Dec. 22, 1999
TONIGHT’S GAME: The University of Notre Dame basketball teams looks to win its second game in a row tonight as it takes on Rider of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Notre Dame has a 1-0 record against MAAC teams this year with a 79-66 win over Siena in the second round of the Preseason National Invitation Tournament on Nov. 18.
Notre Dame evened its record to 5-5 on the season with a 79-66 win over VMI on Saturday afternoon at the Joyce Center. Sophomore forward Troy Murphy (Morristown, N.J.) scored a game-high 30 points with 10 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season. Murphy was honored as the BIG EAST Conference co-player-of-the-week for his efforts.
Freshman Matt Carroll (Horsham, Pa.) scored a career-high 22 points in the game with three three-point field goals while sophomore David Graves (Lexington, Ky.) scored 17 points.
After today’s game, the Irish return to action on Tue., December 28 against Elon at 7:30 p.m. in the Joyce Center.
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.
Rider enters the game with a 5-4 record and is coming off a 58-52 loss to Monmouth on Saturday.
Notre Dame and Rider have one common opponent thus far this year in Siena, as the Irish defeated the Saints and Rider lost by a 91-79 count.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-5) vs.
RIDER Broncos (5-4)
Date: Wed., December 22, 1999
Place: Joyce Center, Notre Dame, IN (11,418)
Time: 7:30 p.m. EST
Television: None
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).
THE NOTRE DAME-RIDER SERIES: Today’s game is the first meeting between Notre Dame and Rider.
WHAT A SCHEDULE: Matt Doherty is starting his collegiate head coaching career with a very rugged schedule as seven of his first 10 games have been against teams that played in last year’s NCAA tournament.
The Irish have posted wins over:
* Ohio State, 59-57 on Nov. 16 in the first round of the Preseason NIT in Columbus. The Buckeyes finished last season with a 27-9 record and advanced to the NCAA Final Four.
* Siena, 107-96 on Nov. 18 in the second round of the Preseason NIT at Notre Dame. The Saints had a 25-6 record last year and played in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
* Valparaiso, 65-42 on Wednesday at Notre Dame. The Crusaders had a 23-9 record last year and played in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Notre Dame’s losses include: Arizona (22-7 last year and played in first round of the NCAA tournament), Maryland (28-6 last year and advanced to NCAA regional semifinal), Indiana (23-11 last year and advanced to NCAA tournament second round last year) and Miami of Ohio (24-8 last year and advanced to NCAA tournament regional semifinals).
Here’s a look at the records of the Irish opponents this season (as of Dec. 22):
Ohio State 5-2Siena 7-1St. Francis (Pa.) 2-6Arizona 9-2Maryland 8-2Indiana 8-1Vanderbilt 8-0Valparaiso 4-6Miami (Ohio) 4-3VMI 5-6TOTAL 60-29
TOTAL RECORD OF TEAMS THAT NOTRE DAME HAS LOST TO: 37-8
THE OHIO STATE WIN: Notre Dame’s win over Ohio State (ranked fourth at the time in Associated Press poll and sixth in the ESPN/USA Today poll) in the first round of the Preseason NIT 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
3-0 START: Notre Dame started the season with a 3-0 record for the first time since the 1988-89 season when the Irish won their first four games of the season (wins over St. Bonaventure, Kentucky, Indiana and Creighton). That team wound up with a 21-9 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
ONLY 42 POINTS: The 42 points that the Irish gave up in their 65-42 win over Valpariaso on Dec. 8 marked the least amount of points that Notre Dame has given up since Jan. 30, 1985, when Notre Dame also gave up 42 points in a 48-42 win over St. Louis at the Joyce Center. The last time Notre Dame gave up less than 42 points was Jan. 16, 1984, a 65-39 win over Rice at the Joyce Center.
ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: Notre Dame received 18 points in the ESPN/USA Today college basketball poll, which was released on Nov. 21, to fall sixth in the also receiving votes category, and received one point in the poll released on Nov. 28 and Dec. 5.
