Jan. 23, 2001

Notre Dame vs. Syracuse Box Score

By TOM COYNE
Associated Press Writer

Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame’s Troy Murphy made Syracuse pay for its poor shooting.

Murphy scored 22 of his 34 points in the second half, taking control on the inside and making 16 of 19 free throws, to lead Notre Dame to a 74-60 victory over No. 11 Syracuse on Tuesday night.

“In the second half, we didn’t do anything with Murphy,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “We have to keep him from getting the ball in the lane and we didn’t do it.”

The Irish repeatedly went inside to Murphy in the second half. Despite getting pounded by Syracuse, Murphy made 6 of 10 shots and shot 10-for-13 from the free throw line in the second half. Murphy also had 16 rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals.

“Troy is a tough player. He’s hard to handle, plus he has the refs and the court advantage, and that doesn’t help at all,” Syracuse center Billy Celuck said. “He’s tough down low. He just racks up his points and keeps going at you. Sometimes you block him twice in a row and he just comes back at you.”

Boeheim blamed the Orangemen for Murphy’s outburst.

“We knew where he was and our two young guys didn’t do what they needed to do.”

Murphy, who scored a career-low five points against Syracuse as a freshman and had an 0-5 record against the Orangemen, said the win was gratifying.

“Syracuse is a team I’ve never played well against,” Murphy said. “I still remember the feeling of Elvir Ovcina talking junk to me going off the floor.”

The victory was the eighth straight at home for the Irish and marked the first time that Notre Dame (12-5, 4-2 Big East) has won three straight Big East games in a season since February 1997.

Syracuse (15-3, 4-2), which shot a season-low 36.9 percent, lost its second game in three days.

“We have not shot well for two games,” Boeheim said.

Boeheim kept the Syracuse locker room closed to the media for more than 45 minutes after the game. Players said he just stressed the need to play better.

“He was just talking to us about how things like this happen every year and what happens from now on will decide what kind of team we are,” Preston Shumpert said.

The Orangemen played sloppily from the start, turning the ball over on their first three possessions. Syracuse had 14 turnovers in the first half and 21 in the game.

“We were coming off a hard loss to Seton Hall and we lost a little focus in the beginning,” Celuck said. “Once we started playing a little better on defense, we couldn’t really make any shots. It was tough.”

The Irish shot 26-for-31 from the free-throw line. The Orangemen shot 4-for-9.

Matt Carroll added 13 points for Notre Dame. Shumpert led Syracuse with 25 points and three steals and DeShaun Williams and Celuck each had 10 points.

Syracuse closed within 42-38 when Shumpert hit a 3-pointer with 14:38 to go. But Carroll responded with a 3-pointer 21 seconds later to trigger a 14-5 spurt that gave the Irish a 13-point lead.

The Orangemen cut their deficit to nine after Williams hit a 3-pointer and added a free throw 39 seconds later.

The Irish countered with a 24-2 run that put the game away. Murphy scored eight points in the stretch.

“We worked so hard to get back into it we didn’t have anything left,” Shumpert said.