Postgame Notes

March 9, 2012

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Notre Dame Postgame Notes

Tonight was the 10th meeting all-time between Notre Dame and USF and the first-ever in the BIG EAST Championship. The Fighting Irish lead the series 9-1, which includes seven straight victories against the Bulls. Every meeting between the two schools has occurred since USF joined the BIG EAST in 2005.
This is Notre Dame’s 17th appearance in the BIG EAST Championship. The Irish are 9-16 all-time in the tournament, including an 8-11 mark under head coach Mike Brey. Notre Dame will be making its third straight trip to the league semifinals and its fifth semifinal appearance overall (all under Brey).
The Fighting Irish are 5-5 in the quarterfinal round of the BIG EAST Championship. Notre Dame is 8-9 all-time in its first game of BIG EAST Championship play.
Notre Dame has won at least one BIG EAST Championship game in each of the last four seasons. That is a program-best streak.
The Irish are 1-1 in overtime games in the BIG EAST Championship. Their only other overtime game in the tournament was an 83-77 setback to Louisville in last season’s semifinals.
Notre Dame is 3-0 in overtime games this season and 6-1 in its last seven overtime contests. The Irish are 10-8 in overtime during the Mike Brey era.
Scott Martin (10 pts., 12 rebs.) became the first Notre Dame player to record a double-double in BIG EAST Championship play since Luke Harangody (20 pts., 10 rebs.) in a second-round win over Seton Hall during the 2010 tournament.
Eric Atkins (So./G), Pat Connaughton (Fr./G), Jack Cooley (Jr./F), Jerian Grant (So./G) and Scott Martin (Sr./G) started tonight’s contest. It was the 13th straight game – and 13th time overall this season – that quintet has started. The Irish are 11-2 with that starting lineup. Grant and Martin both have a team-high 31 starts this season.
After falling behind 20-8 at the 12:42 mark of the first half, Notre Dame went on an 18-0 run to grab a 26-20 lead with 3:55 left in the opening half.
Notre Dame led 28-26 at halftime. The Irish are 16-1 this season when leading at the intermission.
Tonight was the 15th time this season Notre Dame held an opponent under 60 points.
Notre Dame only committed nine personal fouls. That is the fewest in program history in a BIG EAST Championship game. The previous low was 12 on four occasions.
The Irish only committed eight turnovers. That marked the 15th time this season that Notre Dame committed fewer than 10 turnovers in a game.
Notre Dame had an assist on 15 of its 18 made field goals.
Notre Dame is 16-1 at home, 5-5 in true road games and 1-4 in neutral site contests this season.
A Scott Martin three-pointer in the first half upped Notre Dame’s streak of consecutive games with a made three-pointer to 440.