Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Men's Basketball Hosts Rutgers

January 22, 1999

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-9, 4-4) vs. RUTGERS Scarlet Knights (11-6, 4-4)

Date: Saturday, January 23, 1999
Place: Joyce Center (11,418), Notre Dame, IN
Time: 12:00 p.m. EST
Television: BIG EAST Game of the Week through ESPN Regional Televison (Don Criqui, Leo Rautins). To be seen in the South Bend area on WNDU-TV and also on 27 other stations through the country, including WWOR-TV in New York City, WJYS-TV in Chicago, WCVB-TV in Boston, WPXW-TV in Washington, D.C., WBSV-TV in Tampa-St. Petersburg, WATE-TV in Pittsburgh, WMJF-TV in Baltimore, WAV-TV in Indianapolis, WTXX-TV in Hartford-New Haven, WNGS-TV in Buffalo and MSC in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.
Live Radio: Host Communications Inc. (Jack Lorri, Jack Nolan) originates the Notre Dame Radio Network (includes WNDV-1490 AM and 92.9 FM in South Bend, WEFM-95.9 FM in Michigan City and WGON-860 in Marion and selected games on WMAQ-670 AM in Chicago)

TODAY’S GAME: The University of Notre Dame basketball team returns to action this afternoon as it takes on Rutgers.

Notre Dame is coming off a 59-56 victory over Seton Hall on Tuesday night as senior center Phil Hickey (Wellsboro, Pa.) recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard Antoni Wyche (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) scored 15 points while freshman forwards David Graves (Lexington, Kent.) and Harold Swanagan (Hopkinsville, Kent.) both scored in double figures as Graves had 12 points and Swanagan recorded his second-straight double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Notre Dame enters the contest with an overall record of 10-9 and a 4-4 record in the BIG EAST.

Rutgers enters the contest with an 11-6 record and a 4-4 mark in the BIG EAST. The last action for the Scarlet Knights was a 74-71 home win over Syracuse on Monday night.

THE NOTRE DAME-RUTGERS SERIES: Notre Dame and Rutgers have met 10 previous times and the series is tied at 5-5. Since Notre Dame joined the BIG EAST Conference in 1995-96, Rutgers leads the series by a 3-2 count – and in each game the home team has won the contest. In games played at the Joyce Center between Notre Dame and Rutgers, the Irish lead by a 3-1 margin.

Last season, the two teams split a pair of games as Notre Dame won by a 91-76 score on January 11 and Rutgers won by a 71-61 count. In the win at Notre Dame, Pat Garrity scored 32 points while Hickey had 16, Keith Friel scored 12 and Antoni Wyche had 11.

INJURY UPDATE: The Notre Dame practice on Jan. 14 was a costly one in terms of injuries. Freshman forward Troy Murphy (Morristown, N.J.) sprained his left ankle during the practice, missed the Villanova and Seton Hall games and is questionable for today’s game. He returned to partial practice on Thursday. Freshman forward David Graves (Lexington, Kent.) suffered a sprained shoulder in that practice, but was able to play in both the Villanova and Seton Hall games. Senior guard Dennis Carroll (LaGrange, Ill.) suffered a separated shoulder in practice on Jan. 10 and returned to partial practice on Thursday.

COMEBACK KIDS: In three of Notre Dame’s four BIG EAST Conference wins this season, the Irish have been trailing at halftime. Notre Dame trailed Seton Hall by a 27-23 count on Wednesday at the half (won 59-56), trailed Miami 31-29 on Jan. 9 (won 71-68) and trailed Pittsburgh 36-34 at the half on Jan. 5 (won 87-64). The only BIG EAST game Notre Dame has led at halftime was on Dec. 8 against Providence by a 39-31 count as the Irish won 83-80. Notre Dame has trailed at halftime in all four of its BIG EAST Conference losses.

FRESHMEN SCORING: Murphy and Graves are the two-leading scorers for the Irish this season at 18.2 and 13.3 points per game, respectively. Of the 1,405 points scored this season by the Irish, 39.9% of them (561) have been scored by that duo. When you add freshman forward Harold Swanagan to the mix, 681 (48.5%) of the Irish points this year have been scored by freshmen. In all, Notre Dame players have recorded double figure scoring 65 times this season and 34 have been from freshmen.

