Kartelo's block seals Notre Dame victory
By KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Assistant Sports Editor
After losing two Big East games on the road last week, the Irish decided they were not going to drop three straight.
Even if that meant earning a second upset over defending national champion Connecticut (17-6, 6-4 Big East), which is what Notre Dame (15-10, 6-5) pulled off Saturday in a 68-66 thriller.
"We didn't want to lose three in a row," said sophomore forward David Graves, who scored 17 points. "Losing is hard enough. Losing two in a row is really hard. But losing three in a row — it's unacceptable."
Connecticut's Kevin Freeman scored with one minute remaining to tie the score at 64.
The next time down the court, the Huskies drilled Irish forward Troy Murphy, but no call was made. Instead, officials whistled Huskies' center Jake Voskuhl for his fifth foul on Irish reserve Ivan Kartelo. Kartelo made the first of two free throws to give his team a one-point lead.
Connecticut pulled down the rebound, but Graves knocked the ball away from Ajou Deng to turn possession back to Notre Dame.
Yet another Huskies player fouled out, as Tony Robertson fouled Irish freshman guard Matt Carroll. Carroll nailed both free throws with 28.3 seconds remaining to make the score 67-64.
Freeman then connected for a long 2-pointer. The official at first called it a 3, which would have tied the game, but was overruled by an official standing closer to the play.
"I'm glad Freeman has big feet," Notre Dame head coach Matt Doherty joked. "If he had size 10s, it might have been a 3, but he was on the line."
Connecticut reserve Marcus Cox fouled Carroll on the in-bounds with 13.2 left in regulation. Carroll missed the first shot, but knocked down the second for the Irish to take a 68-66 lead.
Then Kartelo came up with the biggest play of the game as he blocked a long shot by the Huskies' Albert Mouring.
"I was just pretty much the safety guy," Kartelo said. "It was my job to just make sure they were boxed out."
Murphy grabbed the ball to cement the Irish victory.
"I felt relief," Murphy said. "I thought something good was going to happen, and it did."
The victory was a big rebound after away losses last week.
"After two awful games at Pittsburgh and Villanova, I was concerned about this team," Doherty said. "I was wondering, are we going to pack it in or are we going to make a last stand, and we decided we were going to fight."
Notre Dame kept alive lingering hopes of heading to the NCAA tournament with the win, its third over a 1999 Final Four team this season.
"This isn't a fluke," Graves said. "Beating Ohio State, beating Connecticut twice, beating St. John's — it's not a fluke."
Connecticut was hot from the field in the first half, shooting 64.3 percent to Notre Dame's 34.5 percent. The Huskies' Mouring led the way with his 14 first-half points on 6-for-8 shooting.
But Notre Dame managed to stay within six points at the half thanks to 10 free throw shots.
"The most frustrating thing was that Notre Dame had 28 foul shots," Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun said. "It's hard to win when you let a team shoot that many free throws. Once again, we shoot 56 percent and win by 17 from the floor, but their free-throw shooting determined the game."
Connecticut picked up a lot of fouls with a very physical man-to-man defense. They attacked Murphy with double- and even triple-teams, forcing him into 5-for-20 shooting in the game. Murphy came out of the game bruised and wearing a bloody jersey.
"It wasn't a pretty game," Doherty said. "It was a physical game. It was a little bit of a slugfest."
Notre Dame, on the other hand, played a zone defense that only sent Connecticut to the free throw line three times.
The Irish began closing the gap in the second half. Freshman Matt Carroll narrowed the margin to two with his first points of the game — a 3-pointer from the right baseline.
After the two teams exchanged turnovers, Murphy dragged down a defensive rebound, and Graves tied the score at 45 on Notre Dame's ensuing possession. Connecticut's Robertson fouled Graves on the shot, and Graves nailed the free throw to give Notre Dame its first lead since taking a 2-0 advantage.
The Huskies pulled back into the lead at 49-46 with buckets by Deng and Voskuhl. But the Irish worked their way ahead, as Murphy hit two free throws and Graves swished a 3-pointer.
The Irish never trailed again, despite the Huskies' containment of Murphy. He scored 18 points in the game, but eight came at the free throw line.
"I could shoot 0-for-50, and we could still beat the national champions," said Murphy, an All-American candidate.
Irish Notes
* Three sophomores scored in double digits for the Irish —Murphy, Graves and Harold Swanagan with 10.
* Dillon dished off 10 assists in 35 minutes of play, while only turning the ball over twice.
* The game was the second Joyce Center sell-out of the season for Notre Dame.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 14, 2000
