Sept. 6, 2001

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Seven national television appearances, including a matchup with Kentucky on Jan., 19, 2002 at the Joyce Center, highlight the 2001-02 Notre Dame men’s basketball schedule for second-year head coach Mike Brey. The Irish will play two nationally telvised games on CBS and one on ABC, in addition to four contests which will be carried by ESPN.

Notre Dame returns four key players – senior tri-captains David Graves (Lexington, Ky.), Ryan Humphrey (Tulsa, Okla.) and Harold Swanagan (Hopkinsville, Ky.) and junior Matt Carroll (Horsham, Pa.) – from last season’s 20-10 squad which captured the BIG EAST west divisional regular-season crown and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Both CBS games will be televised from the Joyce Center as Notre Dame meets Kentucky on Sat., Jan. 19 at noon and also plays BIG EAST foe Providence in the regular-season finale on Sat., Mar. 2 at 4:00 p.m. Notre Dame’s home matchup with Syracuse will be shown on ABC on Sun., Feb. 17 at 3:30 p.m.

The Irish travel to Bloomington, Ind., to face the Indiana Hoosiers on Tue., Dec. 4 at 7:00 p.m. in the first of its four ESPN appearances. Brey’s squad will be featured twice on the network’s Big Monday package – versus Syracuse on the road (Jan. 14 at 7:00 p.m.) and Georgetown (Jan. 21 at 7:00 p.m.). Notre Dame’s matchup with Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J. will be shown on Jan. 14 will also tlevised by ESPN at 9:00 p.m.

The Irish open up the season at home against New Hampshire on Fri., Nov. 16 and then play host to Cornell on Mon., Nov. 19, before traveling to Honolulu, Hawaii, for the Hawaii Pacific Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 23-25. The eight-team field includes Akron, Hampton, Liberty, Monmouth, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Vanderbilt. Notre Dame meets Hawaii-Pacific in the opening round of the three-day event on Fri., Nov. 23. Following the tournament in Hawaii, the Irish return home to face Army on Wed., Nov. 28.

Five of Notre Dame’s first six games in the month of December will be played on the road. The stretch of five straight road contests begins with a matchup against DePaul in the Classic 4 Kids at the United Center in Chicago, Ill., on Sat. Dec. 1. That game is the second of a doubleheader with Stanford and Texas squaring off in the first game.

Notre Dame then faces in-state rival Indiana on Dec. 4 before traveling to Oxford, Ohio to play Miami of Ohio on Sat., Dec. 8. The Irish have a 14-day break in the action following that before traveling to Buffalo, N.Y. to meet Canisius on Sat., Dec. 22.

Brey’s squad will play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans, La., on Thur., Dec. 27 before closing out the month of December at home against Colgate on Sun., Dec. 30.

Notre Dame opens up BIG EAST play at home against Villanova on Sun., Jan. 6.