{"id":532928,"date":"2026-01-13T01:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T01:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/532928\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T01:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T01:35:11","slug":"former-south-carolina-star-blossoming-into-raptors-record-holder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/532928\/","title":{"rendered":"Former South Carolina star blossoming into Raptors record holder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exactly 200 days ago, in the early hours of a June morning, South Carolina forward Collin Murray-Boyles<\/a> touched down in Toronto, Canada. The flight started in Brooklyn, New York, but it ended an 850-mile journey from his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina.<\/p>\n

The evening prior, Murray-Boyles crossed the stage at Barclays Center to become a member of the Toronto Raptors. He had just been drafted No. 9 in the 2025 NBA Draft. He became the first Gamecock since Renaldo Balkman drafted in the first round and the Gamecocks\u2019 first-ever lottery selection in the modern draft era.<\/p>\n

On Sunday night, he became the first Raptor in franchise history to record at least 17 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, three blocks, and three steals. He also became the first rookie since the Spurs\u2019 David Robinson in 1990 to record the 5\u00d75-esque stat line. <\/p>\n

A week prior, he became the third player in franchise history to record 17 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, three blocks, and two steals against the Atlanta Hawks.<\/p>\n

The Insiders Forum: Discuss South Carolina basketball<\/a>! <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not tired, you aren\u2019t going hard enough,\u201d Murray-Boyles said following the win over the Hawks. \u201cI try to be as tired as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n

The rookie\u2019s uptick in performance came from lineup changes following an injury to center Jakob Poeltl. His 42 minutes on Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers marked a career high. On the season, he averages 20.4 minutes per game. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe plays hard. He\u2019s not shying away from any type of contact; he\u2019s another guy that only cares about how to help winning,\u201d said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. \u201cHe\u2019s not obsessed if he\u2019s going to score or not. That\u2019s why you see him in games with 17 points, and then you see him in games with four points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray-Boyles\u2019 unselfishness on the floor is something that ties back to his time at South Carolina. During his sophomore season with the Gamecocks, South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris had to tell him multiple times to be more aggressive and selfish. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows how to play basketball at such a high level,\u201d Paris said ahead of the NBA Draft. \u201c\u2026 He already is a servant as a teammate, he just happened to be our most talented guy \u2026 I think that part translates already to the NBA.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his final season with the Gamecocks, Murray-Boyles led the team in all major statistical categories, excluding assists. He was also the only player in the NCAA to average at least 16 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block while shooting at least 55 percent from the field. The season earned All-SEC honors after being All-Freshman the season prior.<\/p>\n

Murray-Boyles is off to a strong start in his rookie campaign in the NBA. The 6-foot-7-inch forward ranks No. 16 among rookies in points per game (7.3), No. 18 in assists (1.8), and top ten in rebounds (4.3), blocks (0.6), and steals (0.9).<\/p>\n

Despite being almost exactly halfway through the season, Murray-Boyles believes the league is still trying to understand him. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just very physical, and it gets to a fault sometimes,\u201d Murray-Boyles said. \u201c\u2026 That\u2019s just how it is, and I have to adjust to it and adapt. But no, I\u2019m not thinking of it as \u2018Oh, it\u2019s going to get easier.\u2019 It\u2019s definitely not going to get easier. \u2026 We\u2019ll see how it goes further on in the season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exactly 200 days ago, in the early hours of a June morning, South Carolina forward Collin Murray-Boyles touched…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,1453,6,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-532928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-collin-murray-boyles-23-wasatch-academy","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115885226407272137","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}