#16 Irish Open Three-Game Road Trip Saturday At #21/23 Syracuse
Feb. 15, 2008
Game Notes Package in PDF Format
DATE: February 16, 2008 Storylines No. 16 Irish Open Three-Game Road Trip Saturday At No. 21/23 Syracuse Notre Dame (19-5, 7-3 BIG EAST) picked up its fourth consecutive win on Wednesday night with a 99-76 victory over Marquette at the Joyce Center. The Irish fired on all cylinders offensively with a season-high .643 field goal percentage, their best shooting night in 11 years.
Senior guard Tulyah Gaines led Notre Dame in scoring for the second consecutive game with a season-high 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Junior guard Lindsay Schrader did a little bit of everything for the Irish, as she had 17 points, six rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks.
Rankings A Quick Look At The Fighting Irish Notre Dame also ranks in the top 20 in six NCAA statistical categories (as of Monday), including scoring offense (7th, 79.6 ppg.), assist/turnover ratio (8th, 1.13), and scoring margin (9th, +18.5 ppg.) with nearly half its wins by 30 points. The Irish also rank second in the BIG EAST (15th nationally) in steals (12.13 spg.) and have forced 20 turnovers on 15 occasions.
Senior guard Charel Allen, a first-team all-BIG EAST and honorable mention All-America pick last year, is setting the pace for a balanced Notre Dame attack, averaging a team-high 13.8 points per game (18th in BIG EAST) and owning the team lead with 48 steals (8th in BIG EAST). She also has scored in double figures 20 times in 24 games, including 11 of her last 12.
Sophomore guard Ashley Barlow has built upon last year's BIG EAST All-Freshman Team selection, ranking second on the team in scoring (12.5 ppg.) and standing right behind Allen with 47 steals. She also boasts a team-high .343 three-point percentage and is 23rd in the country with an .859 free throw percentage.
Junior guard Lindsay Schrader continues to work her way back to peak form after missing last year with a torn ACL in her right knee. Schrader is third on the squad in scoring (10.7 ppg.) and tops in rebounding (5.8 rpg.) as one of the cornerstones of Notre Dame's unique Princeton-based four-guard lineup.
While Schrader is back from her ACL injury, freshman forward Devereaux Peters had her season end early with a torn ACL in her left knee, suffered Feb. 10 vs. Pittsburgh. Peters provided a strong spark off the bench, averaging 9.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. She also scored in double figures 14 times, including a season-high 15 points vs. Villanova and her first career double-double (10 points, 12 rebounds) against top-ranked Connecticut.
Potent Notables About The Irish A Quick Look At Syracuse Syracuse (19-4, 7-3) last played Wednesday night, taking an 81-72 victory at Seton Hall. Freshman guard Erica Morrow scored a team-high 23 points and senior forward Fantasia Goodwin added 20 points off the bench to pace four Orange players in double figures. As a team, SU shot 55.1 percent from the floor, including a sharp 7-of-12 (.583) from three-point range.
Junior guard Chandrea Jones leads four Syracuse double-figure scorers this season with 15.9 points per game, along with 7.8 rebounds per night. Goodwin offers 13.0 points and a team-high 9.5 rebounds per game, while sophomore guard Nicole Michael is logging 13.0 points and 7.9 rebounds each time out.
In just his second season at Syracuse, head coach Quentin Hillsman owns a 282-24 (.538) record. He is 0-1 all-time against Notre Dame.
The Notre Dame-Syracuse Series The teams met four times in non-conference action as part of a home-and-home series from 1988-91 before resuming the rivalry under the BIG EAST Conference banner. The Irish are 16-0 against Syracuse in regular-season BIG EAST games (1-1 in the conference tournament, with the Orange win being an 84-79 decision on March 3, 2002 in Piscataway, N.J.).
The Last Time Notre Dame And Syracuse Met Melissa Lechlitner had arguably the best day of her young career, registering personal highs with 18 points and six rebounds, as well as five assists without a turnover. Tulyah Gaines nearly had a double-double of her own, finishing with 10 points and a career-high-tying nine assists, while Erica Williamson also came close to a double-double with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Fantasia Goodwin scored a team-high 16 points for Syracuse. Nicole Michael added a double-double with 14 points and a team-best 10 rebounds, and Vaida Sipaviciute also scored 14 points for the visitors.
