MENS BASKETBALL: Irish open season with 76-48 rout of Belmont
By CHRIS FEDERICO
Sports Editor
Jordan Cornette's hands.
That's all Belmont's shooters saw Sunday afternoon, as the Irish knocked off the Bruins 76-48 in the opening round of the Guardians Classic at the Joyce Center.
The Irish forward blocked 11 Bruin shots, shattering the previous Irish single game record of eight, set by LaPhonso Ellis in 1992 and edging the Joyce Center record of 10 set by UCLA's Bill Walton in 1973.
"I think it's fitting that it was Walton's record, because it's about time that we got a UCLA guy's name off a Joyce Center record," Irish coach Mike Brey said. "It should be a Notre Dame guy's record."
In addition to the block record, Cornette completed the defensive double-double, grabbing 13 rebounds, 12 of which came on the defensive side.
"Jordan definitely did a great job," Irish forward Dan Miller said. "He had 11 blocks, and that's a great accomplishment for him. He just hustled all over the floor. He didn't score a lot tonight, but he did everything else. He had assists, rebounds, steals, and he was just all over the place."
After seeing its lead narrowed to just four points with 3:40 to play in the first half, Notre Dame erupted for a 15-0 run to close out the half, largely on the efforts of Cornette and a quick Irish defense.
"We just kept pushing and playing defense hard," said Miller who paced the Irish in scoring with 19 points. "We pushed it out towards the end of the first half, and we made a run. It just shows how explosive we can be. We can just put points on the board in a hurry."
Miller was a key part of a late first half play that seemed to turn the tide in the game towards Notre Dame's favor. After one of Cornette's seven first half blocks, Irish point guard Chris Thomas gathered a pass just left of the key and tossed an alley-oop pass up to Miller who slammed the ball home for the 15-point Irish lead.
"As long as people can keep getting defensive rebounds, we can get guys out in transition," Miller said. "We really have some athletes on this team that can get up and down the floor."
Brey found success at the end of the first half — and in much of the second — against the smaller Belmont squad with a speedy lineup that included Thomas, Miller, Cornette and guards Torrian Jones and Chris Quinn. With three talented ball handlers on the court in the presence of Thomas, Jones and Quinn, the Irish were able to free up more players and spread out the Bruins defense.
"It's a line-up that we haven't played so much in the exhibition with [Thomas] and [Quinn] together," Brey said. "But [the Bruins] were smaller, and they had us spread out. No matter who we play, I think it's a good lineup for us. It gets Chris Thomas off the ball and lets him work off screens. We move pretty well with Miller, Jones, Cornette and those two little guys. We can guard you, and then we can change ends real fast."
The Irish will not have long to savor their first victory of the season, as they return to the court tonight for the second round of the Guardians Classic against Indiana University Purdue University — Indianapolis, who defeated Brown 66-65 in the first match of the day.
"They want us bad," Brey said of his next opponents. "All I know is that last year was IUPUI 98, Georgia Tech 92. … They go down to Atlanta and beat them. It's the same team, and they're men. They're older than us, and Coach Hunter has talked about them wanting to play us for a long time. We have to be ready to play."
Tipoff against IUPUI is set for 7 p.m. at the Joyce Center.
Notes:
u Irish center Tom Timmermans did not play Sunday because of a back sprain. The junior's injury caused the other Irish forwards to step up defensively in the middle against the Bruins.
"They were probably licking their chops with a big guy like Tom Timmermans out," Cornette said. "We knew we had to give it our all and play strong down low, and that's what the big guys did tonight."
All Sports Stories for Monday, November 18, 2002
