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'Super' Win for Surging Irish
UHND.com - Alan Tieuli - Used courtesy of IrishEyes.com
2/4/2002
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(IE) – You wouldn’t have
known this was such an important game. After
all it was being played at noon on Super Bowl Sunday in a drafty, half-empty building that
shares a parking lot with a massive NFL Stadium.
But, in the balanced Big East
Conference, Notre Dame’s road contest with Seton Hall at the Meadowlands essentially
meant five spots in the standings.
Win and the Irish would be tied (in the loss column) for first
in the West Division. Fail to succeed and Mike Brey’s team would find itself in sole
possession of sixth-place.
There’s such a fine line
between contending status and mediocrity. And
on this afternoon, there was an even a slimmer difference between victory and defeat.
Charles
Manga’s three-point
attempt at the buzzer rimmed out and Notre Dame defeated Seton Hall, 63-61. The Irish left the floor exhilarated with
the victory and now realize the are well positioned for a run at the top of the Big East
standings and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Chris
Thomas (10 points)
scored the winning points on a breakaway lay-up with 5.8 seconds left. The easy basket was set up when Seton Hall did not
rotate back on defense after Andre Barrett missed on a penetration move with
10 seconds left, the game tied.
“When the game was on the
line, we did not make smart decisions,” said Seton Hall coach Louis Orr.
Notre Dame is now 15-6 overall,
5-3 in the West Division, the same number of losses as Pittsburgh and Syracuse. And the Irish have a tie-breaker edge over the
Panthers. The next six games for the Irish
are within the division, so Brey’s team controls its own destiny. That’s a nice feeling.
Seton Hall fell into the dreaded
sixth-place hole at 4-5, 11-10 overall. The
Pirates, truth be told, are not that good and, as the last possessions illustrated, not
particularly bright either.
Brey knew he stole one immediately
after and praised his team’s defense and savvy.
“It was great awareness there
not to foul (on Barrett’s drive),” said Brey. “And then a veteran presence
like Ryan Humphrey to get the rebound and throw it
ahead to get a lay-up. Those are winning
plays.”
David
Graves led the Irish
off the bench with 20 points, hitting three-of-seven three-pointers. Humphrey had 11 points, 10 rebounds and –
stop the presses! – made three-of-three free throws, including a huge pair with 1:31
left that gave the Irish the lead.
Matt
Carroll was the
fourth Irish player in double figure, finishing with 10.
“Graves was fabulous,”
said Brey. “He is playing with a toughness and maturity about him. We needed it too, because Seton Hall, after losing
to us eight days ago and then beating St. John’s, had some bounce to them.”
The Irish have won three in a row
for the first time since November and host Rutgers on Wednesday night at the Joyce Center. Brey describes the Scarlet Knights as “the
hottest team in the conference” after upset victories over Connecticut and Syracuse.
“We’re right in this
thing,” said Brey. “This West Division is going to be wild down the stretch and
we’re going to be a part of it.”
Notre Dame swept Seton Hall this
year in large part because of the defense it played on Barrett. The sophomore had only nine points – eight
below his season average – in this game and also did not crack double figures in
South Bend. Darius Lane (17 points) led the Pirates in
scoring on this day, but missed two key throws in the final minutes and also showed poor
shot selection.
“I thought Torrian Jones did a terrific job on defense,
playing like a veteran,” said Brey. “To beat Seton Hall you have to control
their perimeter. We did that.”
John
Allen hit a leaner
with 1:12 left to forge the ninth tie of the game, 61-61, and both teams had empty
possessions before the final Barrett/Thomas exchange.
The game had nine ties and 11 lead changes.
Somehow, Notre Dame overcame a
dreadful start in which it missed its first nine shots and fell into a 15-2 hole. The Irish did not score a field goal until a Harold Swanagan (six points and nine rebounds
before fouling out) put back at the 11:27 mark.
But, typical of a Brey-coached
team, the Irish turned things around by intensifying the defensive effort. Seton Hall took early control by hitting a trio of
threes, but Notre Dame extended its defense and Brey inserted beefy Tom Timmermans to control matters inside against
the most timid interior team in the conference.
Brey’s strategy worked. The Irish had runs of 18-2 and 13-2 – with
seven different players scoring, none in double figures – to take a 33-26 lead at
intermission. The Irish had only three-point
field goal in the runs, as it became a transition lay-up festival off Pirates turnovers
and missed shots. Seton Hall only scored 11
points the final13 minutes of the half, six on a pair of inexplicable, unguarded
three-pointers by Greg Morton, who had one three-point attempt
all last season.
“We have some quality depth
on the front line now,” said Brey. “Jordan Cornette and Tom Timmermans were fabulous.”
The last sentence is a bit of Brey
hyperbole. But excuse the head coach right
now. His team is a contender again.
-0-
THE
NOTEBOOK: Shame on
Adidas. Notre Dame and Seton Hall –
among many other Adidas schools across the country – have exactly the same uniforms. Same design of shorts and same design of jersey,
right down to the font of the letters for the player’s name to the placement of the
school’s name and logo to the U.S. flag. So
much for supplying uniforms meant to express a school’s identity. But, then again, it’s not about the schools. It’s about Adidas recouping the fees it pays
these schools with licensed product sales. Who says commercialism doesn’t exist at
Notre Dame?..….The Irish entered with an RPI of 44, which is key since usually the
minimum barometer for at-large bids is an RPI of 45……Notre Dame is now (3-4 or
2-5) at the Meadowlands. This reporter
covered the first Irish visit there, on Feb. 18, 1982 when an awful Irish team lost a
dreadful 71-58 decision to Bill Raftery and Seton Hall. That was the year the NCAA expanded its Tournament
field to 64, and the NIT expanded to 32. After
the game, Digger Phelps cracked “Ninety-six teams
get to play in a tournament, and we couldn’t beat any of them.” His team finished 10-17…..Graves and Orr
accidentally bumped into each other leaving the floor at halftime and the two briefly
exchanged what appeared to be nasty words. But
the classy Orr sought Graves out after and told him no hard feelings…..Notre Dame
outrebounded Seton Hall, 42-38…..The Irish guaranteed themselves a better than .500
regular season record. This will be the first
time Notre Dame has had three straight winning seasons since 1987-88, 1988-89 and 1989-90
(20-9, 21-9, 16-13 under Phelps).
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