 EASTERN MICHIGAN 68, ILLINOIS-CHICAGO 57 Murphy, who was named EMU's head coach April 21, rallied from seven points down midway through the second half to out-score UIC, 33-16, over the game's final 12 minutes to gain the victory.
The Eagles had three players in double figures, led by junior guard Derek Thompson with 17, followed by senior guard Darrell Lampley with 12 and junior forward Matt Balkema with 10. Senior forward Kamil Janton added seven points with seven rebounds.
UIC was led by forward Paris Cotton with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Daniel Barnes added 10.
Eastern shot 46.2 percent for the game, hitting 24-of-52 shots while holding UIC to just 39.6 percent on 21-of-53. The Eagles also won the battle of the boards, 37-34.
The Eagles scored first on a lay-up by Balkema and for the next seven minutes the two teams traded baskets before EMU went on a mini-run, taking an 18-11 lead at the 8:50 mark on a jumper by Thompson.
The visitors came back from that deficit to take a one-point lead, 19-18, with 5:42 left when Matt Bush hit a long three-point field goal from the right baseline.
The teams once again traded points through the final stages of the first half before a Barnes jumped with 53.2 cut the EMU lead to 27-26, the final points of the half.
Thompson paced the Eagles in the first 20 minutes with eight points, while Barnes, who began his collegiate career at EMU as a freshman before transferring, had seven for the Flames.
UIC came out of halftime on fire, racing to a 31-27 lead in the first two minutes and built its advantage to seven, 38-31, with 16:42 on a triple by Barnes from the top of the circle.
Eastern turned up both its offensive and defensive efforts at that point, out-scoring the visitors 14-7, over the next seven minutes to knot the score at 45-all on a free throw by Thompson at the 9:04 mark.
The Eagles continued to keep their offense rolling, building a six-point lead, 59-53, with 3:48 left when Thompson made a twisting put-back lay-up off an Anthony Strickland miss.
UIC pulled within four, 59-55, with 3:14 left on two free throws by Marc Brown, but the Flames could get no closer as the Eagles built the lead to double digits at the end.
Eastern will now travel to Houston, Texas Tuesday, Nov. 15, to square off against Texas Southern University in an Auto Owners Spartan Invitational game.
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