Irish enjoy homecourt advantage in NIT quarterfinals
By KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Associate Sports Editor
Notre Dame's men's basketball team will take on the Brigham Young Cougars tonight, hoping to extend their season once again and earn a trip to New York's Madison Square Garden for the semifinals of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).
But to do that, the Irish will have to throw a few wrenches into the Cougar's game plan.
Coached by Steve Cleveland, the 22-10 Cougars are a Mountain West Conference team that is used to facing a man-to-man defense. Since the Irish play primarily zone defense, they will be looking to trip up the Cougars with the different style.
"I think we're active in our zone and we rebound well," Notre Dame forward Troy Murphy said. "A lot of teams knew our zone was coming, and they didn't handle it too well. So if they haven't seen a lot of zone, it should go well for us."
Other than the differing styles of defense, Notre Dame head coach Matt Doherty sees a BYU team that resembles Notre Dame.
"Maybe in some ways they're similar to us," Doherty said. "They've got a good low post player who can step out and shoot it. They've got a two guard who can put the ball in the basket. They've got guys that are good shooters and play hard."
6-foot-3 junior guard Terrell Lyday and 6-foot-9 junior forward Mekeli Wesley combine for 35 points per game, posting a full half of the Cougars' points. Between the two, they also bring down 10 rebounds per game.
The Cougars present a different type of challenge to the Irish than did the Xavier Musketeers. While Xavier's main attack was a full-court press, BYU uses mainly a half-court man defense.
Both teams are coming into the quarterfinals after home games Monday night games. Notre Dame beat Xavier 76-64, while BYU knocked off Southern Illinois 82-57.
The Cougars may be a little fatigued due to the quick turn-around between rounds. Their game was played at 11 p.m. EST Monday, leaving them with little time to make the cross-country trek and recover in time for tonight's match.
The lack of downtime could also affect Notre Dame, however, since All-American Murphy is playing on a sprained ankle, and forward Harold Swanagan is struggling with a twisted knee. With two starters playing at less than 100 percent, the Irish need to maximize their bench production. Their reserves only scored five points in Monday's win over Xavier, all from reserve point guard Martin Ingelsby.
"We've been in situations before where we were coming off of a big game and a big win and we've won," sophomore forward David Graves, who led Notre Dame with 24 points Monday, said. "It's been a long season for us, and we've had a lot of ups and downs. We can't have any more misfortunes. We need to come out and play with our "A" game the rest of the year."
The Cougars will be smarting from the sting of losing home court advantage to the Irish. BYU had nearly 17,000 fans attend in their second-round game, but the Irish snared the home berth with only 9,000 fans in the crowd. The once silent Irish crowd has grown increasingly supportive this season, helping them win the home bid with their excitement.
"We did a good job during the year, and were a strong bubble team if you will," Doherty said. "I think that may have helped get us the home games, but I think the Joyce Center fans have been great. The NIT likes to have big crowds, so I think we've earned the right, although BYU has had great crowds, too, so I'm sure they could complain and say that they deserved a home game. I think that maybe Coach Cleveland would use that to motivate his team, that they feel slighted that they didn't get a home game."
Senior point guard Jimmy Dillon feels a little added motivation to play his best, since a loss means the end of his season and his Notre Dame career.
"It's more motivation and incentive for me to leave it all out there," Dillon said. "Because if the outcome doesn't end up a win, it will be my last game."
Regardless of who wins tonight, the Irish have done better than most people expected this year. Even Dillon concedes that few would have predicted in October that the Irish would be playing this late in March. Forecasts that may have seemed like pipe dreams five or six months ago are not good enough now.
"We're not finished yet," Dillon said. "Coach has already talked about how if we lose now, people could say we've had a great year. And we have had a great year, but there's no reason we can't win a couple more big games and I think only one or two teams get to finish the year with a win. It'd be a real accomplishment of ours to be able to hang a banner."
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, March 22, 2000
