Mens Basketball: BC still a 'home' game for Francis
By: ANDREW SOUKUP
Sports Writer
The ticket requests, Torin Francis estimates, are quickly spiraling into the 50s.
Everybody wants to see the Roslindale, Mass. native make his triumphant return to his home state Saturday. Everybody save Boston College fans.
"It's in my home town, but it's still an away game," he said. "They're going to come out and ready to go, and we're pumped up to go get another one."
When Notre Dame (15-3, 3-1 in the Big East) and Boston College (8-7, 1-3) play on ESPN Saturday, it will be just the fourth true road game the Irish have played in this year.
Yet the Irish are slowly learning how to play on the road, and Francis symbolizes how the Irish are getting accustomed to hostile environments.
In the final of the Guardians Classic against Creighton, Francis played a mere six minutes. He only scored six and eight points in Notre Dame's road losses to top-10 foes Pittsburgh and Kentucky.
But he scored 13 in Notre Dame's first road win of the season Tuesday against Providence and has settled into the regular rotation, which in turn gives him more confidence heading into Saturday's game.
He is also the only player on Notre Dame's roster who has even been to Conte Forum, let alone played in it. Because the Eagles are in the East Division, the Irish only play at Boston College once every four years. The last time Notre Dame played in Boston was on Feb. 11, 1998.
But the Irish have never before played on national television or been ranked when they played Boston College. And Notre Dame fans need only to look to the football season to see how the Eagles can sneak up and surprise a team.
Besides, the Eagles have the motivation to knock off the Irish. Two years ago in South Bend, Martin Inglesby hit a game-winning shot with seconds to play to lead the Irish to a 76-75 victory.
The Eagles certainly have the talent, too, to pull off an upset. Troy Bell, the 2000-01 co-Big East Player of the Year, leads a potent offense which also includes Craig Smith and Ryan Sidney, who average 23, 21.5 and 15.1 points a game, respectively.
"I don't know if our team has ever gone into Boston College with these dynamics," Irish head coach Mike Brey said.
Notre Dame's play on the road this season can be described at best a work in progress. Once again, the Irish travel on the road to play a tough foe on national television. The first time they did it Jan. 6, Pittsburgh sent the Irish back to South Bend searching for answers. The next time, a week ago in Kentucky, the Wildcats blew out the Irish.
But a win at Providence Tuesday — the team's first road victory of the season — gives Brey reason enough to believe the Irish have learned how to handle themselves on the road.
"The Providence fans couldn't wait to get us in that building and I'm sure the BC fans can't wait to put us on their floor," Brey said. "It'll be a great atmosphere, and we've learned how to handle that a little better."
Brey steadfastly declares that Notre Dame's success on the road is directly related to how sophomore Chris Thomas plays. Against top-10 foes Pittsburgh and Kentucky, who swarmed Thomas with stifling defenses, the Irish point guard averaged just 9.5 points and five assists.
At Providence, however, Brey felt Thomas might have turned the corner in terms of how he quarterbacks the Irish on the road.
"He can make plays most college basketball players cannot make," Brey said. "I think he got into a rhythm at Kentucky where he couldn't get into any flow at all. Tuesday, he did a very good job getting us going as a group and picking his spots."
Notre Dame tends to struggle the most when Thomas tries to take over a game. Against Kentucky, Thomas forced up tough 3-point shots and tossed off-balanced shots toward the basket throughout the night.
Thomas has also been criticized for having a tendency to focus on individual one-on-one matchups when he plays top point guards, an issue for the Irish. While Brey says such a focus may come from Thomas' competitive instincts, he knows the Irish are most successful when Thomas starts looking at the big picture.
In fact, Brey doesn't think the Irish would have beat Texas and star guard T.J. Ford two months ago had Thomas been locked in on his matchup with Ford.
"Last year's team was a little different, and he's still learning how to run this group," Brey said. "It's still a learning process with him, and he's a very coachable guy. He's a guy who can sometimes be too confident, but I never want to chip away at that because that's what makes him a big-time guy."
All Sports Stories for Saturday, January 25, 2003
