were the defending national champions and were undefeated (33-0) heading into the Elite Eight matchup with Seton Hall (who were ranked 13th in the country at the time). National player of the year Larry Johnson was simply too much for the Pirates, scoring 30 points in a 77-65 win.
UNLV was thought to be unbeatable, but eventually fell to a Duke team led by Christian Laettner, Jersey native Bobby Hurley, and Grant Hill.
Seton Hall reached the Sweet 16 in 1992, falling to a Duke team that would go on to win its second consecutive national title. The storyline heading into that game was Bobby Hurley going up against three high school teammates at St. Anthony in New Jersey in Dehere, power forward Jerry Walker, and his younger brother, Danny. That 1989 St. Anthony team is considered one of the greatest high school teams of all time.
Hurley, an All American point guard, was assumed to be headed to Seton Hall to play with his former teammates until he visited Duke and changed course. The Pirates very likely could have made the Final Four with Hurley at the helm. He played in three Final Fours at Duke, set the all-time NCAA assists record, and earned the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player award in 1992 during his junior year.
In Dehere’s senior season in 1993, Seton Hall was a two seed in the NCAA Tournament before being upset in the second round by Western Kentucky.
Dehere finished his career with over 2400 points during his career.
I enjoyed this look back at Providence and Seton Hall, not only because of the greatness of Murdock and Dehere. Avent represented the rugged Big East style at the time, PC had a young Rick Barnes and got a lift from freshman Dickey Simpkins, and it’s great to hear the voice of long-time Celtics and Patriots announcer Gil Santos on the call.