December 2, 1996

Patterson is the Hero as Indiana Narrowly Defeats Irish 76-75

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Once again, Andrae Patterson camethrough in the clutch for Indiana. But it seems Bobby Knightisn’t quite ready to let the young hero take all the credit.Patterson hit a 17-foot jumper with 19 seconds left asNo. 6 Indiana rallied to beat Notre Dame 76-75, improving to 6-0on the season before 11,418 in the Joyce Center.

But Knight had some choice words for Patterson following the win against the Irish.”Patterson made a couple of plays near the end of the game. Buthe tried to play too much one-on-one in the first half,” Knightsaid.

Indiana rallied back from a 11 point second half deficit, atone time trailing 64-53 with nine minutes remaining in the game. The Hoosiers received balanced scoring from starters Jason Collier (13points), Patterson (14), Neil Reed (21), and A.J. Guyton (15).

Notre Dame was led by Pat Garrity, who was unstoppable for theIrish, scoring 36 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the field. Garrity had given Notre Dame a 75-74 lead with :36 secondsremaining, hitting both ends of a one-and-one, beforePatterson’s heroics.

Notre Dame, which falls to 2-1 on the season, travels toProvidence on Saturday for a BIG EAST matchup with the Friars.

Notre Dame Head Coach John MacLeod:

On the game: “It was a tremendous game. They cameback in the second half and got some shots, some deflections onus and some rebounds. We just could not pull it out in the end. Admore White had a great steal and a good toss. We justweren’t able to pull it out. Give IU credit. Our team did agreat job. They worked their tails off. We are a better teamthan last year.”

“This is a group of good-looking kids. They are going to beable to play big games like this.”

On running the fast break: “We did run. We had acushion, but we wanted to be more aggressive, but we were notable to continue. Garrity really carried us tonight through thefirst half and he was on a tear in the beginning of the second. I think he was just tired the last six or seven minutes. Thisgame will definitely help down the road.”

On turning the loss into a positive: “This is a verymature group of kids. They have excellent focus. It is a toughloss, but a temporary obstacle. We have a BIG EAST game onSaturday. That experience will help. They will bounce back. They won’t hang their heads. They will be disappointed, notdiscouraged.”

Indiana Head Coach Bob Knight

On the game: “We were lucky to escape. The twoinside kids of ND were great. We won’t play anybody tougherthan those two. Garrity was a real b….. for us to control. The turning point was when we set Collier up to shoot threes. I’m the only guy who can recruit a center who can shoot threesbut not score from underneath the basket. We’re not good on theinside. The guards were not very good, by this I mean Guytonwill be sitting on the bench when we return to the playingcourt.”

On Indiana’s comeback: “ND played better than wedid. We luckily came back at the end when we were down. It wasa great success for us to come back the way we did. We shouldhave done it all game.”

On Pat Garrity: “He is a very tough kid. He workedvery hard with the coaches in the offseason and he proved thattoday against us. He is one of the toughest players we haveexperienced this year.”

On Notre Dame: “John’s team played hard and was welldisciplined. The last time we were here, we did the same thingwe did today and came out on the losing end.”

Notre Dame Player Quotes:

Junior Forward Pat Garrity: “I don’t know if I’dcall it pressure, but we have to be able to ‘get up’ for the biggames. We were playing a top-10 team tonight and I was reallyexcited and confident going in.”

“It’s hard to play a game like that where you play close for40 minutes and then lose the way we did. I know I played well,but I’m not happy about the outcome.”

Senior Guard Pete Miller: “I grew up around SouthBend and always was a big IU fan. Getting a chance to play themis a really big deal for me. I’m sorry it came out the way itdid.”

“It’s frustrating to see so many fans cheering for them butthey have a great tradition and a huge following around here. We just have to be able to play through that.”

NOTE: Following the game, the Indiana locker roomwas closed to the media and players were not available forinterviews.

Indiana 76, NOTRE DAME 75

Indiana — Collier 5-13 1-2 13, Patterson 6-11 2-3 14, Mandeville 1-2 0-0 2,Reed 5-10 9-10 21, Guyton 5-12 2-2 15, Miller 1-3 0-0 2, Jiminez 0-1 0-1 0, Lewis 3-6 0-0 7,Egger 0-0 0-0 0, Richardson 0-0 0-0 0, Mujezinovic 0-2 2-2 2, Paul 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-60 16-20 76

Notre Dame — Manner 3-6 0-0 6, Garrity 12-20 9-12 36, Gotsch 4-70-0 8, White 1-12 0-2 2, Miller 2-4 0-0 6, Lalalzarian 6-7 1-1 13,Friel 0-1 0-1 0, Dillon 1-2 0-0 2, Wyche 0-3 0-2 0, Young 0-0 0-0 0, Hickey 0-1 2-3 2. Totals 29-63 12-21 75.

Halftime: Indiana 41 ,Notre Dame 38.
Three-point goals: Indiana 8-16 (Guyton 3), Notre Dame 5-15 (Garrity 3).
Rebounds: Indiana 39 (Collier 9), Notre Dame 37 (Manner 8).
Assists: Indiana 16 (Guyton 7), Notre Dame 17 (Manner, White 3).
Total Fouls: Indiana 18, Notre Dame 21.
Officials: Clougherty, Cahill, Kitts.
Attend: 11,418.