Surging Notre Dame set to play in George's town
By KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Associate Sports Editor
The last time the Irish played in the MCI Center, it was Senior Day 2000, and the Irish humiliated the Hoyas on their homecourt 77-54. Everything went right from the Irish, from 54 percent shooting to a 51-29 advantage on the boards.
Nobody's expecting Saturday's rematch to be as one-sided.
"We know because of what happened last year," said senior point guard Martin Ingelsby, "that it's going to be a big battle going down there."
Flash back to March 4, 2000.
A season ago, a Matt Doherty-coached Irish squad had their backs against the wall after a two-point loss to Syracuse, and they were anxious to bolster fading hopes of March Madness by beating Georgetown. The Irish found a hobbling Hoyas team with low morale playing in front of a half-empty MCI Center, and the Hoyas quickly folded before Notre Dame's balanced attack.
Fast forward to late January 2001.
No. 10 Georgetown (17-1, 5-1 Big East) is on top of the West Division in the Big East, the only blemish on its season a 70-66 loss to Pittsburgh. Notre Dame (12-5, 4-2) is surging on a three-game winning streak capped off by a 14-point victory over No. 11 Syracuse.
The Hoyas are coming off of a 79-62 victory over UNLV Thursday night. Reserve center Wesley Wilson scored 18 points on his 21st birthday to lead the Georgetown attack.
"The state of both programs since last year's game is very different," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said Thursday. "All of a sudden, we're going to have a sellout; it's for a share of first place. I think our team is excited because it's going to be a big crowd, it's two teams with real good records in the West, two teams that are playing pretty well right now."
Despite the different records, names on the team rosters haven't changed much.
Everyone who scored for Notre Dame in last year's lopsided win is back, with the energy of Ryan Humphrey injected.
Georgetown's top players from a year ago return, including 7-footer Ruben Boumtje Boumtje, junior guard Kevin Braswell, junior Demetrius Hunter and senior Anthony Perry. But Hoyas' freshmen Mike Sweetney, who averages a team-high 12.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, and Gerald Riley, with 9.6 points per game, have shot new blood into the Georgetown squad.
"They've got some good freshmen coming in, and they're playing really well together," said Ingelsby.
While both squads are hot, they come into the game with different strengths.
Georgetown doesn't have a single player among the top 20 scorers in the Big East, instead relying on depth, using eight players who score seven points a game or better.
Big East steals leader Braswell is the only Hoya is leads the league in an individual category.
Notre Dame's Troy Murphy, Humphrey and David Graves all rank among the Big East's top 20 scorers, with Murphy posting a league-high 24 points per game. But after the six "starters," Notre Dame gets little contribution.
Georgetown's wealth of solid, but not jaw-dropping players, has the Hoyas topping the conference in scoring, winning margin, field goal percent defense, rebounding and steals. Notre Dame is close behind, ranking in the top three in all the above categories except steals, but the Irish do it by having one or two players stand out in most areas.
With Georgetown putting up so many points per game, Notre Dame needs to avoid getting into an up and down race.
"Tempo is going to be really a key," Brey said. "We have to be patient in our half-court offense and not just score on their gambles on defense."
Georgetown is both high scoring and smothering on defense. But while the Hoyas know how to get things done on offense, defense defines them.
"They come at you for 40 minutes and really pressure you," Ingelsby said. "If we can handle the pressure and get into our half-court offense, we should be all right.
The Irish are just beginning to make defense part of their identity. After losing three of four games in early January, all on the road, they turned the focus from going to the hoop to halting their opponents. It worked like a light switch during the last three home games.
"Our identity is changing a little bit, as far as we've used the phrases dirty work, loose balls, hustle plays," Brey said. "Our guys have come to realize that we need to do a little dirty work to win some games. Our overall presence on the defensive end has become more important."
Notes
uSaturday's game will be a homecoming for Brey, who is from the Washington, DC area and former assistant coach at DeMatha High School. Several players will also have family in the house. Ingelsby, Matt Carroll and Torrian Jones all hail from the Philadelphia area, and Murphy is a New Jersey native, all four within a several hour drive of Washington.
uCarroll will get to see his younger brother, Pat, in action on the basketball court. Pat Carroll is a senior on a Hatboro-Horsham basketball team that will take on Bishop O'Connell in the DeMatha Invitational Friday night at the MCI Center. Pat Carroll plans to play for St. Joseph's (Penn.) next year.
All Sports Stories for Friday, January 26, 2001
