Nov. 15, 2011
Complete Game Notes in PDF Packet 
Sam Houston State vs. Notre Dame
Progressive CBE Classic – Regional Round
Nov. 16, 2011 – 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center (9,149)
Notre Dame, Ind.
TV: None
Live Video Broadcast: UND.com Radio: Affiliate listings on Pg. 5
Broadcast on UND.com
Jack Nolan (play-by-play)
Jordan Cornette (analyst)
Live Stats: GameTracker (UND.com)
Live Blog: UND.com/blog
IRISH CONTINUE CBE CLASSIC PLAY AGAINST SAM HOUSTON STATE
- Notre Dame (2-0) will play host to Sam Houston State (1-0) on Wednesday in regional-round action of the Progressive CBE Classic. Tip-off between the Fighting Irish and Bearkats is slated for 7:30 p.m. (ET) inside Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center.
- The Irish opened CBE Classic play on Monday with a 59-53 win over Detroit. The victory upped Notre Dame’s home win streak to 21 games.
- Notre Dame is off to a 2-0 start for the fifth straight season and for the 11th time under head coach Mike Brey (12 seasons). The Irish look to improve to 3-0 for the fourth consecutive season.
- A free live video broadcast of Wednesday’s game will be available on UND.com. The Fighting Irish Digital Media radio crew of Jack Nolan (play-by-play) and Jordan Cornette (analyst) will call the action (radio affiliate listings on Pg. 5).
- Wednesday will be the second meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Sam Houston State. The Fighting Irish captured an 88-69 home victory over the Bearkats during the 1997-98 season.
- Sam Houston State is a member of the Southland Conference. Notre Dame is 2-0 all-time against teams currently in the Southland Conference. Along with the win over Sam Houston State in 1997, the Irish topped Nicholls State, 84-75, during the 1996-97 campaign.
PROGRESSIVE CBE CLASSIC
- Notre Dame is serving as one of four regional-round hosts for the 2011 Progressive CBE Classic.
- The championship rounds will be held at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. The Fighting Irish are slated to play Missouri in the semifinals on Nov. 21. Notre Dame will face either California or Georgia in the championship/consolation game on Nov. 22.
- Missouri, California and Georgia join Notre Dame as regional-round hosts for the CBE Classic. Each of the four regional-round hosts will play two games on campus before advancing to the championship rounds in Kansas City, Mo.
- Joining Missouri, Notre Dame, Cal and Georgia in the 2011 CBE Classic are Austin Peay, Bowling Green, Detroit, George Washington, Mercer, Niagara, Sam Houston State and South Dakota State. Bowling Green and Mercer will serve as subregional round hosts for games played Nov. 21-23.
- Notre Dame was the runner-up in the 2002 event when it was called the Guardians Classic. The Irish topped Belmont (76-48) and IUPUI (89-45) at home before traveling to Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium for the semifinals and final. Notre Dame bested Furman (75-50) in the semifinals before falling to Creighton (80-75) in the title game.
DEFENDING DETROIT
- Notre Dame limited Detroit to just a 30.9% (21-68) shooting clip from the field in Monday’s 59-53 victory. The Titans shot just 26.3% (10-38) from the field in the second half.
- Notre Dame held Detroit without a field goal from the 14:04 mark of the second half until the 6:23 mark, a span of 7:41.
BIG GAME FOR BROOKS
- Junior guard Joey Brooks posted career-high totals in points (13) and rebounds (9) in Monday’s victory over Detroit. Both figures were tied for the team lead in the game. It was the first time in his career that he posted a team-high point total.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP FOR ATKINS
- Sophomore point guard Eric Atkins has registered a team-high point total in each of the first two games this season. Atkins scored a career-high 27 points in the season-opening victory over Mississippi Valley State and then deposited 13 points against Detroit.
- Atkins has reached double-digits in points in consecutive games for the third time in his career. Atkins has nine double-digit scoring efforts during his career.
