Nov. 25, 1999
FRIDAY NIGHT’S GAME: The University of Notre Dame basketball team meets the University of Maryland in the consolation of the Preseason National Invitation Tournament. Both teams enter this evening’s contest with identical 3-1 records. Notre Dame suffered its first loss of the season on Wednesday night as the Irish dropped a 76-60 decision to eighth-ranked Arizona, while the 24th-ranked Terrapins fell 61-58 to 11th-ranked Kentucky.
Sophomore Troy Murphy (Morristown, N.J.) recorded his third double double of the season as he scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against Arizona. Forward David Graves (Lexington, Kent.), one of three sophomores in the starting lineup, was the only other Irish player in double figures as he netted 17 points.
Notre Dame, which plays its third ranked opponent in five games tonight, opened play in the NIT with a win over Ohio State on November 16 in Columbus, Ohio. Graves hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer and ended the game with 18 points and eight rebounds. Murphy was the leading scorer for the Irish with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Notre Dame then topped Siena behind 31 points from Murphy and 16 from Graves and freshman Matt Carroll (Horsham, Pa.).
The Irish then played a regularly-scheduled game against St. Francis (Pa.) on Sunday and posted a 73-60 win. Murphy connected for a career-high 35 points with 13 rebounds while Graves scored 12 points.
After tonight’s game, Notre Dame travels to Bloomington, Ind., on Tue., November 30, for an 8:00 p.m. EST tip-off against the Indiana Hoosiers.
Notre Dame begins its fifth season of BIG EAST play at 7:30 p.m. EST on Wed., January 5, against defending national champion Connecticut at the Hartford Civic Center. The BIG EAST home opener is at 7:30 p.m. EST on Wed., January 12, against Boston College.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-1) vs.
MARYLAND Terrapins (3-1)
Date: Friday, November 26, 1999
Place: Madison Square Garden (New York, NY), 19,876
Event: Preseason NIT Consolation
Time: 6:30 p.m. EST
Television: None
Radio: Host Communications Inc. (Jack Lorri, Jack Nolan) originates the Notre Dame Radio Network (includes WNDV-1490 AM and WNDV-92.9 FM in South Bend, WEFM-95.9 FM in Michigan City and selected games on WMAQ-670 AM or WAUR-930 AM in Chicago).
THE NOTRE DAME-MARYLAND SERIES: Notre Dame holds an 8-7 advantage in the series. This will be the first meeting between the two schools since the 1987-88 campaign when Maryland earned a 78-75 decision at the Joyce Center. The Irish have won three of the last five meetings. The first game of the series was played in 1974-75 and the two teams every year after that until the ’87-’88 season.
AGAINST THE ACC: Notre Dame has an overall record of 22-50 against the current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, with 38 of those 72 contests coming against Duke and North Carolina. Maryland is the only ACC team the Irish will face during the regular season.
3-0 START: Notre Dame started the season with a 3-0 record for the first time since the 1988-89 season when the Irish won their first four games of the season (wins over St. Bonaventure, Kentucky, Indiana and Creighton). That team wound up with a 21-9 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: Notre Dame received 18 points in the latest ESPN/USA Today college basketball poll, which was released on Sunday night, to fall sixth in the also receiving votes category. The Irish were second in the Associated Press ranking in the also receiving votes category with 160 points, eight in back of Miami (168). The last time Notre Dame appeared in the national poll rankings was a No. 19 spot in the first Associated Press poll of the 1989 season.
PRESEASON NIT: Notre Dame’s trip in ’99 marks the third appearance for the Irish in the Preseason NIT. In 1986, Notre Dame lost at home in the first round to Western Kentucky by an 80-63 score. In 1990, Notre Dame defeated Fordham (56-46) and Iowa (77-68) at home to advance to the finals in New York and lost to Arizona (91-61) in the semifinals and Duke (85-77) in the consolation game.
As an assistant at Kansas, Notre Dame head coach Matt Doherty participated in the event twice. The Jayhawks won both the 1993 and 1997 events.
HEAD COACH MATT DOHERTY: Notre Dame head basketball coach Matt Doherty is in his first year in charge of the Fighting Irish program and his first season as a collegiate head coach.
