Nov. 2, 2005
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (0-0, 0-0)
vs.
Lewis Flyers (0-0, 0-0)
Thursday, November 3, 2005 * 7:30 p.m. (EST) Joyce Center, Notre Dame, Ind.
Broadcast Information
Television: None
Radio: Jack Lorri (play-by-play) and Jack Nolan (color analyst)
Notre Dame Sports Properties originates the Notre Dame Radio Network which includes: ESPN Radio in Chicago (Chicago land area and Midwest); WZOW 97.7 FM and 102.3 FM in South Bend, Ind.; ESPN 950 AM in Indianapolis, Ind.; WGL 1250 AM in Fort Wayne, Ind. and Northeast, Ind.;WLUV 96.7 AM in Rockford and DeKalb, Ill. and Beloit and Janesville, Wis.; WEFM 95.9 FM in Michigan City and Gary, Ind.; ESPN (WRSW) 1480 AM in Warsaw, Ind.; WAMW 107.9 FM and 1580 AM in Washington, Ind.; and www.und.com.
Real-Time Stats: Live in-game statistics are available for all home games, via the Notre Dame athletic website (www.und.com).
Thursday’s Game: Thursday’s game against Lewis University marks the first of two exhibition contests for the Irish … Notre Dame returns three starters from last season’s squad that finished with a 17-12 overall record and was sixth in the BIG EAST play with a 9-7 mark … Irish head coach Mike Brey begins his sixth season along the Irish sidelines … Brey has guided Notre Dame to posteason appearances in each of his five seasons along the Irish sidelines (NCAA in 2001, ’02 and ’03 ad NIT in 2004 and ’05) … Notre Dame’s top returning scorer from a year ago is senior guard Chris Quinn … Quinn was second on the team in scoring and assists in ’04-’05 with averages of 12.6 points and 3.1 assists … Another returning double-figure scorer is junior Colin Falls, who also averaged 12.6 points … Falls was Notre Dame leading three-point shooter as a sophomore as he connected on 93 three-point field goals, marking the most ever by an Irish sophomore and third-most in a single-season … Quinn and Falls combined for 159 of the team’s 251 three-point field goals last season … Three-year starter Torin Francis returns after avearging 9.3 points and a team-leading 7.8 rebounds … Francis led the Irish in rebounding for the third straight year, but his point and rebounding totals from last season marked career lows … Also returning is senior Rick Cornett, coming off of a junior year in which he averaged 3.7 points and 2.6 rebounds … Junior Russell Carter coming off of a sophomore season in which he saw increased playing time, will look to see even greater time in the lineup … Carter averaged 3.5 points and 1.5 rebounds a year ago … Another third-year player, Omari Isreal, returns after averaging 1.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in his first season … Isreal missed the 2003-094 campaign with and injury … Sophomore Rob Kurz also appears ready to challenge for significant playing time after seeing action in 14 games and averaging 1.4 points and 1.8 rebounds … The Irish welcome four freshman – Ryan Ayers, Zach Hillesland, Kyle McAlarney and Luke Zeller … Following tonight’s exhibition test, Notre Dame plays host to Quincy on Fri., Nov. 11 at 9:00 p.m. … It will be the second and final exhibition contest before the Irish take on Lafayette in the season opener on Sun., Nov. 20 at 2:00 p.m.
The Irish All-Time: Notre Dame begins its 101st season of basketball and 11th as a member of the BIG EAST Conference … In 100 seasons, Irish teams have posted a 1565-863 record for a .645 winning percentage … In BIG EAST play, Notre Dame owns an 84-84 record all-time in conference regular-season play.
The Captains: Guard Chris Quinn and foward Torin Francis have been named captains for the 2005-06 season, marking the second straight year that the two have served as captains. The duo becomes the 11th and 12th players to serve as two-time cpatains.
Postseason Trend: Since 2000, Notre Dame has appeared in either the NCAA or NIT tournaments each of othe last six years … The Irish played in the 2000 NIT and then earned three consecutive NCAA tournament berths – 2001, ’02 and ’03 – followed by NIT appearances in ’04 and ’05 … This is the longest stretch of postseason appearances for Irish teams since making six straight from 1983-90 – (NIT om 1983 and ’84 and NCAA from 1995-90).
Home Sweet Home: Since the inaugural season in 1968-69 at the Joyce Center, Notre Dame owns a 444-135 record all-time for a .769 winning percentage … The Irish are 59-21 (.738) at the Joyce Center during Mike Brey’s five seasons, and since the 1996-97 campaign, they own a 107-37 mark for a .743 winning percentage … Notre Dame’s 13-5 mark a year ago at home marked the seventh in time in eights years that the Irish won 10 or more home games.