- Against Mississippi Valley State, Atkins was 6-of-7 from the field, including 3-of-3 from three-point range, and 12-of-12 from the free-throw line. Both the three-point and free-throw totals were career-high figures.
- Atkins’ perfect day from the charity stripe against the Delta Devils marked the most makes without a miss for an Irish player since Tim Abromaitis also went 12-of-12 against Seton Hall on Feb. 11, 2010.
- Atkins made his first three free-throw attempts versus Detroit, but saw his streak end at 15.
COOLEY CRASHING THE BOARDS
- Junior forward Jack Cooley grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds against Mississippi Valley State in the season opener. He followed that up with an eight-rebound effort against Detroit.
INSTANT IMPACTS
- Sophomore guard Jerian Grant, who sat out last season, has scored in double-figures in the first two games of this season. He tallied 11 points against both Mississippi Valley State and Detroit. Grant also had five assists versus Mississippi Valley State.
- In just his second career game, freshman guard/forward Pat Connaughton tallied 10 points and nine rebounds, which were tied for the team lead, against Detroit.
FIRST-TIME STARTERS
- Jack Cooley (Jr./F), Joey Brooks (Jr./G) and Jerian Grant (So./G) all made their first career starts in the season opener versus Mississippi Valley State. The trio also was among the starting five against Detroit.
BUSY BEGINNING
- The Fighting Irish are in the middle of a stretch that has them playing eight games in an 18-day span. The stretch will end with a road test at Gonzaga on Nov. 30.
ABSENCE OF ABRO
- Forward Tim Abromaitis will miss the first four games of the regular season due to a misunderstanding in the technicality of an NCAA rule governing seasons of competition that dates back to the 2008-09 campaign.
- In his sophomore year (’08-’09), Abromaitis played in Notre Dame’s first two exhibition games against Briar Cliff (Oct. 31) and Stonehill (Nov. 9) and then was withheld from competition for the remainder of the season in order to preserve an extra year of eligibility. Under NCAA rules, and specifically Bylaw 14.2.3.1.3, freshman student-athletes are allowed to participate in preseason exhibition contests and still preserve the entire year of eligibility. The Bylaw, however, does not provide the same exception for returning student-athletes in their sophomore, junior and senior seasons. Therefore, Abromaitis technically used a season of eligibility when he participated in those two preseason exhibition contests during that year.
- Abromaitis’ fifth year of eligibility has been preserved for this season due to an NCAA waiver that took into consideration the Notre Dame men’s basketball coaching staff’s misunderstanding of the rule and on the condition that he be withheld from the first four regular-season games.
- Saturday’s season opener was the first game Abromaitis missed since he sat out the 2008-09 campaign. He had played in 69 straight contests.
107 YEARS AND STRONG
- The 2011-12 campaign marks the 107th season of basketball at Notre Dame and the 17th season as a member of the BIG EAST Conference. Notre Dame teams have posted an all-time record of 1703-927 for a .648 winning percentage. In 15 seasons as a member of the BIG EAST, the Irish own a 147-125 (.540) record in conference regular-season play.
ABROMAITIS EARNS PRESEASON ACCOLADES
- Notre Dame forward Tim Abromaitis has been selected to the preseason watch lists for both the John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith Trophy. Both awards are presented annually to the national player of the year. Fifty student-athletes appear on both watch lists.
- Abromaitis was named to the six-man preseason All-BIG EAST First Team.
- The Fighting Irish forward also is one of 30 candidates up for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.
SOLID SCHEDULE
- Eight teams on Notre Dame’s 2011-12 schedule are ranked in the latest Associated Press top-25 poll. Six of the squads – #4 Connecticut, #5 Syracuse, #8 Louisville, #9 Pittsburgh, #20 Cincinnati and #21 Marquette – are BIG EAST foes, while the Fighting Irish will face #22 Gonzaga and #24 Missouri in non-conference action. The Irish will face fourth-ranked UConn twice during the regular season. Notre Dame could also face #23 California in the CBE Classic.
