Notre Dame hopeful heading into Seton Hall
By ANDREW SOUKUP
Associate Sports Editor
A firm believer in the law of averages, Mike Brey figured the Irish were long overdue to break out of their seven-game shooting slump. With the way the Irish had practicing recently, the Notre Dame head coach figured Notre Dame would shoot well against No. 21 Pittsburgh.
But even Brey didn't expect the Irish to make 68 percent of their shots against the Big East's stingiest defense. In a tightly officiated game, the Irish jumped out to a huge first-half lead and never looked back as they rolled over the Panthers 89-76 Wednesday night.
Now, Brey and the Irish hope to the law of averages continues to swing in their favor as they prepare to play Seton Hall for the second time in nine days.
"We gotta take it back on the road where we really like to play," Brey said after Wednesday's game. "... We don't talk about it, but we do have a little bit of a road presence."
The Irish have won nine of 11 games away from the Joyce Center, with the only losses coming to Alabama and Syracuse. And with nine games left in the season, the 14-6 Irish need to win as many games as possible to stay in the contention for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament.
"If we win, things will fall into place," Chris Thomas said. "We were talking about it in the locker room, we have the ability to control our own destiny. There's a lot of games left in the Big East."
With Wednesday's win against Pittsburgh, Notre Dame improved to 4-3 in the Big East and currently sits in third place, trailing division-leading Syracuse by a game and a half. Pittsburgh is in second place, a full game ahead of the Irish.
But Georgetown, Rutgers and Seton Hall all have 4-4 conference records and are tied for fourth. With Notre Dame's next four games against those three teams, the Irish can either pull closer to Syracuse or fall to the bottom of the division.
"It looks like anybody in the West Division can get on a run," Brey said. "Let's take Seton Hall, prepare for them, gain some momentum and put enough in the bank so where you can go into the Big East tournament and make it tough on the selection committee."
The Irish look to sweep the season series against Seton Hall Sunday. In last Saturday's 60-51 win, the Irish held the Pirates to just 29 percent shooting overall and limited Andre Barrett, the Pirates' leading scorer, to just five points.
If Notre Dame shoots anything like the way they shot in the first half against Pittsburgh, however, the Irish will be tough to beat. The Notre Dame first-half domination was so complete that Pittsburgh, a team that only allowed a Big East-low average of 57 points per game before Wednesday, had given up 49 points by halftime.
"That had to be our best half of the year," he said. "We were due."
Pittsburgh led 4-3 early in the first half before the Irish offense exploded with a 17-0 run that spanned six minutes. Notre Dame added a 14-3 spurt towards the end of the first half, putting the Irish up 41-16. By the time Chris Thomas hit a buzzer-beater to end the first half, the Irish led by 28.
"It's just one of those games," Matt Carroll said. "Things were clicking. We haven't had too many games where all five guys were shooting the ball pretty well and moving the ball on offense."
All eight Irish players who entered the game scored, and four Notre Dame players finished in double digits scoring. Thomas and David Graves led the Irish with 19 points. Ryan Humphrey chipped in 17 and Carroll had 15.
"Anytime a team shoots 67 percent, it's going to be tough to beat them," Pittsburgh guard Brandin Knight said. "We dug ourselves a hole early and didn't make it up."
While the Irish easily dominated the first half, Pittsburgh managed to scored 55 points in the second half, although they would never draw closer than 13 points. Knight scored 20 points — with 17 coming in the second half — to lead the Panther charge.
"I don't have a halftime speech when you're up 28," Brey said. "I almost expected the second half to be like that, but I'm happy with the win."
All Sports Stories for Friday, February 1, 2002
