Mens Basketball: Irish win 12th straight at home
By ANDREW SOUKUP
Sports Writer
The last time Notre Dame lost a basketball game, they reeled off eight straight wins.
The way they've played since a loss to Pittsburgh, they appear on pace to win another eight.
Playing in front of the student section for the first time since semester break, the Irish pulled away from Rutgers in the final 10 minutes to win their second straight game, 68-57.
Jordan Cornette provided the defensive spark that galvanized the Irish late in the second half. Starting his second consecutive game, Cornette tallied eight points, seven rebounds and eight blocks in 33 minutes.
"I'm speechless," said Matt Carroll, who finished with a game-high 25 points. "He was unbelievable. He would come in and steal the ball, block the shots, take the charge — he was the big difference in this game."
Rutgers (8-6 overall, 0-2 Big East) hung close to Notre Dame (14-2 overall, 2-1 Big East) for most of the game.
Down by five early, the Knights rallied to take a lead that got as big as six points.
But when Carroll buried a 3-pointer on a nifty pass from Cornette to break a 47-47 tie with 9:36 remaining in the game, the crowd erupted into a deafening roar, and it was all Irish from then on.
Since a loss to Pittsburgh 11 days ago, the Irish have had trouble stopping physical Big East opponents from scoring inside. In the first half, Rutgers repeatedly dumped the ball inside for relatively easy baskets.
After a halftime tongue-lashing from Brey, the Irish settled down, scoring the first seven points of the half and limiting the Knight's opportunities inside the paint.
"We got to have a big guy who can guard a big guy one on one," Irish coach Mike Brey said. "Torin [Francis] and Tom [Timmermans] couldn't do that tonight. But we found a guy who could."
While the Irish may still be searching for a weapon inside, they have already developed a deadly one from the free-thrown night. One of the best free-throw shooting teams in the Big East, the Irish shot 22-for-23 from the line against the Knights.
"I don't think anybody in the league can dominate this team in this place," Rutgers coach Gary Waters said. "But for 30 or so minutes, everybody in this arena was scared."
Notre Dame 93, Canisius 75 — Dec. 22
Playing for the first time in over a week, the Irish showed little rust had accumulated on its high-powered offensive engine.
All 11 Notre Dame players got into a game where the Irish were never challenged. Carroll paced the Irish with 25 points on 10-of-12 shooting. Close on his heels was Miller and his 23 points. Thomas tallied a double-double by scoring 17 points and recording 13 assists.
Notre Dame 76, Vanderbilt 63 — Dec. 30
The signs of an offensive slump started to appear against the Commodores. Although the Irish, for the most part, cruised to victory in their final 2002 game, they shot just 42.4 percent from the field.
However, five Irish players tallied double-digit point totals. Thomas led the way with 19 points, followed by Carroll with 15, Francis with 11 and Miller with 10. Coming off the bench, Torrian Jones tallied 12 points.
Notre Dame 55, Valparaiso 53 — Jan. 4
Appearing in the United Center for the second time in as many years, the Irish barely escaped with a victory after a 3-point attempt at the buzzer clanged off the rim.
In setting a season-low point total, the Irish registered only 19 second-half points and allowed Valparaiso to make what should have been an easy victory into a nail-biter.
Carroll again led the way for the Irish by scoring 14 points. Both Francis and Miller scored 12 points.
Pittsburgh 72, Notre Dame 55 — Jan. 6
All season long, the Irish had been the team that buried teams in the second half.
Against the fifth-ranked Panthers, Notre Dame found out what it was like to get dominated late in the game.
Keyed by a 16-0 second-half run and dominating physical play inside, the Panthers turned a narrow Irish lead into a massive embarrassment. In Notre Dame's first Big East game of the year, Carroll's 31 points accounted for over half of the Irish points.
The loss was Notre Dame's first since November, but couldn't knock the Irish out of the Top 10.
Notre Dame 74, Seton Hall 64 — Jan. 12
With a little under a week to think about the loss to the Panthers, the Irish made sure they wouldn't lose another physical contest to the Pirates. The Irish took advantage of a massive disparity in free throws, shooting 29 shots from the charity stripe to Seton Hall's nine.
Fresh off one of the worst games of his career, Thomas responded by scoring 22 points against Seton Hall. Carroll chipped in 19 points and Francis scored 10.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, January 15, 2003
