Irish Prepare For The Miami RedHawks

Dec. 9, 1999

TODAY’S GAME:
The University of Notre Dame basketball team returns to the road today after two-straight home games to take on Miami of Ohio of the Mid-American Conference.

Notre Dame broke a four-game losing streak on Wednesday with a 65-42 win at home over Valparaiso. The Irish had lost games to Arizona (76-60 in Preseason NIT semifinals), Maryland (72-67 in Preseason NIT third place game), Indiana (81-64 in overtime) and Vanderbilt (87-85 in overtime).

In the win over Valpo, four Irish players scored in double figures as sophomore forward Troy Murphy (Morristown, N.J.) had 19 points and added seven rebounds.

Freshman guard Matt Carroll (Horsham, Pa.) had 13 points while sophomore forward David Graves (Lexington, Ky.) had 11 points and sophomore center Harold Swanagan (Hopkinsville, Ky.) had a season-high 10 points.

Notre Dame led at the half by a 29-25 count, but scored the first 13 points of the second half to take control of the game.

After today’s game, the Irish take the week off for fall semester final exams and return to action next Saturday in the Joyce Center at 2 p.m. EST against VMI.

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.

Miami of Ohio brings a 2-3 record into today’s game and is coming off a 67-58 win over Xavier on Wednesday.

Date:
Sat., December 11, 1999

Place:
Millett Hall, Oxford, OH (9,200)

Time:
12:00 p.m. EST

Television:
None Locally

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).

NOTRE DAME/MIAMI SERIES

Series:
ND leads, 3-2

Current Streak:
M, 2

At Notre Dame:
2-1, ND

At Miami:
0-0

Last Meeting:
1998-99, at ND, 76-65, M

THE NOTRE DAME-MIAMI SERIES:
Today’s game is the sixth meeting between the two schools and the Irish hold a 3-2 edge. Today is the first time the Irish have played in Oxford.

Notre Dame and Miami have played twice in the NCAA tournament with the Irish taking a first round win in 1957 and Miami posting a first round victory in ’69.

The two teams met at the Joyce Center last year on Nov. 13, 1998, as Miami took a 76-65 win. Wally Szczerbiak led the RedHawks with 19 points as Troy Murphy had 19 points for the Irish in his first career game.

Miami led 27-26 at the half but went on a 12-0 run early in the second half to take a commanding 45-35 lead with 15:02 left to play. The closest the Irish could get again was five points.

WHAT A SCHEDULE:
Matt Doherty is starting his collegiate head coaching career with a very rugged schedule as today’s game against Miami is the seventh game (out of nine) this year against teams that played in last year’s NCAA tournament.

The Irish have posted wins over:

• Ohio State, 59-57 on Nov. 16 in the first round of the Preseason NIT in Columbus. The Buckeyes finished last season with a 27-9 record and advanced to the NCAA Final Four.
• Siena, 107-96 on Nov. 18 in the second round of the Preseason NIT at Notre Dame. The Saints had a 25-6 record last year and played in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
• Valparaiso, 65-42 on Wednesday at Notre Dame. The Crusaders had a 23-9 record last year and played in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Notre Dame’s losses include:
Arizona (22-7 last year and played in first round of the NCAA tournament), Maryland (28-6 last year and advanced to NCAA regional semifinal) and Indiana (23-11 and advanced to NCAA tournament second round last year).

Here’s a look at the records of the Irish opponents this season (as of Dec. 8):

TOTAL RECORD OF TEAMS THAT NOTRE DAME HAS LOST TO: 23-3

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

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 ESPN/USA Today college basketball poll, which was released on Nov. 21, to fall sixth in the also receiving votes category, and received one point in the poll released on Nov. 28 and Dec. 5.

The Irish were second in the Associated Press ranking of Nov. 22 in the also receiving votes category with 160 points, eight in back of Miami (168). Notre Dame received four points in the AP voting of Dec 6. 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 to the Preseason NIT in ’99 marked the third appearance for the Irish in the event. 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.

HITTING THE CENTURY MARK:
Notre Dame’s win over Siena on Nov. 18 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 CAREER GAME:
Graves enjoyed an outstanding game against Vanderbilt last Saturday with career highs for points (33), rebounds (12), field goals made (11), three-point field goals (five) and minutes played (44). The game was the first double-double of Graves’ collegiate career.

