Feb. 5, 2001

The 20th-ranked Fighting Irish (14-5, 6-2 Big East West) are tied with Syracuse, which plays at No. 20 Boston College on Wednesday. Notre Dame appears to be peaking at the right time as it makes a run for its first NCAA tournament bid since 1990, winning its last five games.

The Irish completed a two-game road swing with a 75-67 victory at Pittsburgh on Saturday as Troy Murphy and Danny Graves scored 24 points apiece for Notre Dame, which overcame an early 11-point deficit and shot 54 percent (27-for-50) from the field for the game.

“We have some momentum now,” Fighting Irish coach Mike Brey said. “Now we know who we are and we can just continue to fine-tune. We have a different look and body language right now. We feel good.”

Notre Dame has won eight consecutive home games at the Joyce Athletic Center since back-to-back losses to Indiana and Miami of Ohio on Dec. 5 and 9, respectively.

St. John’s (12-8, 6-3 East) fell into third place in the East Division following Saturday’s 75-63 setback at Providence. Sharif Fordham had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Red Storm, who were hampered by freshman point guard Omar Cook being outplayed by Friars counterpart Jon Linehan.

Cook, who averages 16 points and nine assists, was held to five and three. He went 2-for-10 from the field and also committed four of St. John’s 17 turnovers. The Red Storm’s starting lineup accounted for just 29 points, and the team shot only 36 percent from the field.

This is the only regular-season meeting between the teams. Murphy had 30 points and 18 rebounds as the Fighting Irish closed the game with a 17-2 run to record a 73-60 victory last season. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 13-11.