Irish dominate Hurricanes for 90-77 win
By ANDREW SOUKUP
Associate Sports Editor
MIAMI
No matter how close No. 13 Miami pulled to Notre Dame, the Irish made sure the Hurricanes never had a chance to take over the game.
Chris Thomas tied his career-high with 32 points and Torrian Jones scored a career-high 17 points as Notre Dame knocked off Miami, 90-77
"When a team makes a run on us, we don't sit back," Jones said. "We kept attacking no matter what kind of run they went on and focused on playing our game and kept them from getting back in their defense and stopping us."
Notre Dame's three perimeter players — Jones, Thomas and David Graves — combined for 62 of Notre Dame's 90 points and frustrated the Hurricanes on defense. Whenever the Irish forced a turnover, it seemed as if Thomas was throwing a long pass for an easy fast-break lay-up.
Thomas connected on 6-of-12 3-pointers and finished a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. He also added 12 assists.
Graves had trouble getting open in the first half, but he shot 4-for-5 from 3-point range in the second half and finished with 18 points.
"They were shocked to see us going up and down the court that fast," Thomas said. "Coach said that teams watch it on tape, but they really don't know how fast we get up and down the court until they see us in person."
Saturday's win should propel the Irish into the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year. The Hurricanes had an RPI of 17 —Notre Dame's was 41 — and prior to Saturday night, had only lost one game at home.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame improved to 11-4 on the road this season and earned their third win this season over a ranked team. At 19-8 overall and 9-5 in the Big East, the Irish have won six of their last eight games and are tied with Syracuse for second place in the West Division.
The Irish received some bad news before the game when they learned Carroll would have to sit out the entire game with an injury sustained Wednesday against West Virginia.
But they didn't have to worry about who would replace him. Jones surpassed his previous scoring high of seven points and limited Miami's second-leading scorer, John Salmons, to just three points.
"Somebody had to step up tonight," Jones said. "It was a night where I was in the right place at the right time. My drives were open and I was taking what the defense was giving me. They were leaving me open because I was the least known player, and I just took advantage of it."
If Jones hadn't played so well, the game probably would have turned out differently, especially when Miami's Darius Rice came out red-hot at the start of the second half.
Rice, who scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half, quickly erased a 39-34 Miami halftime deficit by connective on two straight 3-pointers, putting the Hurricanes ahead by a point.
Jones responded by scoring six of Notre Dame's next nine points in a one-minute span that killed the Miami run. He hit a 15-foot jumper, made a steal that resulted in a fast break lay-up, and scored on a hard, slashing drive to give the Irish a 48-42 lead.
"Torrian Jones was just amazing," Brey said. "They were making a run, and he had some big time drives to hold them off and keep us in a safe position with the lead."
The Hurricanes, frustrated by Notre Dame's zone defense, had trouble finding the basket after that. They settled for long perimeter shots and only connected on 7-of-20 3-pointers in the second half.
Notre Dame used a 13-4 spurt midway through the second half to break the game wide open, with all 13 Irish points coming from David Graves and Thomas. By the time Thomas hit a 3-pointer with 4:13 left in the game, the Irish had built a 14-point lead, their largest of the night.
Miami mounted one last charge, drawing to 81-73 with 2:03 left, but the Irish made 9-of-11 free throws in the final two minutes to seal the game.
Despite their size, Miami is the second-worst team in the Big East in rebounding, and the Irish exploited that advantage. Notre Dame dominated Miami on the boards 44-31, led by Ryan Humphrey, who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
"Coach Brey has been pounding rebounding into our minds, that's been our Achilles heel at some points this season," Jones said. "But since we've got into the second half of the Big East season, it's been our strong point."
Notre Dame has two more games remaining in the regular season. The Irish travel to St. John's on Wednesday and host Providence Saturday.
"This kind of sets the tone for the rest of the season," Thomas said. "We showed the selection committee what we're capable of."
Notes:
uBrey said he thought Matt Carroll would be able to play Wednesday against St. John's.
"It's the same philosophy I told Harold Swanagan," Brey said. "We've got to get him healthy. Tonight was a game where if you won, it was a huge deposit in the postseason game. If you lost it, it wasn't the end of the world."
Prior to Saturday night, Carroll had played in all 93 games of his collegiate career and had started the last 64 games.
uFormer Notre Dame All-American Ruth Riley was in attendance at Saturday's game.
Riley, who plays for the WNBA's Miami Sol, wore Notre Dame shorts when she participated in a celebrity 2-Ball competition at halftime.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 25, 2002
