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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Before this season, Notre Dame went 211
games between 100-point outings.
Now the Irish (No. 15 ESPN/USA Today; No. 11 Associated Press) have done it twice in two games.
The Irish (2-0) set school records by making 16 3-pointers and
shooting 76.2 percent on 22 shots from 3-point range to beat Loyola
of Illinois 107-68 Wednesday night. The Irish also had 29 assists,
four off the school record.
"The neat thing was guys were turning shots down to keep
swinging it," said Mike Brey, the Irish's first-year coach. "They like how
that ball moves. We do have weapons, there's no question."
Troy Murphy scored 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting, and Matt
Carroll tied his career-high with 22 points and was 5-for-6 on
3-pointers. David Graves added 18 points and five assists and Ryan
Humphrey had 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting.
Martin Ingelsby, Notre Dame's other starter, had nine points and 11 assists.
"When you have five guys on the court at the same time who can
all shoot, it makes it hard to defend," Carroll said. "We're all
going to get our shots if we're just unselfish."
North Dame, which beat Sacred Heart 104-58 Saturday, broke the 100-point mark when Carroll made a 10-foot jumper with five
minutes left.
Loyola coach Larry Farmer said the Ramblers wanted to make the Irish beat them from the outside. They did.
"They just have so many ways to score," Farmer said. "Notre
Dame is the package because they're good on the inside and they're
good on the outside. They're a greatly improved team."
Schin Kerr had a couple of emphatic alley-oop baskets for the
Ramblers on feeds from David Bailey, but those were their only real
highlights. Kerr finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds and Bailey
had 13 points and eights assists.
The Irish took command early, hitting 70.4 percent of their
shots, including going 9-for-12 on 3-pointers, and using runs of 18-2 and 19-3 to open a 62-26 halftime lead.
"I told them at halftime it's the kind of stuff offensively you
can take and show at clinics in spring as far as making the extra
pass," Brey said.
The Irish hit their first six shots of the second half, two of
them 3-pointers by Carroll, to make it 77-35.
"Every time someone took a 3-pointer, everyone knew it was
going in. You could feel it in the crowd," Murphy said. "When you
have five guys shooting well from 3-point range, it's tough to
defense."
North Dame was shooting 79 percent when Torrian Jones hit a 3-pointer with 10:21 left to give the Irish a 98-46 lead. The Irish
then hit their only cold stretch as they missed their next five
shots and had a turnover during a 12-0 Loyola run. They shot 64.3
percent for the game.
The last time the Irish had back-to-back 100-point games was in February 1986. That's when Notre Dame beat Manhattan 102-47 and Miami of Florida 126-73 in a game in which coach Digger Phelps had the Irish run up the score after the Hurricanes football team
embarrassed the Irish with a 58-7 win in Gerry Faust's final game.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Loyola Chicago Clubhouse
Notre Dame Clubhouse
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