Nov. 26, 1997

Notre Dame Hosts Sam Houston State

• Notre Dame (2-1) vs. Sam Houston State (0-2)
• Friday, November 28, 1997, 7:30 p.m. EST
• Joyce Center (11,418), Notre Dame, IN

Probable Starters

                           
No. Name            Pos. Cl.  Ht.    Wt. Hometown            PPG  RPG  Asst.
 3  Derek Manner     F   Sr.  6-6   206  Webster, TX         3.0  4.7   5
53  Pat Garrity      F   Sr.  6-9   231  Monument, CO       19.3  7.3   8
55  Phil Hickey      C   Jr.  6-10  252  Wellsboro, PA      12.0  7.7   6
 4  Antoni Wyche     G   Jr.  6-4   193  Ballston Lake, NY   9.0  3.0   8
24  Martin Ingelsby  G   Fr.  5-11  169  Philadelphia, PA    7.3  4.0  16

Phil Hickey is averaging 12 points per game for the Irish. (File Photo)

TONIGHT'S GAME: The University of Notre Dame basketball team plays its second consecutive home game tonight as it takes on Sam Houston State of the Southland Conference. Notre Dame enters the game with a 2-1 record and is coming off a 72-45 win over Northeastern on Tuesday night. Senior forward Pat Garrity (Monument, Colo.) led the Irish with 24 points while four players, including Garrity, each had six rebounds. Freshman Martin Ingelsby (Philadelphia, Penn.) had 11 assists and just one turnover.

Notre Dame's 27-point margin of victory is the largest for an Irish team since it defeated Loyola Marymount by 33 points (84-51) on Dec. 30, 1995.

Sam Houston State had a 0-2 record heading into a Wednesday night game at Northwestern. The Bearkats have posted losses to Eastern Washington and Houston.

After tonight's game with Sam Houston State, Notre Dame returns to action on Wednesday, Dec. 3, when it plays at Indiana at 7:30 p.m. EST. Notre Dame's BIG EAST Conference opener is on Sat., December 6, at Pittsburgh for a 4:00 p.m. EST game. Notre Dame's first BIG EAST home game is Tues., December 30, against St. John's at 7:30 p.m. EST.

TELEVISION AND RADIO COVERAGE: There is no television coverage for tonight's game. Radio coverage is provided by the Host Communications Network (Jack Lorri, Jack Nolan). Notre Dame makes its first television appearance of the year on Wed., Dec. 3, when the Irish travel to Indiana to face the Hoosiers on ESPN2 (Dan Shulman, Quinn Buckner).

THE NOTRE DAME-SAM HOUSTON STATE SERIES: Tonight's game is the first meeting between Notre Dame and Sam Houston State in the sport of basketball.

INJURY REPORT: Notre Dame freshman forward Peter Okwalinga (Nairobi, Kenya) will miss the next four to six weeks with bilateral stress fractures in both of his feet. Okwalinga was diagnosed with the injury last Tuesday and has not played in either of Notre Dame's regular season games. Senior forward Derek Manner (Webster, Texas) is suffering from shin splints and did not start against Northeastern, but did play five minutes.

GARRITY BREAKS CONSECUTIVE GAMES PLAYED RECORD: Garrity has started 87 consecutive games in his collegiate career, dating back to his freshman debut in 1994, for a school record. Garrity has started and played in all 87 Irish games since coming to Notre Dame and broke the school record for consecutive games started of 85, formerly held by Gary Novak (1971-74) and John Paxson (1980-83).

GARRITY NO. 8 IN CAREER SCORING: Garrity enters tonight's game with 1,516 career points, which places him eighth in Notre Dame career scoring history. No. 7 is Bob Whitmore with 1,580 points from 1966-69, while No. 6 is Bob Arnzen with 1,665 points from 1966-69. The career leader is Austin Carr with 2,560 points from 1968-71. Garrity has scored in double figures in 76 of his 87 career games and has scored 20 points or more in all but 14 games

Pat Garrity's 87 consecutive starts are a Notre Dame record. (File Photo)

GARRITY NAMED PRESEASON BIG EAST PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Garrity was named the 1997-98 BIG EAST Conference preseason player of the year at the league's annual media day, which was held Wed., Nov. 5, in New York City at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Garrity, who was the 1996-97 BIG EAST player of the year, was a unanimous choice for the award and was named to the all-BIG EAST preseason first team joined by St. John's senior center Zendon Hamilton, Miami junior forward Tim James, Pittsburgh junior guard Vonteego Cummings and Seton Hall sophomore guard Shaheen Holloway.