Doherty previously served as an assistant coach at Kansas for seven seasons from 1992-99 as the Jayhawks advanced to the NCAA tournament in each year, including a trip to the 1993 Final Four.
Doherty previously served as an assistant coach at Davidson for three seasons from 1989-92.
Doherty is a 1984 graduate of North Carolina and helped lead the Tar Heels to the 1982 NCAA title. Doherty became just the second player in Atlantic Coast Conference history, joining North Carolina’s Walter Davis, to accumulate 1,000 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists in a career.
THE OHIO STATE WIN: Notre Dame’s win over Ohio State (ranked fourth at the time in Associated Press poll and sixth in the ESPN/USA Today poll) in the first round of the Preseason NIT marked a number of milestones for the Irish
- The first win over a ranked team since defeating No. 15/15 Syracuse on Jan. 21, 1998, by an 83-63 score
- The first win over a ranked team on the road since defeating No. 20/21 West Virginia on Jan. 15, 1998, by a 74-72 score
- The first win over a top-10 team since defeating No. 4/T2 UCLA on Feb. 5, 1994, by a 79-63 score
- The first win over a top-10 team on the road since defeating No. 4/3 Syracuse on Feb. 17, 1990, by a 66-65 score
- The first Notre Dame road win over a Big Ten team since defeating Northwestern on Dec. 5, 1979, by a 73-56 score
HITTING THE CENTURY MARK: Notre Dame’s win over Siena last Thursday in the second round of the Preseason NIT marked the first time Notre Dame scored over 100 points in a game since a 101-98 win at Syracuse on Feb. 15, 1992. The 107 points scored by the Irish were the most since they also scored 107 vs. Miami (Fla.) on Jan. 27, 1990. The 48-point differential for Notre Dame from Ohio State (59 points) to Siena was the most in back-to-back games since a 50-point differential in the ’74 NCAA tournament with a 77-68 loss to Michigan and a 118-88 win over Vanderbilt in a regional consolation game.
GRAVES HAS HOT GAME: Not only did Graves score the winning basket against Ohio State, but overall had one of the top games of his Irish career as he scored 18 points (tied for career third-best) on a seven of 12 effort from the field along with eight rebounds, to tie a career high.
Graves added 16 points in the win over Siena last Thursday night and had 12 against St. Francis (Pa.) on Sunday.
Graves has started 32 of the 34 collegiate games he has played in and has scored in double figures in 24 of those contests.
Graves scored 370 points as a freshman last year ? the fourth-highest in school history behind Murphy (519 last year), Adrian Dantley (511 in 1973-74) and David Rivers (474 in 1984-85).
MURPHY GETS THIRD DOUBLE DOUBLE: Murphy had his third double double of the season against Arizona as he scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. The sophomore forward has led the Irish in scoring in all four game and has been the leading rebounder on three occasions. He scored 35 points against St. Francis (Pa.) on Sunday along with 13 rebounds. The 35 points was a career-high topping his previous mark of 32 set against West Virginia last year.
Murphy has now played in 31 games as a collegiate performer and has scored in double figures in all but one of them. He has posted double-doubles in 15 games and has scored 20 or more points in 15 games and 30 or more points in five games.
MURPHY NAMED BIG EAST PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Murphy was named the BIG EAST player of the week for his games in the first two rounds of the Preseason NIT and the Irish win over St. Francis (Pa.) on Sunday. The announcement was the first weekly BIG EAST award of the season.
Murphy was named the BIG EAST rookie of the year in 1999 and won the BIG EAST rookie of the week award eight times ? the second-highest in league history. The award marks the first time Murphy has won player of the week honors.
PRESEASON BIG EAST HONORS FOR MURPHY: Murphy was picked first team preseason all-BIG EAST for the 1999-2000 season by the league coaches. The honor was announced at BIG EAST Conference Media Day on Wed., October 25, 1999, and was held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.
Also named to the first team was: Khalid El-Amin of Connecticut, Johnny Hemsley of Miami, Erick Barkley of St. John’s and Etan Thomas of Syracuse.