IRISH NOTCH EARLY BIG EAST ROAD WINS: Notre Dame opened its 1998-99 BIG EAST schedule with an 83-80 win at Providence on Dec. 8, 1998, and improved to 2-0 in BIG EAST road games following the win at Miami on Jan. 9. The Irish won once on the road in BIG EAST games in its first two years in the conference, beating St. John’s at Madison Square Garden in 1996 and beating Syracuse in the Carrier Dome in 1997. Notre Dame won three BIG EAST road games in 1997-98, with another win at Syracuse in addition to victories at West Virginia and Pittsburgh. Notre Dame is now 2-2 in BIG EAST road games this season.

THE WIN OVER MIAMI: Notre Dame shot 56.5 percent (24 for 43) from the field in the 71-68 win over Miami on Jan. 9, becoming the first team in 39 games to shoot better than 50 percent against the Hurricanes. The last team to shoot as well against Miami was Michigan, which shot 59.6 percent on March 13, 1997 in second round of the National Invitation Tournament. The last team to shoot more than 50 percent in the regular season was St. John’s, which shot 57.1 percent on Feb. 22, 1997.

SWANAGAN GETS ANOTHER DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Swanagan has recorded a double-double in each of the past two games for the Irish. He had a career-high 22 points coming off the bench in last Saturday’s game against Villanova. Swanagan also added a career-high 15 rebounds in the game, eight of them off the offensive end.

Swanagan then made his fist career start in the win over Seton Hall on Tuesday night and recorded 10 points and 11 rebounds. His most dramatic part of the game came with 11.2 seconds left as he missed two free throws as the Irish held a three point lead (56-53), but Swanagan got his own rebound off the second missed free throw and was fouled to go to the line again.

He has seen his playing time increase since the beginning of the Great Alaska Shootout. In the first three games of the season prior to the tournament, he was playing just 6.7 minutes per game. Since the tournament began, Swanagan is averaging 19.6 minutes per game. Swanagan has scored in double figures in six games during his freshman year and against tough competition -Duke, Indiana, Providence, Connecticut, Villanova and Seton Hall. Swanagan scored a then-career high 17 points against the Blue Devils in the first round of Great Alaska Shootout and then had a career high 10 rebounds vs. Southern Utah. Against Indiana, Swanagan had another solid performance with 11 points and nine rebounds in 20 minutes of action. In the win over Providence, Swanagan scored 13 points. Swanagan came off the bench in the Connecticut game on Jan. 12 and was the team’s leading scorer with 15 points.

MURPHY AND DOUBLE FIGURES: Murphy has started his collegiate career by scoring in double figures in 16 of the 17 contests that he has played this year, including five double-double performances – 21 points and 17 rebounds vs. Alaska-Anchorage, 23 points and 16 rebounds vs. Indiana, 30 points, 11 rebounds vs. Providence, 27 points and 14 rebounds vs. Eastern Kentucky and 30 points and 10 rebounds vs. Pittsburgh. Murphy had scored in double figures in the first 12 games of the season before scoring just five points against Syracuse.

Since freshmen became eligible to play in 1970-71, no Irish freshman had ever scored in double figures in his first 12 career games. The last time a Notre Dame player scored in double figures in his first nine college games was LaPhonso Ellis in 1988-89. Ellis wound up averaging 13.5 points per game as a frosh. Ellis is the ninth-leading scorer in school history with 1,505 career points.

MURPHY SETS BIG EAST RECORD: Murphy’s 30 points against Providence tied a BIG EAST record for most points by an individual in their first conference game. Allen Iverson of Georgetown also had 30 points in his first game – against Providence on December 7, 1994.

Murphy also scored 30 points vs. Pittsburgh (Jan. 5) and is the first player in BIG EAST history to score 30 points or more in two conference games during a freshman year.

MURPHY TIED FOR FOURTH NATIONALLY AMONG FRESHMEN: Murphy is tied as the fourth-leading scorer in the country among freshmen players at 18.2 points per game and is just 1.7 points per game behind the leader through games of Jan. 21. Erik Brown of Morehead State is the leader at 19.8 points per game while Quentin Richardson of DePaul is second at 19.7 and Devin Brown of Texas-San Antonio is third at 19.1 Murphy is tied with B.B. Waldon of South Florida and Chris Williams of Virginia.

