Irish refuse to throw in towel after 16-point deficit
Kathleen O'Brien, Assistant Sports Editor
Down 16 points against the No. 9 team in the nation, a lot of teams would have thrown in the towel.
But the Notre Dame men's basketball team made a different decision. It chose to fight to the finish with a gritty second-half effort that brought it within two points of Big East leader Syracuse.
"Our guys competed and hung in there against a very good basketball team," Notre Dame head coach Matt Doherty said. "We put ourselves in that position [down 16 points], and we can't do that."
Syracuse's senior center Etan Thomas slam dunked to open the second half, which put his team up 47-31. At that point, senior point guard Jimmy Dillon, playing for the final time on his home court, started off an Irish comeback with a 3-pointer.
"That just shows the character of the team," Dillon said. "Coach jumped on us a little bit."
Playing tenaciously throughout the second half, the Irish inched their way back into contention. Pre-season All-American Troy Murphy scored 12 second-half points, and freshman Jere Macura scored all 12 of his points in the second period.
"I don't think I've ever seen anyone make tougher 3s than they made in the second half," Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. "They were in a big hole. They're a young team, and they just kept on coming back and maki plays and making shots."
Every time Thomas or game-high scorer Ryan Blackwell nailed a basket, the Irish answered, whether with an NBA-length 3-pointer by Dillon, a rebound tip-in by sophomore forward David Graves or a 3-pointer by freshman Mike Monserez.
"You've got to come out with your head high," Graves said. "A 16-point margin against a team like that, that's arguably the best team in the Big East, arguably the best team in the country. It's a credit to us that we came back, but we just dug ourselves too big of a hole."
But in the end, Notre Dame's sixth man — the student body — helped Syracuse stave off the Notre Dame attack.
After an intentional foul was called on Graves with 8.8 seconds remaining, a Notre Dame student threw an empty plastic bottle onto the court, resulting in a technical foul against Notre Dame. A two-point Irish deficit quickly turned into five, and Troy Murphy's 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds remaining was not enough to pull the Irish over the hump.
"It's part of the game," Graves said. "We've been in a lot of close games. Some plays have gone our way; some things haven't. You can't blame it on the fans. The fans are the reason why we are in the position that we are. They've been great all year."
Notre Dame's decision to fight to the finish is one that has been made throughout the year.
Back in November, Notre Dame let ranked opponent Indiana leap out to a 17-0 advantage, then battled back to send the game to overtime.
Against conference foe West Virginia on Feb. 2, Notre Dame turned things around from a 51-40 deficit to the second half to win 79-65.
In the Irish home victory over the Connecticut Huskies, the Irish trailed by as many as nine before bringing their "A" game to the floor.
Perhaps the Irish are pleased with their ability to come back, but they also realize that early ruts are difficult to return from.
"We've just got to be ready to play two halves," Dillon said. "We've got to be ready for 40 minutes, not 20."
Notre Dame's refusal to go down for the count is a season-long affair. Predicted to crowd around the bottom of the Big East, Notre Dame opened its season with an upset victory over returning Final Four team Ohio State.
After winning the first four games of their season, Notre Dame dropped four straight against quality opponents - Arizona, Maryland, Indiana and Vanderbilt. A week later, it suffered one of its most crushing defeats of the season, a 16-point loss against a mediocre Miami (Ohio) team. Sitting at 4-5 on the year, naysayers again began to discount the Irish.
They responded with a seven-game winning streak, capped off by a 75-70 road win over the defending national champion Connecticut Huskies.
Whenever it seemed the Irish were ready to fold, they surprised someone with a win. Nearly ruled out of NCAA contention after falling on the road at Pittsburgh and Villanova, Notre Dame earned two-point victories over both Connecticut and Seton Hall.
Only this time, they don't have time to recover.
"This team has a lot of character," Graves said. "We're not going to quit."
Only a Saturday match against the Georgetown Hoyas and the Big East tournament remain as chances to convince the NCAA tournament selection committee that they deserve a trip.
"You talk about your backs being to the wall," Doherty said. "Our backs are through the wall right now."
The Irish have proven their critics wrong before. They would like nothing more than to do so one more time by winning the Big East tourney to head to March Madness for the first time in 10 years.
Don't count the Irish out just yet. They could be the Cinderella team of the 2000 tourney.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer
All Sports Stories for Thursday, March 2, 2000