Graves scored the winning basket against Ohio State and started the season with one of the top games of his Irish career as he scored 18 points (now tied for career fourth-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 on Nov. 18 and had 12 against St. Francis (Pa.) on Nov. 21.

Graves has started 36 of the 38 collegiate games he has played in and has scored in double figures in 27 of those contests. He has scored in double figures in all but two games this season.

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 SIXTH DOUBLE DOUBLE:
Murphy had his sixth double double of the season in seven games against Vanderbilt last Saturday with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Against Indiana on Nov. 30, he had a game-high 22 points and 16 rebounds. In the third place game of the NIT against Maryland on Nov. 26 he had 25 points and 11 rebounds and in the NIT semifinals against Arizona, he scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

The sophomore forward has led the Irish in scoring in seven games this season and has been the leading rebounder or tied on seven occasions. He scored 35 points against St. Francis (Pa.) on Nov. 20 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 35 games as a collegiate performer and has scored in double figures in all but one of them. He has posted double-doubles in 18 games and has scored 20 or more points in 17 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 Nov. 22. 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 marked 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 IN DOUBLE FIGURES:
Notre Dame freshman guard Matt Carroll (Horsham, Pa.) made the first start of his Irish career last Saturday against Vanderbilt and responded with a career-high 18 points.

Carroll played a total of 28 minutes vs. the Commodores and was eight for 15 from the field and two for four from three-point field goal range.

On Tuesday against Valparaiso, he had 13 points on three three-point field goals.

Carroll had come off the bench in the first six games of the season and now has scored in double figures in four games ?16 points vs. Siena and 11 vs. Maryland in addition to the Vanderbilt and Valparaiso games.

Carroll is 10 for 26 from three-point field goal range this season and hit on three three-point field goals vs. Maryland.

He 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.

Carroll is the only player in the history of Pennsylvania high school basketball to win the Associated Press player of the year twice.

NOTRE DAME STARTING LINE:

NOTRE DAME OFF THE BENCH:

SWANAGAN BACK IN DOUBLE FIGURES:
Swanagan scored 10 points and added four rebounds against Valparaiso on Tuesday night to score in double figures for the first time this season. Swanagan’s previous season high was eight points againdt St. Francis (Pa.). Swanagan has started all eight games for the Irish this year at the center position.

Swanagan played in 29 games last season, scoring in double figures in eight of them and starting two games.

MACURA NETS CAREER HIGH VS. HOOSIERS:
Freshman forward Jere Macura (Split, Croatia) registered a career-high 13 points, including two three-point field goals, vs. Indiana (Nov. 30). Macura played a career-high 33 minutes off the bench and also added eight rebounds.

Macura scored nine points coming off the bench in 18 minutes of play against Maryland (Nov. 26). Macura scored all his points on three-point field goals as he was three for four from that range for the game.

BACK TO THE FUTURE:
Ever since Matt Doherty was named the head basketball coach at Notre Dame, he has stressed the tradition of winning that the program has. He has worked hard to include former players in the program:

• Bruce Flowers, a member of the ’78 Irish Final Four team, served as a counselor at the Irish summer basketball camp, while Ken Barlow, who scored 1,342 career points for the Irish from 1982-86, was a guest speaker
• Collis Jones, who scored 1,367 career points for the Irish from 1968-71, has visited with the Irish coaching staff and practice sessions during his trips to campus as a member of the University’s Advisory Council for the College of Business Administration.
• Austin Carr, the all-time leading scorer in the history of Irish basketball with 2,560 points, was a special guest at ‘Friday Night Live,’ a series of events that led to the first Irish practice at midnight on Oct. 16. Carr was joined at the event by ESPN and ABC announcer Dick Vitale and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger.
• Dwight Clay, who hit the game-winning shot against UCLA on Jan. 19, 1974, for a 71-70 victory over the Bruins to end their record 88-game winning streak, spoke to the Irish before their practice on Nov. 15 the day before they beat Ohio State in the first round of the Preseason NIT.