The second team was Kevin Freeman of Connecticut, Isaac Hawkins of Pittsburgh, Bootsy Thornton of St. John’s, Jason Hart of Syracuse and Marcus Goree of West Virginia.
The preseason player of the year was El-Amin and the preseason rookie of the year was Ajou Deng of Connecticut.
MORE PRESEASON HONORS FOR MURPHY: In addition to the BIG EAST honors, Murphy garnered a number of preseason accolades heading into the 1999-2000 campaign, including:
- Second Team All-America, Dick Vitale’s College Basketball
- Second Team All-America, Basketball News
- Honorable Mention All-America, Athlon
- Ranked second in country among centers, Dick Vitale’s College Bas- ketball
- Ranked fourth in country among power forwards, Lindy’s
- Ranked 11th in country among power forwards, The Sporting News
- First Team All-BIG EAST, Dick Vitale’s College Basketball
- First Team All-BIG EAST, Dick Vitale’s College Basketball
- First Team All-BIG EAST, The Sporting News
- First Team All-BIG EAST, Lindy’s
- Best NBA Prospect in BIG EAST, Lindy’s
- Best Rebounder in BIG EAST, The Sporting News
- All-Windex Team (The kids can really clean the glass), Dick Vitale’s College Basketball
CARROLL SPENDS SUMMER WITH USA TEAM: Notre Dame freshman guard Matt Carroll spent the summer as a member of the USA Basketball Junior National Team that played in the FIBA World Championships, which were held in Portugal in August. The United States won the silver medal in the event.
Carroll played in seven of the eight games the United States played and scored a combined 16 points to go along with three rebounds and four steals. He scored eight points in the United States’ opening round win over China.
IRISH PLAY EXHIBITIONS: Notre Dame prepared for the upcoming season with a pair of exhibition games.
Notre Dame opened its exhibition season on Fri., November 5, with a 94-74 win over the International Select All-Stars.
Murphy was the leading scorer in that game with 28 points and 11 rebounds while Carroll had 20 points, including a three-for-three performance from three-point field goal range. Freshman forward Jere Macura (Split, Croatia) came off the bench to score 13 points while junior guard Martin Ingelsby (Philadelphia, Pa.) had 10 points.
Notre Dame lost to Marathon by a 105-81 on Thur., November 11. Murphy again was the leading scorer for the Irish with 28 points as Graves had 16 points, Carroll scored 12 and sophomore Harold Swanagan (Hopkinsville, Kent.) had 11.
TICKETS ON SALE: Tickets are currently on sale for the 1999-2000 basketball season.
Season tickets for all 18 home games are priced at $154 (plus $15 for handling per order) and available in the bleacher seats.
A special four-game Saturday package is available and includes the Vanderbilt (Dec. 4), Pittsburgh (Jan. 22), St. John’s (Jan. 29) and Connecticut (Feb. 12) games. That package is priced at $30 (plus $15 for handling per order).
Single game tickets are now on sale at $15 for the lower arena (when available) and $8 for bleachers.
IRISH ON ESPN: Notre Dame will make a minimum of three appearances on ESPN this season and one on espn2. The Irish game against Ohio State in the first round of the preseason National Invitation Tournament was televised on espn2. With Notre Dame advancement to the semifinals of the tournament, tonight’s game will be televised on ESPN.
Notre Dame games scheduled for ESPN are: Sat., February 19, at Seton Hall, 9:00 p.m. EST, Sat., February 26, at Miami (Fla.), 7:00 p.m. EST, Wed., March 1, vs. Syracuse, 9:00 p.m. EST.
- Series: ND leads, 8-7
- Current Streak: MD, 1
- At Notre Dame: ND, 5-2
- At MSG: First Meeting
- Last Meeting: 1987-88, at Notre Dame, 75-78 MD
Next Game: Tuesday, Nov. 30, at Indiana, (TV: WHME-TV 46, South Bend, Ind.)
Next Home Game: Saturday, Dec. 4, vs. Vanderbilt, 2:00 p.m. EST (TV: None)
Next Matt Doherty Teleconference: Monday, Nov. 29, in the Notre Dame Sports Information Office, 10:00 a.m. EST. Call Notre Dame sports information for details.