Teams on paper differ from teams on basketball court
By KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Associate Sports Editor
The rankings and the records led the Irish to believe they would end their five-year losing streak against their in-state rival the Indiana Hoosiers.
Things don't always go as planned.
Notre Dame stormed into its home-court contest No. 10 and 4-0, while Indiana straggled into South Bend at 3-3 and outside the top 25 in a reversal of recent meetings. In the coach's chair, the Hoosiers no longer had the General, head coach Bobby Knight, to bark orders and kick life into their team. On the bench, the Irish sported the favorite for National Player of the Year in Troy Murphy, backed up by four veterans, while the Hoosiers' best player is Jared Jeffries, a freshman from Bloomington used to taking on Division I hopefuls, not NBA prospects.
"We were trying too hard offensively," first-year Irish coach Mike Brey said. "We wanted it so bad. We've been loose in our preparation. I thought that was the best way to handle it, but when it didn't go like we thought, we got tight. At halftime, everyone was quiet in the locker room. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be scripted."
Anticipated or not, Indiana red bled Notre Dame dry. The Irish may be among the tops in the nation, but they're not on top of the state, since the Hoosiers still have their number.
"It's a state rivalry," Irish point guard Martin Ingelsby said after ending his career against IU winless. "It leaves a bad taste in your mouth not being able to beat them."
During the national anthem, Murphy shifted from one foot to the other and rubbed his hands together, unable to stand still until tip-off. Murphy and the Irish were anxious to show the Joyce Center full house and the ESPN national audience that they were for real. They were so eager to showcase their talents that they overdid it, stalling on offense by taking shots too quickly and being blasted on defense by a sharp-shooting Indiana team.
"Everything went wrong and nothing went right," Notre Dame guard David Graves said. "They really locked into us defensively, and we didn't have any answers. Everything that we tried to do, they countered."
Jeffries, a wiry 6-foot-9 rookie, asked Indiana coach Mike Davis yesterday in practice if he could guard 6-11 Murphy, the All-American. Davis was hesitant at first, and even more so after Jeffries picked up an early foul.
But he kept Murphy, who played with an ankle brace, on ice, holding him to 5-for-18 shooting and 15 points, nearly 12 points below his season average.
The rest of the Hoosier squad accented Jeffries' defense.
They showed that the man-to-man play the General drilled into their heads was still in their memory banks, holding Notre Dame to just 38 percent from the field.
"They do defend," Brey said of the Hoosiers. "They have great man-to-man habits."
Brey's still trying to instill the killer instinct into the Irish, who stuck with zone last year under coach Matt Doherty. Notre Dame's defensive efforts allowed unknown Hoosier point guard Tom Coverdale, who averaged just 1.4 minutes of playing time last year, to slash his way to 30 points, more than double his career high.
"He's very crafty with the ball," said Ingelsby, who guarded Coverdale. "I couldn't stop him tonight. I take full responsibility for that. To be a top 10 team, you've got to be able to stop guys."
Notre Dame's still learning how to freeze its opponents in their tracks, a skill that should come as Brey's style of play becomes as second nature as losing to Indiana has been the past few years.
"People shouldn't think that because we were handled by Indiana, we're not a top 10 team," Graves said. "That's not true. It's still really early in the season."
There won't be any rest for the Irish after suffering a stinging defeat in the battle for the State Championship. They'll still enter their next game against Miami (Ohio) Dec. 9 with a bulls-eye on their backs.
When Notre Dame tips off Saturday, an eight-year streak will come to an end. Murphy will begin the game on the bench, giving him a view he hasn't had since seventh grade.
His presence at Finnigan's Irish Pub Oct. 13, for which he was cited for possession of false identification and as a minor in a tavern, cost him the starting spot for one game.
"It makes me extremely upset," Murphy said. "Starting is something that is based on your basketball abilities, and to have something that happens away from basketball affect what happens away from basketball affect what happens with basketball is disappointing."
A faculty advisory board gave Murphy the verdict last week after debating whether or not to remove him as a captain.
All Sports Stories for Thursday, December 7, 2000