BACK TO THE BB&T
- Notre Dame will meet Maryland on Dec. 4 in the BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. The Fighting Irish will be making their third appearance in the event, which is held annually in the nation’s capital. Each of the last two meetings between Notre Dame and Maryland has occurred at the BB&T Classic. Notre Dame topped Maryland, 79-67, in 2002 en route to the event title. The Irish bested the Terrapins again, 81-74, in the 2006 BB&T Classic.
CROSSROADS CLASSIC
- Notre Dame will battle instate rival Indiana in the inaugural Crossroads Classic at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. The game between the Irish and the Hoosiers is part of a doubleheader on Saturday, Dec. 17. Purdue and Butler meet in the first game at 2:00 p.m. (ET) followed by Notre Dame and Indiana at 4:30 p.m. (ET).
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
- Notre Dame will have 17 television appearances during the 2011-12 season. The Irish will appear on ESPN’s family of networks 16 times in addition to being on CBS once.
DOUBLE-DUTY
- Freshman guard/forward Pat Connaughton also is a pitcher on the Fighting Irish baseball team. Connaughton is the 66th Notre Dame student-athlete to compete in both basketball and baseball and the first to do so since Tom Hansen during the 1973-74 academic year.
IRISH CAPTAINS
- Tim Abromaitis and Scott Martin will captain the Fighting Irish during the 2011-12 season. Abromaitis is the 19th player in program history to serve as a two-time team captain.
HOME SWEET HOME
- The Fighting Irish currently have a 21-game home win streak.
- The Fighting Irish concluded their 2010-11 home slate with a perfect 17-0 mark. It’s the third undefeated season at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center in the last five years and the fifth overall for Notre Dame since the building opened at the start of the 1968-69 campaign. The other perfect home seasons occurred in: 1973-74 (15-0), 1985-86 (15-0), 2006-07 (18-0) and 2007-08 (17-0).
- Notre Dame is the only BIG EAST team that did not lose at home in 2010-11.
- Over the course of the last five seasons, Notre Dame is the only school nationally to go undefeated at home in three seasons (Duke and Kansas have done it twice), while its 86-6 record at home for a .935 winning percentage is the sixth best among NCAA Division I schools. The Irish also own the best record among all BIG EAST teams in regular-season conference home games over the same time span with a sterling 39-5 record for an .886 winning percentage.
- See page 8 of this notes packet for more information
410 AND COUNTING
- Notre Dame has made at least one three-pointer in 410 straight contests dating back to the 1998-99 campaign. The Fighting Irish have made at least one three pointer during every game of the Mike Brey era. The last time an Irish team failed to hit a three-pointer in a game was in a 101-70 loss to Connecticut at the Hartford Civic Center on Jan. 12, 1999. Notre Dame finished 0-7 from beyond the arc in that contest. In 2008-09, the Irish set a single-season three-point record with 319.
WHAT A RUN
- Notre Dame has posted a 98-42 (.700) record since the beginning of the 2007-08 season. The 98 wins are the most victories in program history over a five-year span.
- The past four seasons has produced the most regular-season BIG EAST victories (46) in school history. The Irish have gone 46-26 in BIG EAST regular-season play over the past four seasons.
- Last season’s 27 wins (27-7) were the most in the modern era of Fighting Irish basketball. Notre Dame’s highest win total ever was 33 (33-7) in 1908-09.
- The 14 regular-season BIG EAST victories in 2010-11 tied the program standard. The Fighting Irish went 14-4 in BIG EAST play in 2007-08.
- Notre Dame’s 15 BIG EAST wins (14 regular season, 1 tournament) last season were the most in program history (combined regular season and tournament).
ELDER STATESMAN
- Mike Brey is in his 12th season along the Irish sidelines. He is the third-longest tenured coach in the BIG EAST, behind only Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Jim Calhoun of Connecticut. Brey stands sixth all-time in career BIG EAST victories (both regular-season and tournament) with his 119-83 (.589) mark. He is one of eight coaches in BIG EAST