Approaching 1,000: Heading into the season seniors Chris Quinn and Torin Francis are each less than 100 points away from becoming the 44th and 45th players in Notre Dame history to reach the 1000-point plateau … Quinn has 941 career points in 94 career outings for a 10.0 scoring average, while Francis has scored 931 points in 83 career contests for an 11.2 average … The time two players from the same class scored 1,000 points was Notre Dame’s Class of 2002 – Troy Murphy and David Graves … Murphy had reached the 1,000-point mark in his sophomore season and finished his career with 2,011 points before leaving after his junior year for the NBA … In 94 career games, he averaged 21.4 points per game … Graves finished his career with 1,746 points and reached the 1,0000-point mark in his junior year (2000-01), the same season that Murphy topped the 2,000-point mark.
Tough Enough: Notre Dame’s 2005-06 schedule features five teams – Connecticut (2), Louisville (8), Alabama (14), West Virginia (15) and Syracuse (16) – ranked in the top 25 … In addition, Notre Dame will take on eight teams that played in the 2005 NCAA Tournament – North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia, Louisville and Connecticut.
Road Warriors: In Mike Brey’s five seasons, his Irish teams have compiled a road record of 43-33 (,566) … That includes a 28-24 mark (.538) in true road games and a 15-9 (.625) record in neutral site contests.
BIG EAST Road Warriors: Over the past five seasons, four teams haves compiled winning road records in BIG EAST league games. Pittsburgh is the leader with a 24-16 mark, Connecticut and Syracuse at 22-18, while Notre Dame is 21-19.
History Lesson: While this may be only an exhibition game, Notre Dame and Lewis have met times previously on the hardwood … The Irish have been victorious in all four of those contests … All four meetings were played at Notre Dame from 1964-67 – 99-87 (Dec. 1, 1964), 75-69 (Dec. 1, 1965), 100-77 (Dec. 1, 1966) and 97-59 (Dec. 9, 1967).
“B” Is For BIG And BIG EAST : With its membership of 16 teams, The BIG EAST Conference is the largest Division I conference in the nation … The new additions are Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette and South Florida.
BIG EAST Distinction: Notre Dame and Syracuse are the only two schools to post winning conferene records in BIG EAST play each of the last five seasons … Notre Dame has gone 11-5 (2000-01), 10-6 (2001-02), 10-6 (2002-03), 9-7 (2003-04) and 9-7 (2004-05), while Syracuse has posted marks of 10-6 (2001-01), 9-7 (2001-02), 13-3 (2002-03), 11-5 (2003-04) and 11-5 (2004-05).
BIG EAST Formula For Success Under Brey: Since his arrival at Notre Dame, Brey has led Notre Dame to a 49-31 (.605) record in BIG EAST regular-season games and a 2-5 mark in tournament play for an overall record of 51-36 (.586) against league foes … In Brey’s first season, the Irish posted their first-ever winning record in BIG EAST play and won the BIG EAST West Division title with an 11-5 mark … Prior to Brey’s arrival at Notre Dame, Irish teams has a 35-53 (.398) regular-season record since joining the league in 1995-96.
Down To The Wire: Five of Notre Dame’s 28 games in 2004-05 were decided by a single point … The Irish were 3-2 in those contests … Notre Dame teams are 9-4 overall during Mike Brey’s tenure in one-point games … 13 of Notre Dame’s 17 BIG EAST contests last season were decided by less than 10 points.
Not So Lucky: Notre Dame is the only team from one of the six major conferences to have a winning record in league play each of the past two seasons yet fail to make the NCAA Tournament … 20 teams from the Big Six (ACC, BIG EAST, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC) had a winning record in both 2003-04 and ’04-05, while 19 other schools made the Tournament both seasons.
Keeping It Close: In the 56 losses suffered by Irish teams in Mike Brey’s four seasons, only 15 have been by 10 or more points and have been by a combined 398 points for an average of 7.1 points … Notre Dame’s biggest losses have been on the road at Pittsburgh (72-55 on January 6, 2003) and against Arizona (88-71 on March 27, 2003) in the West Regional semifinal in Anaheim, Calif…. Priot to those setbacks, the worst defeat was a 16-point decision at Connecticut during Brey’s first season … Notre Dame’s 11 losses during the 2001-02 season were by a combined 49 points for an average margin of defeat of 4.5 points … Only one loss that season (versus Georgetown at the Joyce Center) was by double figures, while eight of those setbacks were by five or less points.
208 and Counting: Heading into the tonight’s game against Holy Cross, Notre Dame has hit at least one three-pointer in 208 straight games, mark that dates back to the 1998-99 campaign … The last time an Irish team failed to hit a three-pointer was a 101-70 loss to Connecticut at the Hartford Civic Center on January 12, 1999 as Notre Dame finished 0-7 from beyond the arc in the game.
Irish Among Best In Wins Average: Over the last six years, Notre Dame is one of 25 teams nationally that has averaged better than 20 wins per season … The Irish have compiled a 123-71 record for a .634 winning percentage after finishing 22-15 (1999-2000), 20-10 (2000-01), 21-11 (2001-02), 24-10 (2002-03), 19-13 (2003-04) and 17-12 (2004-05).