Irish shouldn't overlook Pirates
Kathy O'Brien
Seton Hall hasn't matched preseason expectations, but that won't fool Notre Dame into overlooking the young but talented Pirates.
"They have weapons," Irish coach Mike Brey said. "Every-body's kind of, `Poor Seton Hall,' but they're very talented."
Three Seton Hall starters are freshman, including point guard Andre Barrett and leading rebounder Eddie Griffin. The only seniors on the Pirates' squad, Kevin Wilkins and Reggie Garrett, score a combined 1.3 points per game. The youth has hurt the Pirates (12-9, 3-7 Big East), who were picked to win the Big East West Division and garnered preseason rankings as high as No. 3 in the nation.
"They're very young," Brey said. "When you take a young team, especially on the road, it's tough."
Brey and the Irish (17-5, 9-2) aren't forgetting that it was Notre Dame that went away disappointed the first time the two teams played this season. Seton Hall edged Notre Dame 78-76 on Jan. 6 despite a 25-point, 20-rebound performance by Irish junior Troy Murphy.
The Pirates won even without Griffin, who scores 18 points and grabs 12 rebounds per game, as Griffin served a one-game suspension for a locker room fight. The 6-foot-9 player's presence could make a big difference in Sunday's game, as he tops the league with 16 double-doubles.
"He's a great player," Irish point guard Martin Ingelsby said. "He's going to make our big guys down low work on the offensive and defensive ends."
Junior guard Darius Lane scored 20 in Seton Hall's 63-62 loss to Syracuse last Saturday, and hit the Irish up for 22 in their first match of the year.
The Pirates have three other players who average at least eight points per outing in Ty Shine, Marcus Toney-El and Samuel Dalembert. Yet that hasn't helped them to wins as the Pirates have dropped their past four games.
"I think we're playing a lot better as a team," Ingelsby said. "We kind of rushed things up at Seton Hall the first time. We need to not try to force too many things, and just play the way we've been playing and control the tempo."
The Irish have done that over the past month while going undefeated. Defense has been one main difference.
"Guarding — we got a defensive identity. There's a pride in stopping people, getting loose balls," Brey said. "We've slowed down and taken advantage of our identity."
Junior David Graves, who Brey joked had never taken a charge until last month, now keeps a running tally of the number of charges he's taken. He's gone from about one a year to one a game, giving a look to Brey each time he adds a charge to his total.
Murphy's will is pushing the Irish towards their first NCAA Tournament berth in more than a decade.
"He wants to be the guy that leads the program back to the NCAA Tournament," Brey said of the All-American. "There's a great example of a great player giving up some of his individual stuff to help the program."
The Irish downed the Scarlet Knights by more than 20 on Wednesday with leading rebounder Ryan Humphrey sitting on the sidelines due to a sprained ankle.
Reserves Jere Macura and Torrian Jones added 14 points although they usually see little game time.
"It was great to see them out there playing," Ingelsby said. "Without them making us better in practice, we wouldn't be where we are today."
Humphrey should be back on Sunday, hopefully at 100 percent capacity.
"I believe he'll be fine," Brey said. "If last night was an NCAA Tournament game, he'd play."
All Sports Stories for Friday, February 16, 2001
