One of the nation’s best high school players is moving to the Charlotte area to play
Preston Murphy Jr., a four-star point guard, announced Wednesday via social media that he was transferring to Combine Academy in Lincolnton.
Murphy, who is 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, wrote on Twitter that he was leaving due to COVID restrictions at his school — St. Andrews High in Barrington, Rhode Island — that were affecting the basketball schedule. He was ranked the No. 1 Rhode Island prospect in the class of 2022 by several scouting services.
Combine — owned by former NBA player Trevor Booker and coached by former NBA player Jeff McInnis — has been ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation in the preseason national high school polls.
“I think he’s a dynamic point guard,” McInnis said. “He’s pass-first, but he can score and will run the team. He’s an alpha male. He’s tough. He’s very educated. He’s a very high-IQ player and he’ll compete.”
Last November, Murphy committed to DePaul over Clemson, Bryant, Siena, Rhode Island, Buffalo and Massachusetts. He is the son of former Creighton assistant coach Preston Murphy Sr.
In March, Murphy — who has worked out with Hornets lottery pick James Bouknight — de-committed from DePaul after the Blue Demons changed head coaches. Since then, Murphy has picked up at least one offer, from Wichita State, and has told media outlets that he’s received interest from Georgia, New Mexico, Penn State, San Diego and Washington.
Last season, playing for St. Andrews High School, Murphy averaged 21 points, five assists and four rebounds while shooting 60% from the floor, including 44% from 3-point range.
He is a 4.0 GPA student.
McInnis has known Murphy for almost all of his life.
When McInnis was playing for the Los Angeles Clippers, he played summer league for two years with Murphy’s father, Preston Sr. And when Preston Sr. later got an assistant’s job at Creighton, the two reconnected.
In the summer, McInnis coaches the Under Armour-sponsored Team Charlotte basketball team, and Creighton recruited and signed one of his top players, Ty-Shon Alexander, who played for the NBA finalist Phoenix Suns last season and is now playing professionally in Italy.
“I’ve known (Preston’s) dad for 20 years,” McInnis said, “and when I went on Tyshon’s visit to Creighton, I was talking junk to (Preston). I watched him grow up and play, and I told him, ‘When you get a jump shot, you’ll be good.’ Now he can shoot and he’s older. So it’ll be almost like coaching a nephew to be honest.”
Murphy comes to Combine a few weeks after 5-star Robert Dillingham told McInnis that he was leaving to play at a California school. There’s been no official announcement, but Dillingham is rumored to be heading to, or currently attending, Kanye West’s Donda Prep.
McInnis said 6-8 forward Omarion Bodrick, a former Independence star, also told him last week that he was not returning to school. Bodrick has also moved to California.
A third N.C. player, Brandon White, formerly of Winston-Salem Christian, did announce he was moving to play at Donda Prep.
McInnis said he wished his two former players the best.
“We’re moving forward with what we have,” he said. “We have great pieces and we’re just going to play. I’m not trying to replace anybody. I’m trying to get the best fit for Combine. Omarion was a good player. Rob was a good player, but they don’t play for us anymore. The one thing I do is focus on the 12 guys coming out of this locker room right here. I’m trying to get these 12 guys better. My teams are my teams. We’re going to play a certain way. We’ll play hard and play tough and we expect to win. The standard is the standard.”
▪ McInnis said Combine also added 6-6 Prince Johnson, a forward from Marlboro County (S.C.) High. Johnson played some for the Team Charlotte travel team last summer.
“He’s a great kid who will rebound the ball and will do the dirty work,” McInnis said. “He won’t be popular on the stat sheet, but he will be popular with the coaches who watch him, and he’s a 2023 kid we’ll have for two years.”
With Johnson and Murphy, McInnis plans to keep Combine at the same level it was before.
And McInnis thinks the move could be beneficial for Murphy, who missed a lot of time in his junior summer with an elbow injury.
“He’ll get a chance to play in front of some people that have not seen him and wouldn’t have been recruiting him,” McInnis said.
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 12:23 PM.