The Irish were second in the Associated Press ranking of Nov. 22 in the also receiving votes category with 160 points, eight in back of Miami (168). Notre Dame received four points in the AP voting of Dec 6. The last time Notre Dame appeared in the national poll rankings was a No. 19 spot in the first Associated Press poll of the 1989 season.
PRESEASON NIT: Notre Dame’s trip to the Preseason NIT in ’99 marked the third appearance for the Irish in the event. 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.
HITTING THE CENTURY MARK: Notre Dame’s win over Siena on Nov. 18 in the second round of the Preseason NIT marked the first time Notre Dame scored over 100 points in a game since a 101-98 win at Syracuse on Feb. 15, 1992. The 107 points scored by the Irish were the most since they also scored 107 vs. Miami (Fla.) on Jan. 27, 1990. The 48-point differential for Notre Dame from Ohio State (59 points) to Siena was the most in back-to-back games since a 50-point differential in the ’74 NCAA tournament with a 77-68 loss to Michigan and a 118-88 win over Vanderbilt in a regional consolation game.
GRAVES HAS CAREER GAME: Graves enjoyed an outstanding game against Vanderbilt on Dec. 4 with career highs for points (33), rebounds (12), field goals made (11), three-point field goals (five) and minutes played (44). The game was the first double-double of Graves’ collegiate career.
Graves scored the winning basket against Ohio State and started the season with one of the top games of his Irish career as he scored 18 points (now tied for career fourth-best) on a seven of 12 effort from the field along with eight rebounds, to tie a career high. Graves added 16 points in the win over Siena on Nov. 18 and had 12 against St. Francis (Pa.) on Nov. 21.
Graves has started 38 of the 40 collegiate games he has played in and has scored in double figures in 29 of those contests. He has scored in double figures in all but two games this season.
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). He now has 522 career points.
MURPHY GETS SEVENTH DOUBLE DOUBLE: Murphy had his eighth double double of the season last Saturday with a 30 point-10 rebound effort vs. VMI.
The sophomore forward has led the Irish in scoring in nine games this season and has been the leading rebounder or tied on nine occasions. He scored 35 points against St. Francis (Pa.) on Nov. 20 along with 13 rebounds. The 35 points was a career-high topping his previous mark of 32 set against West Virginia last year.
Murphy has now played in 37 games as a collegiate performer and has scored in double figures in all but one of them. He has posted double-doubles in 20 games and has scored 20 or more points in 18 games and 30 or more points in six games.
MURPHY NAMED BIG EAST PLAYER OF THE WEEK TWICE: Murphy was named the BIG EAST co-player of the week for his game against VMI on Saturday. Murphy shared the award with Marcus Goree of West Virginia, who scored 22 points in the Mountaineer win over Bowling Green on Saturday.
Murphy was also named the BIG EAST player of the week Nov. 22 for his performance in the first two rounds of the Preseason NIT and the Irish win over St. Francis (Pa.) on Nov. 22. The announcement was the first weekly BIG EAST award of the season.
Murphy was named the BIG EAST rookie of the year in 1999 and won the BIG EAST rookie of the week award eight times – the second-highest in league history. The awards this year mark the first time Murphy has won player of the week honors.
PRESEASON BIG EAST HONORS FOR MURPHY: Murphy was picked 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.
MORE PRESEASON HONORS FOR MURPHY: In addition to the BIG EAST honors, Murphy 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 GETS CAREER HIGH: Notre Dame freshman guard Matt Carroll (Horsham, Pa.) registered a career-high 22 points against VMI on Saturday. Carroll was three-for-six from three-point field goal range and was seven-for-11 from the field. He also added five assists.
Carroll had come off the bench in the first six games of the season before being moved into the starting lineup against Vanderbilt on Dec. 11. In his first start, he had 18 points, then a career-high.
Carroll has now scored in double figures in five games -?16 points vs. Siena and 11 vs. Maryland in addition to the Vanderbilt, VMI and Valparaiso (13 points) games.
