Notre Dame claims first postseason win since 1997
By KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Associate Sports Editor
The Irish men's basketball team triumphed in a total team effort Wednesday that allowed it to win its first-round National Invitation Tournament win over Michigan 75-65.
Everybody on the floor played a big role in the victory, as the Irish shared the wealth with a balanced box score.
David Graves grabbed 12 of Notre Dame's 30 rebounds. Troy Murphy scored 32 points and added four steals. Matt Carroll and Martin Ingelsby each hit back-to-back 3-pointers. Jimmy Dillon dished off six assists. Harold
Swanagan shot a perfect 3-for-3 from the field. Ivan Kartelo pulled down a couple key rebounds late in the game. Jere Macura sparked the Irish with a crowd-pleasing block.
"It was, I thought, a good team effort," Notre Dame head coach Matt Doherty said. "I thought David played well in the second half, and Troy's points. Matt hit some big shots. I thought Martin came in and gave us a big lift when Jimmy got two fouls on him. Jere, again, didn't score but only four points, but I thought he was a big factor in there."
The Irish (19-14) went into half-time deadlocked at 33, after some defensive let-downs allowed the Wolverines (15-14) to score 18 points in the paint. But the Irish defense came out fired up in the second half.
"I think the key to the game, when the momentum changed, was in the second half, when we started to play defense," Graves said. "They're dangerous, and if you keep them around, they can beat you. We wanted to buckle down defensively in the second half, and we did that."
A change in Graves' play was a big part of the defensive improvement.
"I thought in the first half, he was a little sluggish," Doherty said, "And I asked him to drink a pot of coffee at half-time. He was more energized in the second half. If he did get 12 rebounds, he had a heck of a night rebounding the basketball."
Doherty stressed in a time-out the point that if Notre Dame lost, its season was done.
"Coach just said we've got to pick it up," Carroll said of the lecture in the huddle. "He said if you want to play tomorrow and keep on playing throughout the whole season, you've got to pick it up and start playing. Or else this is going to be the end right here."
Carroll started off an eight-point Notre Dame run with two 3-pointers early in the second half. Murphy added two free throws to put the Irish ahead 46-41 with 14:39 to play.
Ahead 56-49, the Irish turned the ball over on an offensive foul by Murphy that left Doherty pounding his fist into his hand. The Wolverines' Gavin Groninger nailed a 3-pointer, and a missed basket by Graves on the Irish end of the floor turned into another two points for Josh Asselin as the Wolverines closed the gap to 62-60 with under 7 minutes remaining.
Murphy hit four free throws in a row for his final points of the night to put the Irish back ahead by six.
Graves fouled Michigan's Kevin Gaines, sending him to the line to knock down a free throw. Back on offense, Graves began to pull out all the stops, putting away a 3-pointer on a pass from Carroll. Graves pulled down a rebound, and swiped the ball from Michigan to leave the Wolverines high and dry on two straight possessions.
With the Irish ahead 69-63 and 49.6 seconds remaining, Murphy fouled out of the game.
Gaines hit the second of two free throws to pull the Wolverines to within five, then Notre Dame lost the ball off of Dillon's leg. Graves got yet another rebound, however, to assure the Notre Dame victory.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, March 21, 2000
