Men's Basketball Prepares For Siena

Nov. 18, 1999

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-0) vs.
SIENA Saints (1-0)
Date: Thursday, November 18, 1999
Place: Joyce Center (11,418), Notre Dame, IN
Event: Second Round, Preseason NIT
Time: 7:30 p.m. EST
Television: WHME-TV in South Bend (Jack Lorri, Jack Nolan)
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).

Series: First Meeting
Current Streak: None
At Notre Dame: 0-0
At Siena: 0-0
Last Meeting: None

TONIGHT’S GAME: The University of Notre Dame basketball team plays host to a second round game of the 1999 Preseason National Invitational Tournament tonight against Siena College of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

The Irish opened play in the NIT with a 59-57 win over Ohio State on Tuesday in Columbus. Sophomore foward David Graves (Lexington, Kent.) hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer and ended the game with 18 points and eight rebounds.

Sophomore forward Troy Murphy (Morristown, N.J.) was the leading scorer for the Irish with 21 points and 12 rebounds for the 13th double-double in his 28-game collegiate career.

Siena advanced to the second round of the NIT with an 89-79 home win over Davidson on Tuesday night. The Saints had a 25-6 record last year and advanced to the NCAA Championship.

The winner of tonight’s game advances to the NIT semifinals and final round and will be assured of two more games in the event. The finals are played next Wednesday and Friday, Nov. 24 and 26 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The winner of this game will play the winner of tommorow night’s game between Arizona and New Mexico State in the semifinals.

Notre Dame’s next game is at 2:00 p.m. EST on Sun., November 21, against St. Francis (Pa.). 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.

THE NOTRE DAME-SIENA SERIES: Tonight’s game is the first meeting between Notre Dame and Siena.

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 in the lastest Associated Press poll and sixth in the ESPN/USA Today poll) 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

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 has started 29 of the 31 collegiate games he has played in and has scored in double figures in 21 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 HONORED BY BIG EAST: Murphy was named 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.

PRESEASON HONORS FOR MURPHY: Murphy earned 1999 BIG EAST rookie-of-the-year honors last year after averaging 19.2 points per game and 9.9 rebounds to lead the Irish in both categories.

In addition to the BIG EAST honors, Murphy has already 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 (Horsham, Pa.) 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 sophomore David Graves (Lexington, Kent.) 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 will be televised on espn2 (Nov. 16 at 8:30 p.m.). If Notre Dame advances to the semifinals and finals of the tournament, those games 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.

NOTRE DAME ON 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.

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.

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