After the teams traded opening baskets, Notre Dame surged in front with 11 of the next 13 points, with Allen accounting for nine markers. Syracuse got back within seven points twice, the second coming at 18-11 on Goodwin's triple with 11:22 remaining in the first half. A minute later, the Irish had their first double-digit lead of the game, and Lechlitner kept Notre Dame up by double figures for good on a three-pointer for a 27-15 spread at the 7:52 mark. The teams played almost evenly the rest of the period, with the Irish taking a 41-23 lead at halftime.
Allen's long jumper 17 seconds into the second half put Notre Dame up by 20 points. That margin remained for the next three minutes until the Orange went on a 9-0 run, getting within 49-38 on a jumper in the lane by Sipaviciute with 12:52 to go. However, Lechlitner converted an old-fashioned three-point play on the next Irish possession and SU never got closer than 13 points from then on. A game-ending 16-4 run helped Notre Dame finish with its largest margin of the afternoon.
The Last Time Notre Dame And Syracuse Met At The Carrier Dome Courtney LaVere tossed in 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and Megan Duffy chipped in with 12 points for the Irish. Vaida Sipaviciute came off the bench to notch team highs of 19 points and seven rebounds for SU. Tracy Harbut was the only other player to score in double figures for the Orange, finishing with 11 points, a game-high six assists and five rebounds.
Notre Dame used a sharp shooting second half (53.8 percent on 14-of-26 field goals) and better ball handling (one turnover) to overcome a five-point deficit in the opening moments of the final stanza. The Irish also forced 21 Syracuse turnovers, coming up with 14 steals, including four thefts by Tulyah Gaines.
Neither side led by more than four points in a first half that featured eight ties and five lead changes, with Syracuse taking a 27-25 lead at the intermission.
SU seized its largest lead of the night in the opening minute of the second half, as baskets by Harbut and Cintia Johnson, sandwiched around a Schrader free throw, gave the Orange a 31-26 edge. LaVere answered with a pair of layups to trim the SU lead to a point at the 18:15 juncture, and it would remain a one-possession game for the next nine minutes.
The Irish then went to work on the defensive end, holding the Orange to just two field goals during the final nine and a half minutes of the contest. Notre Dame also put together an 8-0 run during a four-minute stretch, with LaVere draining a pair of jumpers to bookend the charge, and then Schrader posted half a dozen in the final 2:18 to seal the win.
Other Notre Dame-Syracuse Series Tidbits Peters To Miss Rest Of 2007-08 Season At the time of her injury, Peters ranked fourth on the team in scoring at 9.0 points per game, second in rebounding (5.6 rpg) and third in steals (1.7 spg). She also ranked among the BIG EAST leaders in blocked shots (3rd - 1.96 bpg.) and field goal percentage (10th - .522), and she scored in double figures 14 times this season, including the final four games of her rookie campaign. In addition, she logged her first career double-double on Jan. 27 against top-ranked Connecticut with 10 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
What's more, her total blocks (45) and blocks-per-game average rank third all-time among Irish freshmen, trailing only Shari Matvey (94 blocks, 3.1 bpg. in 1979-80) and Ruth Riley (71 blocks, 2.2 bpg. in 1997-98).
Peaking When It Counts In the 21-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-present), the Irish are 122-34 (.782) in the month of February, including a 65-10 (.867) home record. In that time, Notre Dame has not had a losing February, and only once did the Irish end the month at .500 (4-4 in 1988-89, McGraw's second season in South Bend).
Last year, Notre Dame went 6-2 in February, winning its first six before ending with losses to No. 21/22 Rutgers (76-60 at home) and DePaul (87-73 on the road).
Chart Toppers A full recap of Notre Dame's positions on the NCAA statistics charts (and its relation to the national leaders) can be found on page 11 of this notes package. The latest NCAA statistics report was scheduled for release late Friday afternoon.
Thirty Deeds It's also the first time since the 2000-01 national championship season that the Irish have logged at least nine 30-point wins in a single season. That year, Notre Dame collected a school-record 10 30-point victories, but only six of those came in the first 24 games.
What's more, the Irish had a streak of four consecutive 30-point wins from Nov. 20-Dec. 2. The last time Notre Dame did that was Jan. 20-30, 1999, when the Irish had four straight 30-point victories, all during BIG EAST Conference play -- at Seton Hall (87-47), home vs. St. John's (99-60), at Syracuse (94-61) and at Providence (97-59).
Put A Tiger In Your Tank The Irish currently rank third in the BIG EAST Conference in scoring (and seventh in the nation as of Monday) at 79.6 points per game, having tallied at least 80 points 14 times this season. What's more, Notre Dame also has the fourth-highest scoring average through 24 games in program history, and highest since the 1998-99 squad averaged 82.6 points at this juncture on the way to the single-season school scoring record (81.0).