Carroll is 17 for 44 from three-point field goal range this season and hit on three three-point field goals vs. Maryland.
He 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.
Carroll is the only player in the history of Pennsylvania high school basketball to win the Associated Press player of the year twice.
SWANAGAN BACK IN DOUBLE FIGURES: Swanagan scored 10 points and added four rebounds against Valparaiso on Dec. 8 to score in double figures for the first time this season. Swanagan’s previous season high was eight points against St. Francis (Pa.). Swanagan has started nine games for the Irish this year at the center position.
Swanagan played in 29 games last season, scoring in double figures in eight of them and starting two games.
MACURA GETS FIRST CAREER START: Freshman forward Jere Macura (Split, Croatia) started the first game of his collegiate career on Saturday vs. VMI and had two points and three rebounds in 15 minutes of action.
Macura registered a career-high 13 points, including two three-point field goals, vs. Indiana (Nov. 30). Macura played a career-high 33 minutes off the bench and also added eight rebounds.
Macura scored nine points coming off the bench in 18 minutes of play against Maryland (Nov. 26). Macura scored all his points on three-point field goals as he was three for four from that range for the game.
BACK TO THE FUTURE: Ever since Matt Doherty was named the head basketball coach at Notre Dame, he has stressed the tradition of winning that the program has. He has worked hard to include former players in the program:
* Bruce Flowers, a member of the ’78 Irish Final Four team, served as a counselor at the Irish summer basketball camp, while Ken Barlow, who scored 1,342 career points for the Irish from 1982-86, was a guest speaker
* Collis Jones, who scored 1,367 career points for the Irish from 1968-71, has visited with the Irish coaching staff and practice sessions during his trips to campus as a member of the University’s Advisory Council for the College of Business Administration.
* Austin Carr, the all-time leading scorer in the history of Irish basketball with 2,560 points, was a special guest at ?Friday Night Live,? a series of events that led to the first Irish practice at midnight on Oct. 16. Carr was joined at the event by ESPN and ABC announcer Dick Vitale and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger.
* Dwight Clay, who hit the game-winning shot against UCLA on Jan. 19, 1974, for a 71-70 victory over the Bruins to end their record 88-game winning streak, spoke to the Irish before their practice on Nov. 15 – the day before they beat Ohio State in the first round of the Preseason NIT.
NOTRE DAME STARTING LINE:
No. Player Pos Ht. Wt. Cl. PPG RPG Other Notes: 15 Jere Macura F 6-9 218 Fr. 3.9 3.7 33.3 FG% First career start vs. VMI34 David Graves SF 6-6 208 So. 15.2 5.2 57.4 3FG% Career-high 33 points vs. Vandy 3 Troy Murphy PF 6-10 237 So. 24.0 10.7 53.2 FG% BIG EAST co-player-of-the-week on 12/2013 Matt Carroll SG 6-6 200 Fr. 10.4 2.8 17-44 3FG Career-high 22 vs. VMI21 Jimmy Dillon PG 6-2 178 Sr. 2.9 2.4 65 asts. Leads Irish with 95 career games
NOTRE DAME OFF THE BENCH:
No. Player Pos Ht. Wt. Cl. PPG RPG Other Notes: 11 Ivan Kartelo C 6-11 247 Fr. 1.0 1.5 66.7 FT% Career-high 19 minutes vs. Valpo22 Mike Monserez G 6-6 192 Fr. 0.7 0.8 7 asts. MVP of Ohio high school tournament last year24 Martin Ingelsby G 6-0 182 Jr. 5.9 0.9 13-33 3FGs 2 3FG in final 2:25 vs. OSU42 Harold Swanagan C 6-7 252 So. 5.6 4.6 8 assists Season-high 10 points vs. Valparaiso43 Sklyard Owens F 6-4 220 Sr. 0.5 0.8 1-1 FGA Missed VMI game with hip flexer44 Todd Palmer F 6-6 216 Sr. 1.8 1.2 4 ast. 4 points vs. Valparaiso