MURPHY HONORED BY BIG EAST FOR FIFTH TIME: Murphy has been named the BIG EAST rookie of the week five times this season, sharing the award once. His latest honor came the week of Jan. 11, sharing the honor with Rutgers’ Dahntay Jones. Murphy averaged 20.0 points and 8.3 rebounds in Notre Dame’s three games against Pittsburgh, Villanova and Miami. He tied his career-high with 30 points in the win over the Panthers. Murphy was first named on Nov. 16 for his performance in Notre Dame’s opening two games against Miami of Ohio and Yale, on Dec. 14 for his performance in the Providence game, on Dec. 21 for his performance in the Eastern Kentucky game and on Dec. 28 for his performance in the St. Francis (N.Y.) game. The awards mark the first time in Notre Dame’s four-year history as a BIG EAST member that an Irish player had been named the rookie of the week.

Murphy has either led or tied Notre Dame in scoring in eight of the last 11 games he has played in and in 12 of 17 contests.

MURPHY RECOGNIZED BY BASKETBALL NEWS, BIG EAST BRIEFS: Murphy was selected as the newcomer of the year in the BIG EAST Conference by Basketball News in the publication’s annual preseason yearbook. Murphy also was named the BIG EAST preseason newcomer of the year by BIG EAST Briefs newsletter. Murphy was named his team’s most valuable player last spring at the prestigious Capital Classic in Washington, D.C., where he had 18 points and 21 rebounds in the postseason game.

IRISH WIN STREAK LONGEST IN MacLEOD ERA: Notre Dame’s recent five-game win streak was the longest under eighth-year head coach John MacLeod and the longest since the 1987-88 campaign. Before Syracuse, the Irish had not lost since dropping a 76-72 overtime decision at home to Indiana on December 1.

IRISH STARTERS IN DOUBLE FIGURES: In the Irish win against St. Francis (N.Y.) on Dec. 27, all five Irish starters scored in double figures for the second-straight game as Murphy and Wyche each scored 20 points, sophomore guard Martin Ingelsby (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Graves chipped in 18 points apiece while Hickey added points. Against Stetson on December 21, all five starters were in double figures for the first time this season. That game marked the first time since Notre Dame’s 84-73 victory over Xavier on January 21, 1995 at the Joyce Center that all five Irish starters were in double figures (Jason Williams-19; Ryan Hoover-16; Marcus Young-13; Pat Garrity-12; and Lamarr Justice-10). Four Notre Dame starters scored in double figures against Syracuse (Graves-15; Hickey-14; Wyche-11; Ingelsby-10).

GRAVES NETS FRESHMAN HIGH: Graves scored a career-high 29 points against Southern Utah in the Great Alaska Shootout. Before Murphy had 30 points against Providence and Pittsburgh, Graves’ 29 points was the most by a Notre Dame freshman since Adrian Dantley had 41 points against West Virginia in 1973-74.

TWO FRESHMEN STARTERS: Notre Dame had two freshmen start the opening game against Miami of Ohio with Murphy and Graves. It marked the first time since the 1982-83 opener that the Irish have two freshmen starting a season-opening game. In that season, Notre Dame started Tim Kempton and Ken Barlow as the Irish beat Stonehill by a 74-60 count. Kempton scored nine points and Barlow had 14.

INGELSBY NETS CAREER HIGH: Ingelsby scored a career-high 20 points vs. Eastern Kentucky on December 19, including an eight-for-nine performance from the free throw line. Ingelsby, a member of the BIG EAST all-rookie team last year, had a previous career-high 16 points vs. Florida International last season. He turned in another 16-point performance in the win over Miami (Jan. 9). Ingelsby leads Notre Dame with 88 assists this season and has turned the ball over just 48 times in 535 minutes of action or just once every 11.2 minutes of action. Ingelsby had eight assists and no turnovers in 25 minutes of action in the win over Pittsburgh (Jan. 5) and had seven assists and two turnovers in the win over Seton Hall on Tuesday. Last season, Ingelsby had 150 assists, the ninth-highest in school history.

INGELSBY GETTING HIS POINTS FROM THE LINE: Martin Ingelsby leads the team in free throw percentage (84.8%) having made 39 of 46 attempts this season. Last season, Ingelsby was just 14-23 (60.9%) from the line in 27 games.