What's more, Notre Dame has scored at least 90 points six times this season. That's the most 90-point games for the Irish in one year since 1998-99, when they tied the school record with seven 90-point games. In fact, during the six seasons prior to the current one (2001-02 through 2006-07), Notre Dame had a combined total of four 90-point games.
Notre Dame also ranks second in the conference (and ninth in the nation) in scoring margin at +18.5 points per game.
McGraw's Shock Troops While Irish women's basketball coach Muffet McGraw may not quite be following Rockne's philosophy to the letter, she could easily rotate in much of her second unit and not see much decline in productivity. In fact, Notre Dame's bench is averaging 30.8 points per game (compared to 49.6 ppg. by the starters) and has outscored all 24 opponent benches this season by an average of +16.0 points per night.
Prior to her season-ending knee injury on Feb. 10 vs. Pittsburgh, freshman forward Devereaux Peters was leading the way for this year's Irish "shock troops". The Chicago native averaged 9.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.96 blocks per game (third in BIG EAST and 45th in the nation) with a .522 field goal percentage (10th in the conference). Peters came off the bench in 21 of 23 games this year, piling up a season-high 15 points and seven steals vs. Villanova before collecting her first career double-double (10 points, season-high 12 rebounds) on Jan. 27 against top-ranked Connecticut.
Youth Movement All three Irish rookies have done their part to help Notre Dame to its 19-5 record, with each one averaging at least 12 minutes and having scored in double figures at least four times. Before suffering a season-ending knee injury on Feb. 10 vs. Pittsburgh, Peters was fourth on the team in scoring (9.0 ppg) and scored in double digits 14 times, while also ranking third in the BIG EAST (45th in the nation) in blocked shots (1.96 bpg). Mallory is averaging 6.7 points per game, is second on the team with 22 three-pointers and chalked up a season-high 15 points on Jan. 19 at Georgetown. Bruszewski is logging 4.6 points and 2.5 rebounds per game, collecting her fourth double-figure scoring performance of the season with 10 points and six rebounds last Sunday vs. 15th-ranked Pittsburgh.
Spreading The Wealth Double Trouble Notre Dame also has had at least three double-figure scorers in all but three games (Purdue, No. 3 Tennessee, No. 16 West Virginia) this year, with a season-high seven in double digits at Georgetown (the most in one game for the Irish since Feb. 6, 1997 vs. Syracuse).
What's more, the Irish fielded five double-figure scorers in three consecutive games from Nov. 20-27. It's believed to be the first time in school history (and certainly the first time in the Muffet McGraw era) the Irish have pulled off that feat of three straight games with five double-digit scorers, although records are incomplete prior to the 1983-84 season.
Protecting The Pill The Irish took ball protection to a new level in their loss at No. 3 Maryland on Nov. 16. Notre Dame set a school record with only three turnovers against the Terrapins, with two of those giveaways coming on offensive fouls. The previous school record for fewest turnovers was six, set on Feb. 12, 2006 at DePaul.
With only three turnovers, it probably comes as no surprise that Maryland did not register a steal against Notre Dame. However, what is surprising is that it was the first time in the 31-year history of the Irish program that an opponent did not record a steal against Notre Dame. Several opponents had only one steal vs. the Irish, with the most recent being Boston College on March 19, 2006 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament (played at West Lafayette, Ind.).
Piping Hot Turnovers Notre Dame has made even the strongest ball-handling teams struggle this season. In fact, Villanova came into its Jan. 16 game at the Joyce Center leading the nation with only 11.2 turnovers per game. However, the Wildcats left town with 24 turnovers, their highest single-game giveaway mark in more than six years (Dec. 1, 2001 at Temple).
The Five-Finger Discount Individually, the Irish have six players with at least 30 steals this season (and another with 24). Senior guard Charel Allen leads the way with 48, ranking eighth in the BIG EAST in that category (2.0 spg). Allen has been especially potent of late with 13 steals in the past four games, including a career-high six in the win over Providence.
Notre Dame tied Connecticut for the BIG EAST title in steals last season (9.69 spg. in league play; 10.47 overall), the first time the Irish won a conference steals crown since 1989-90, when they led the Horizon League with 10.93 steals per game.
