Rider’s Murray named MAAC Player of the Week

Dwight Murray Jr. is well on his way to earning an all-league selection in his first season in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

The Rider men’s basketball team’s junior guard was named MAAC Player of the Week on Monday after he averaged 19 points, 8.5 rebounds and six assists as the Broncs split with Marist this past weekend.

Since transferring in from Incarnate Word in the summer, the 6-foot Murray has been Rider’s best player. He leads the team in scoring (15.4), rebounding (6.5) and assists (4.6) and ranks third, eighth and first in the MAAC in those respective categories.

“When we first moved in, we used to go to the park before we were able to get in the gym because of Covid,” junior Jeremiah Pope said after Friday night’s win. “Us being at the park, we got a chance to see each others’ game, and instantly, I saw (Dwight) was going to be a guy who was going to do a lot for us. Even just playing pick-up at the park, his energy and the level of his game was kind of at a different level than all the other guys.”

In that Friday victory, Murray scored a game-high 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-8 from 3. He also grabbed seven rebounds, dished out five assists and made two steals.

In Saturday’s loss — a game Rider trailed by 34 in the first half and cut to seven in the final two minutes — he had 16 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

The MAAC announced more schedule changes on Monday afternoon. The league said there have been over 90 schedule changes to date and only one game remains on its originally scheduled date.

Rider’s home series against Canisus has shifted from Feb. 13-14 to Feb. 5-6 and the home dates against Monmouth have gone from March 4-5 to Feb. 12-13. Away sets against Quinnipiac have moved from Feb. 19-20 to March 4-5 and Saint Peter’s from Feb. 6-7 to Feb. 26-27.

The Feb. 7 game against Saint Peter’s was originally scheduled for an 8 p.m. start on Super Bowl Sunday.