u Murphy returns home, scores 18 in front of rowdy crowd
By ANDREW SOUKUP
Sports Writer
PISCATAWAY, N.J.
The first thing Troy Murphy heard when he went on the court for warm-ups was a single cry from a member in the raucous Rutgers band.
"Welcome back to Jersey, Troy!"
And this was an hour before the game. Imagine the abuse Murphy endured throughout the entire game.
But the All-American forward calmly handled the verbal onslaught as the Irish won 81-59 over the Scarlet Knights. The win moves the Irish to 17-5 overall and 9-2 in the Big East. Notre Dame has now won eight consecutive games and four in a row on the road. In addition, Wednesday's victory was the first ever Notre Dame win at Rutgers.
"Troy Murphy was great," said Irish head coach Mike Brey. "I don't want to hear other players being talked about for Player of the Year in this league. It ain't even close."
Murphy's demeanor was much different this year than last year. When the Irish visited here last year, Murphy was knocked completely out of sync by the crowd. This time around, Murphy was much more relaxed and in control. Every time the Irish forward touched the ball, a chorus of boos broke out among the New Jersey crowd who felt betrayed by his decision to spurn Rutgers in favor of Notre Dame. Many fans shouted, "Murphy, you traitor!"
But Murphy ignored them all.
"They didn't get to me at all," Murphy said.
"Forget his numbers, he just got the ball to open people all the time. He was so poised, not worrying about getting shots, just kicking it out to open people and getting open looks for his teammates."
Although Murphy scored 18 points and finished with five rebounds, he did an excellent job in escaping the double team. Every time the Irish passed the ball down to the 6-11 forward, two Rutgers defenders would immediately collapse on him. Murphy worked the ball back out to the perimeter, where guards Martin Ingelsby, Carroll, and David Graves rained down wide open jump shots.
"Our perimeter was so heady," Brey said. "They really set the tone and know what a good shot is and get the ball in. That really helped us down the stretch."
"We knew coming in here that the crowd was really going to be after Troy," Ingelsby said. "He really did a great job kicking the ball out to the perimeter and finding the open man."
The patience of the perimeter offense was a tremendous factor in Notre Dame's victory. With Murphy rendered virtually ineffective on the offensive end, the Irish tried to run screens on the perimeter to free the guards.
The plan worked. Notre Dame was 6-of-11 from three-point land, and the Scarlet Knights, intent on shutting down Murphy, virtually ignored Carroll and Ingelsby.
Notre Dame also turned in a solid defensive performance. The Irish mixed up their man-to-man defense by playing a 3-2 zone to contain the Scarlet Knights dangerous three point shooters.
In fact, the Irish held last week's co-Big East Player of the Week Todd Billet to just 12 points, while Jeff Greer, who usually averages close to ten points per game, only managed seven. Overall, the Scarlet Knights were only 2-of-11 from behind the arc.
"If you told me we were going to hold Billet to 12 points, I wouldn't have believed it," Brey said. "We really wanted to limit their three point shooting because especially in this building, that gets their crowd going, and I thought we did an excellent job of that."
"I don't think we ever had a game where Todd and Jeff were off at the same time, and it hurt us," said Rutgers center Eugene Dabney.
It appeared that the Irish didn't miss forward Ryan Humphrey, who did not play due to a sprained ankle. For the first time in eight games, Brey started
David Graves in place of Humphrey. Speculation emerged that Humphrey might play when he emerged from the locker room dressed in his uniform, but Brey said he never intended to use him in the game.
"Ryan came up to me before the game and said, "Use me how you want to use me'," Brey said. "I said, "I'm not going to use you'."
But Humphrey's presence was filled by the solid bench play of freshman Torian Jones and sophomore Jere Macura. Both players, who came into the game averaging 7.7 and 8.5 minutes a game, respectively, saw extended action.
Jones and Macura played with such confidence that it seemed like they had been starting with Murphy, Ingelsby, Carroll, and the rest of the Irish regulars for the entire season.
"It's contagious," Brey said. "They're very confident because of who they've been around."
"I knew that I would get more playing time when I heard Ryan wasn't going to play," Jones said. "His 15 points and 10 rebounds is a big hole to fill. When my time came, I wanted to be ready."
In fact, Jones took over the point guard duties for Ingelsby, who had seven assists, at one point in the game. The freshman scored four points on a pair of hard, driving layups.
Meanwhile, Macura turned in arguably one of the best performances of his career. The sophomore forward scored ten points, pulled down four rebounds, and added a resounding block with 38 seconds left in the game.
"When you get those guys some extended minutes, they can deliver," Brey said.
Notre Dame only trailed for 46 seconds in the game. When Graves hit a jumper to put the Irish up 2-1, they never looked back. Although they had trouble getting Murphy in the game offensively, Notre Dame kept trading points back and forth with Rutgers.
Martin Ingelsby's falling-down three-pointer with 9:55 left in the first half kicked off a 16-3 run that lasted 7:55 and left the Irish up 36-18. Notre Dame took a 43-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.
When the second half started, Rutgers gained a little momentum with a pair of quick baskets by Rashod Kent, but Notre Dame went on an 11-4 run to go up 60-34 and never looked back.
After the game, Murphy stood outside the Irish locker room holding a sign that read "Murphy Sucks."
"This is my thing from Rutgers. I have a couple of these, I put them outside my room," he said with a smile. "They paid to come in here in yell at the Irish, and the Irish got a win."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, February 15, 2001