Keeping It On The Plus Side Off And Running Even in its defeat at third-ranked Maryland on Nov. 16, Notre Dame made a statement early with a 10-0 run in the first five minutes of action and led by as many as five points in the first half before the Terrapins rallied back for the win.
Allen Climbing Irish Points Ladder Polling Station Notre Dame now has been ranked in the AP poll for 154 weeks during the program's history, with every one of those appearances coming in the Muffet McGraw era. McGraw currently ranks 14th among all active NCAA Division I head coaches for weeks in the AP poll, and also stands 25th all-time in that category.
The Irish also are in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll for the 14th consecutive week, moving up one spot to 16th in this week's balloting. Notre Dame's No. 14 rankings on Jan. 2-8 were the highest poll position for Notre Dame in two years, when the Irish were tabbed 12th by the coaches prior to the aforementioned losses to St. John's and Seton Hall.
More Polling Data Crowded House In addition, the Jan. 27 audience marked the first time the Irish have attracted three crowds of 10,000 fans in the same season, as 10,825 fans took in the Dec. 2 win over Michigan.
Clutch When It Counts Leading the way is sophomore guard Ashley Barlow, who is 11-of-12 (.917) this year and 21-of-24 (.875) in her career when toeing the line down the stretch.
Start Me Up The last time Notre Dame got off to a 13-2 start was the 2004-05 season, when the Irish won their first seven games (including the Preseason WNIT title) before a Dec. 2 overtime loss to 15th-ranked Michigan State. Notre Dame (which rose as high as third in the national polls that season) then reeled off six more wins before suffering consecutive loss at Villanova (59-54) and home vs. No. 16 Connecticut (67-50). However, the Irish rebounded with a 10-game win streak, finishing the year at 27-6 and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Notre Dame posted a 13-2 record on three other occasions, also doing so in 1999-2000 (27-5, NCAA Sweet 16), 1998-99 (26-5, NCAA second round) and 1977-78 (13-4, program's first varsity season when playing at AIAW Division III level).
We're Going Streaking! Notre Dame also won six consecutive road games earlier this season (Nov. 20-Jan. 2). That was the longest run for the Irish away from the Joyce Center since a 10-game run from Nov. 17, 2000 to Feb. 14, 2001, a streak that ended with a 54-53 loss at No. 11/14 Rutgers (one of only two defeats for the Irish on their run to the NCAA title).
No Easy Road With the addition of Maryland to the docket in the Preseason WNIT semifinals (75-59 loss on Nov. 16), the Irish now will face four of the top five teams in the latest Associated Press poll. Besides the Terrapins (currently No. 4), Notre Dame also has or will play No. 1 Tennessee (lost 87-63 on Jan. 5 at the Joyce Center), No. 2 Connecticut (lost 81-64 on Jan. 27 at the Joyce Center), and No. 5 Rutgers (Feb. 19 in Piscataway, N.J.). Three of the top four teams in the poll have combined to win five of the past six national championships, with Tennessee currently holding the hardware after defeating Rutgers in last year's title game.
Irish Fans Crave A Big Mac Attack This season's burger watch is at seven, as the Irish have hit the 88-point mark in both exhibition wins, as well as regular-season victories over Miami (Ohio), Boston College, Canisius, Valparaiso and Marquette.
It's probably also not a surprise that the Notre Dame player with the most "Big Mac baskets" this season has the same initials as that of the tasty burger -- freshman guard Brittany Mallory, who has sent the crowd home happy (and presumably with full bellies) four times.
Friends In Need A loyal supporter of the Irish for many years, Patricia has assisted Notre Dame's coordinator of basketball operations Stephanie Menio with numerous marketing and promotional activities, and also coordinated regular bus trips for fans to see the Irish on the road.
Patricia's OIT colleagues have created a web page to update supporters on her progress: http://oit.nd.edu/patricia.
Notre Dame also lost a treasured friend on Jan. 22, when longtime Joyce Center clock operator Mark Tulchinsky passed away. Mark was a dedicated educator in the South Bend Community School Corporation, most recently serving as principal at Tarkington Traditional School. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mark, his wife, Nan (the official scorer for Notre Dame basketball), and the Tulchinsky family.
Promotional Corner Next Game: Rutgers Coming off last year's trip to the NCAA title game, the Scarlet Knights (19-4, 9-1) have knocked off several high-profile opponents this season, including top-ranked and previously-undefeated Connecticut on Feb. 5. Following Monday's highly-controversial 59-58 loss at No. 1 Tennessee, RU looks to rebound Saturday night at South Florida before returning home to face Notre Dame next week.
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