Irish Sign Three

University of Notre Dame basketball coach Matt Doherty announced on Nov. 12 that three players have signed national letters of intent and plan on enrolling at Notre Dame in the fall and playing for Doherty’s squad. The three are: Torrian Jones, a 6-4, 185-pound guard from Fairless Hills, Pa., and Pennsbury High School, Tom Timmermans, a 6-11, 235-pound center from Driehuis, Netherlands and the Blue Ridge School in Dyke, Va., and Chris Markwood, a 6-5, 185-pound guard from South Portland, Maine and South Portland High School.

Jones averaged 17 points per game last year at Pennsbury for head coach Frank Sciolla as the team won 26 games the most in school history. The team played in the District One championship game and lost in the second round of the state tournament. Jones earned first team all-conference and all-area honors and averaged 22 points per game in seven post season contests. In his junior year, Jones shot 50.2% from the field and 43.8% from three-point field goal distance.

Markwood earned first-team all-state honors last season at South Portland, averaging 21.5 points, 6.3 assists, 4.9 rebounds and four assists for head coach Tony DiBiase. Markwood earned first team all-conference honors last year and was named conference MVP. His AAU team in Maine has been the state champions for the past three years.

Timmermans averaged 12.5 points per game last year at Blue Ridge for head coach Bill Ramsey along with 10 rebounds. The team finished 19-6 on the season third in the state among independent schools.

Irish On The Radio

Host/USA originates the Notre Dame Basketball Radio Network for the 12th consecutive year in 1999-2000.

Jack Lorri will handle the play-by-play of all Notre Dame basketball games and this season marks his 31st year announcing Irish games. Lorri spent his first 14 years with Notre Dame as sports director of WTRC-AM in Elkhart, Ind., and then five years doing games on WGN-AM in Chicago before teaming up with Host/USA. He served as sports director for WSJV-TV in Elkhart for 13 years beginning in 1967 and did play-by-play for Kentucky football and basketball on WLAP in Lexington in 1961-63. Lorri also served as sports director of the Tribune Radio Network in Chicago.

Jack Nolan handles the color commentary on the network. He has been a sports anchor at WNDU-TV, the NBC affiliate in South Bend, for more than a decade. He has done play-by-play of Irish basketball on both television and radio as well as on live telecasts of Notre Dame football. He is also the host of WNDU’s highly successful Saturday and Sunday morning news broadcasts.

Stations scheduled to be on the Notre Dame Basketball Radio Network this season are: WMAQ 670 AM in Chicago, WAUR 930 AM in Chicago, WNDV 1490 AM and 92.9 FM in South Bend, WEFM 95.9 FM in Michigan City, Ind., WLUV 96.7 FM and 1520 AM in Rockford, Ill., KHEP 1280 AM in Phoenix, Ariz., KATD 990 AM in San Francisco, Calif., KSAR 92.7 FM in Conway, Ark., and KIND 1010 AM in Independence, Kan.

All radio broadcasts of Notre Dame basketball games can also be heard through the World Wide Web at www.und.com.

Chicago Radio

WMAQ-AM radio will carry Notre Dame basketball games in the Chicago market again this season as part of the Notre Dame Basketball Radio Network originated by Host/USA. In addition, Chicago’s WAUR-AM will also broadcast selected Irish games.

WMAQ-AM (670), with its 50,000-watt clear channel signal, covers a larger geographic area than any other radio station in Chicago. The station’s other sports properties include the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Blackhawks and the station is also affiliated with CNN Radio.

Notre Dame basketball games on WMAQ this season include: Dec. 4 against Vanderbilt, Dec. 11 at Miami (Ohio), Dec. 18 vs. VMI, Jan. 16 at Syracuse, Jan. 22 vs. Pittsburgh, Jan. 25 vs. Miami (Fla.), Jan. 29 vs. St. John’s, Feb. 6 at Pittsburgh, Feb. 8 at Villanova, Feb. 12 vs. Connecticut, Feb. 19 at Seton Hall, Feb. 26 at Miami (Fla.) and March 4 at Georgetown.

Six more Irish games will be carried in the Chicago area on WAUR-AM (930). They include: Nov. 16 at Ohio State, Nov. 30 at Indiana, Dec. 8 vs. Valparaiso, Jan. 5 at Connecticut, Feb. 23 vs. Providence and March 1 vs. Syracuse.

Tickets On Sale

Tickets are currently on sale for the 1999-2000 basketball season.

Pro-rated season tickets for all remaining home games are 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 four 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 and the semifinal game against Arizona was 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.