Georgetown win exemplifies strong supporting cast
Ted Fox
Fox Sports... Almost
I really have to stop underestimating these Notre Dame basketball teams.
When asked to make a prediction for Saturday's men's game against No. 10 George-town, my "expert" analysis, which is only slightly more flawed than my frequently freezing computer, spit out Georgetown 69, Notre Dame 61.
OK, so reverse the winner and the loser, add 10 to both scores, and then subtract one from the higher point total.
Or just say Notre Dame 78, Georgetown 71.
Let's get down to what this game really showed. The Irish were on the road. Troy Murphy became the nation's highest scoring cheerleader with a little over four minutes to go in the game. The score was tied at 59, and the Irish hadn't led all day.
Any one of these factors — a conference road game, losing your go-to-guy, battling in a close game — could have ended the conference winning streak at three.
But they didn't.
Harold Swanagan stepped up and filled the potential scoring void at the point in the game where it looked like Georgetown was ready to keep a quality win off the Irish résumé.
Before Saturday's game, Swanagan had shot only 38 free throws on the season and made 23, good for around 60.5 percent.
In those last four minutes, not only did he get to the line four times and attempt seven free throws, he hit all seven.
With that little time left, on the road, in a game in which you're the underdog, shooting free throws can feel like trying to drop a basketball into a golf hole, no matter how good a shooter you are. Fortunately for Irish fans, the man at the line didn't see it that way.
And it wasn't just Swanagan. This game for Notre Dame exemplified the contributions from all over the floor that it takes to reach the top of the conference standings, which is where the Irish currently reside.
Five people scored in double digits, with Ryan Humphrey leading the way with 17 points (he also led the team with 10 boards).
David Graves took a charge and got to know the paint better than Sherwin Williams. Graves, Matt Carroll, and Martin Ingelsby combined to go 7-11 from threeball range. These 21 points were three times (bad pun, I know) as important for the Irish, as Georgetown focused most of its defensive assault on the guys operating down low.
With this string of wins, the Irish are on a roll now. Not a roll that has Dicky V. screaming: "Let's cut down the nets and raise the roof at the Joyce Center because this is Basketball City, USA, baby!" but a roll nonetheless.
And you know, it's funny, but it seems like every time I write a column about a big Notre Dame win, I always end up talking about how the journey isn't over. Whether the sentiment or my wording of it is the bigger cliché, I don't know, but it seems to hold true.
When the team got back from the game yesterday, Matt Carroll talked about the upcoming Pittsburgh game and how he felt the loss in Panther country last year might have been one of those "bad" losses the selection committee looked at in leaving Notre Dame out of the NCAA tournament.
He and the rest of the team know that people can forget four straight wins pretty quickly if you lose to a team you've already beaten by 16 at home.
But who cares about what people think? A loss next weekend would affect a team trying to get to the Big Dance for the first time in years, after being snubbed last March, a lot more than the people who follow their games.
Notre Dame knows that it needs to keep winning, whether it's Georgetown or No-Town, and it has proven it can do so with a diversified attack.
And, like the beginning of the season, they're once again a team everyone wants to beat.
It's their job to see that that doesn't happen.
All Sports Stories for Monday, January 29, 2001