DILLON MAKES FIRST CAREER START: Notre Dame junior guard Jimmy Dillon (Philadelphia, Pa.) made his first career start on Tuesday against Seton Hall. Dillon played 12 minutes and recorded one assist. He had a career-high seven assists in Notre Dame’s win over Providence and also came off the bench to play a career-high 35 minutes. Previously, the most minutes Dillon had played in one game was 21 and his previous assist high was six, which he had accomplished twice. Dillon is averaging 14.9 minutes of playing time this season, while he entered the season with a career average of 9.5 minutes per game.

HICKEY GETS FOURTH DOUBLE-DOUBLE OF SEASON: Hickey recorded his fourth double-double of the season in the win over Seton Hall on Tuesday with 16 points and 10 rebounds against the Panthers. His third double-double was on Jan. 5, against Pittsburgh as he had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Hickey also had 14 points and 10 rebounds vs. Syracuse and 10 points and 10 rebounds against St. Francis (N.Y.). The senior has scored in double figures in five of the past nine games and nine times this season. Hickey is currently in fourth place on the Irish career list for blocked shots with 70 while LaPhonso Ellis (1988-92) is the career leader with 200 while Matt Gotsch (1993-96) had 97 and Orlando Woolridge (1977-81) had 80.

BIG EAST LEADERS: Here is where Irish players and the Notre Dame team stand in the latest BIG EAST statistics through Jan. 22.

Name              Category      Overall Games                     BIG EAST GamesTroy Murphy       Scoring        4th/18.2 (first among rookies)   5th/17.7                  Rebounding     2nd/8.9 (first among rookies)   t2nd/9.0                  FG Pct.        1st/53.0 (first among rookies)  10th/44.2                  Blocks        12th/1.00                        10th/1.17                  Def. Reb.      1st/6.06                         1st/58.3                  Off. Reb.     11th/2.88                         6th/3.17
David Graves FT Pct. 11th/77.1 13th/73.5
Phil Hickey Rebounding 14th/6.4 - Def. Reb. 9th/4.32 -
Martin Ingelsby Assists t3rd/4.63 t12th/3.75 Ast./TO Ratio 6th/1.83 14th/1.58
Antoni Wyche FT Pct. 12th/76.5 14th/7.33

In overall games, the Notre Dame team is fourth in field goal percentage (46.7%) and second in assists per game (17.21). Murphy’s 17 rebounds vs. Alaska-Anchorage are tied as the most in a single game for a BIG EAST player this season.

In BIG EAST games, the Irish are fifth in assists (16.00) and fourth in rebounding defense (35.1). Notre Dame’s 28 assists against Pittsburgh are the most in a single BIG EAST game. Murphy is tied for third in the league in double-doubles in overall games with five and Hickey is tied for eighth with four.

IRISH INK TWO: Matt Carroll, a 6-5 1/2 guard from Horsham, Penn., and Hatboro-Horsham High School, and Mike Monserez, a 6-5 guard from Moeller High School and Cincinnati, Ohio, signed National Letters of Intent on November 11, 1998, to enroll at the University of Notre Dame next fall and play for head coach John MacLeod’s basketball team.

Carroll averaged 23.6 points per game as a junior in high school and added 8.5 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.8 blocks per game. He is ranked No. 30 in the country among high school seniors by All-Star Sports and its publisher Bob Gibbons and No. 67 by Future Stars.

Carroll was named all-area and all-league for his first three years in high school and was named the 1988 state player of the year in Pennsylvania.

In the summer of 1998, Carroll was a member of the USA Basketball men’s junior world championship qualifying team, which won the gold medal at the COPABA junior world championship qualifying tournament. Carroll averaged 6.5 points per game in the tournament and 2.0 rebounds.

Monserez led Moeller to an 18-4 record in his junior year and the team finished ninth in the Associated Press Ohio Division I poll after losing in the sectional finals. Monserez led the team with 12 points per game as a total of five Moeller players averaged in double figures. Monserez also averaged 7.5 assists per game, shot 38.5 percent from the three-point distance and 78 percent from the foul line.

He was named first team all-Southwestern Ohio by the AP, first team all-city by the Cincinnati Enquirer and co-player of the year in the Greater Catholic League of Cincinnati and Dayton.