Irish Advance, Send Rutgers Home
Frank Vitovitch
March 8, 2000

New York, NY - Notre Dame took another step forward en route to an NCAA Tournament bid Wednesday night by defeating the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 74-62 in the first round of the Big East Tournament.  It was the first time since the Irish joined the Big East that they made it past the first round.  The win also gave Notre Dame it's 18th win which makes it more attractive to the NCAA Selection Committee.

The game was the opposite of the first meeting between these two schools when Rutgers handled the Irish rather easily.  Rutgers jumped to a 32-16 lead in he first meeting while the Irish took a 15 point lead into half-time this time around.  Also, in the first meeting, Rutgers shot 59% from three point range.   This time, the Scarlet Knights nearly set a Big East Tournament record for least amount of points scored in the first round.

Notre Dame needed this win and Troy Murphy stepped up by scoring 25 points and collecting 14 rebounds to record his 19th double-double of the season for Notre Dame.  Murphy wanted a rematch with Rutgers to make up for a less than spectacular performance in the first meeting, and he came up with a great one tonight.

Matt Carroll also came out on fire.  He had 8 points in the first five minutes by hitting two three pointers, but failed to score any more points in the game.  David Graves, Harold Swanagan, and Jere Macura each had 10 points for Notre Dame.  Included in Macura's 10 points were two thundering dunks.   Macura in general has been playing very well lately and could be in line for a fine career at Notre Dame.

As has been the case all year, the Irish won by hitting a lot of three pointers.  Ten to be exact.  All season long, the Irish have lived and sometimes died with the three pointer and so was the case again tonight. 

Next up for Notre Dame will be Miami, a team that beat them twice this year.  Do not count the Irish out of this one however.  This game means much more to Notre Dame and Matt Doherty will have his team ready to play ball tomorrow.  To win, Notre Dame will have to keep their hot hand from the three point line going.  Miami is a very good defensive team and if they let the Hurricanes clog the lane on Murphy, they could make it a three game sweep over the Irish.

The team was very focused tonight and I expect them to be the same tomorrow.  They know they are on a mission and that every game counts. If they win, they will have a very good chance at making the tournament.  Even if they lose they have a shot, but another win puts them in for sure in my opinion.