defensive strategy
Kerry Smith
Sports Editor
WASHINGTON
He jumped up and down, hurling orders onto the court.
He threw his hands over his head, waving then frantically from side to side.
George-town head coach Craig Esherick did everything he could to get his Hoya defense to tighten the reigns on Notre Dame's three-point duo, David Graves and Matt Carroll.
With just six minutes remaining and the Irish down 59-56, Esherick expected a deep perimeter shot from the wing as point guard Martin Ingelsby snapped passes back and forth between Caroll and Graves.
But no shot came from either three-point hit man. Instead, it was the unlikely shooter Ingelsby who fired off the ball to tie the score.
Esherick could only shake his head, seemingly in disbelief as Ingelsby pumped his fist and the Irish bench jumped to its feet.
After all, why would Esherick expect the shot to come from Ingelsby, an assist artist rather than Graves who has no reservations about tossing up the long shot whether he's on or not, or Carroll who had already come through with a couple clutch threes?
He didn't.
And so went Notre Dame's unlikely 78-71 upset Saturday over No. 10 Georgetown. It wasn't the score that was unlikely; it was the way it happened.
"Our defense was very good in the first half," Esherick said. "But in the second half we left guys that can shoot well open."
That and Esherick bet heavily that Notre Dame would play its typical basketball game.
He gambled that when Troy Murphy, the bedrock of the Irish offense fouled out with 4:27 remaining, he could eliminate the Irish post play and quiet the fans to swing momentum back the Hoyas' way.
He gambled that forwards Ryan Humphrey and Harold Swanagan would put on their typical less-than-stellar performances from the free throw line.
And he gambled that his team could keep up its impressive field goal percentage to close out the game.
But in a high-stakes game with the top spot in the Big East West Division on the line, none of the dice rolled in Esherick's favor.
Great teams know how to risk it all and lay it on the line when it counts and the Irish gave the Hoyas a quick glimpse of that greatness in the game's final stretch.
"We knew we had to stay close and then make a run at the end," Murphy said. "We knew we could win and we came to play."
Just not in the usual way.
No one could have scripted a better plot and made it believable. But, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. And a lot more exciting, too.
As the minutes ticked off the clock, the Hoyas needed just one card to fall in their favor; the Irish needed them all. And while Georgetown could not even grab one break, Notre Dame found them all.
And the Irish did it for the most part without Murphy.
"It just shows we're a big time team," Humphrey said. "Troy is a big asset, but we're not a one-man team. Everyone can come out and play."
Humphrey and teammate Swanagan came not only to play, but to lead by example in the final minutes, taking their game to new heights.
Targeted as easy marks by the Hoyas, the pair had shot just over 50 percent from the line in Big East games this season.
But just minutes away from tasting their second big upset in less than a week, Swanagan went 7-7 from the line while Humphrey added 5-8, causing Esherick's strategy to backfire.
"Swanagan and Humphrey made their free throws," Esherick said. "It's a big part of how they closed the game. I don't know what you can do for free throw defense. I haven't figured out a way to guard from the line yet."
Even with the poise of the Humphrey and Swanagan, the Hoyas could have pulled out a win with their usually consistent offensive arsenal. But the team that had been averaging a little more than 50 percent from the floor most of the game suddenly went cold. Unable to score on nine straight possessions over five minutes, the Hoyas felt the game slip away as the Irish went on a 17-2 run to surprise the 17-2 Big East power house.
"It wasn't necessarily making bad decisions and taking poor shots," Esherick said. "It was more a product of trying to catch up and having to go for it."
But on an improbable afternoon, It was Notre Dame, not Georgetown, that went for it and got it all.
When officials called Murphy for his fifth foul, the Hoyas thought the scales had tipped in their favor. But they forgot the weight a team hungry for an upset can have when each player carries more than his usual load.
And that extra weight has now upped the stakes for the rest of the season, as the Irish will ascend to the No. 1 division spot.
"It's good," Murphy said. "It's not bad. Nice. Hopefully it will stay that way."
After Saturday's improbable outcome, it should be expected.
All Sports Stories for Monday, January 29, 2001