The second team was Richard Hamilton of Connecticut, Jamel Thomas of Providence, Felipe Lopez of St. John's, Todd Burgan of Syracuse and Damian Owens of West Virginia. Ron Artest of St. John's was the preseason rookie of the year.

For just the second time since 1985, the BIG EAST Conference has a returning player of the year in Garrity. The last returning BIG EAST player of the year was Villanova's Kerry Kittles, who won the award in 1994-95. Previously, Patrick Ewing of Georgetown and Chris Mullin of St. John's shared the award in 1983-84 and returned for their senior season.

In the preseason coaches poll, Syracuse was picked to win the BIG EAST 7, while Connecticut was the pick in the BIG EAST 6. Notre Dame was picked fifth in the BIG EAST 6.

GARRITY'S HONORS IN REVIEW: Last season, Pat Garrity was:

• the BIG EAST Player of the Year
• a first team GTE Academic All-America pick and now has a 3.703 grade point average
• a unanimous first team All-BIG EAST selection
• was named honorable mention All-American selection by the Associated Press and Basketball Weekly

GARRITY GARNERS PRESEASON HONORS: Garrity has earned preseason honors from virtually every publication and preseason team that has been announced thus far. They include being:

• one of five national player of the year candidates according to Street and Smith's yearbook
• a preseason All-American according to Street and Smith's yearbook
• a preseason first team All-American by Blue Ribbon yearbook
• a first team preseason All-American pick by Inside Sports magazine, selected by CBS announcer Billy Packer
• a second team preseason All-American pick by Slam magazine
• a third team preseason All-American by Basketball Weekly
• one of the top ten preseason candidates for the Naismith College Player of the Year award, given by the Atlanta Tipoff Club
• one of the top 25 preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award, given by the Los Angeles Tipoff Club
• the third-best power forward in the country according to The Sporting News yearbook
• the fourth-best power forward in the country according to Street and Smith's yearbook
• the BIG EAST preseason player of the year according to The Sporting News yearbook

GARRITY LEADS USA TEAM: Garrity spent this past summer as a member of the United States Under-22 National Team. Coached by Utah's Rick Majerus, the team played exhibition games in the beginning of the summer against National Basketball Association rookie teams and then traveled to Australia for the World Under-22 Championship from August 1-10. The United States team finished fifth at that event, losing to host Australia in the quarterfinals by an 81-63 score and then beating Lithuania and Turkey in the consolation bracket. In the preliminary round, the United States beat Yugoslavia, New Zealand, China and Lithuania and lost to Puerto Rico.

Garrity was the leading scorer on the United States team, averaging 11.8 points per contest and was the second-leading rebounder at 4.5 boards per game. Garrity was the leading scorer for the team in three games and tied for the lead in another. Other members of the team included Mike Jones from TCU, Cory Carr from Texas Tech and Sam Jacobson from Minnesota.

INGELSBY IN STARTING LINEUP: Ingelsby has started his first three collegiate games and is averaging 7.3 points per game with 4.0 rebounds and has recorded a total of 16 assists. Ingelsby had a total of 11 assists with just one turnover against Northeastern and the 11 assists were the highest for an Irish player in a single-game since Admore White had 11 vs. Valparaiso in his career debut in 1993. Ingelsby has played 91 minutes this season and committed just five turnovers -- one for every 18.2 minutes of play. The last freshman to start at Notre Dame in his collegiate debut was current junior Antoni Wyche, who had 16 points against Akron in 1995.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE FOR HICKEY: Hickey scored 15 points with 11 rebounds in the victory over The Citadel on Nov. 17 to record the second double-double of his career. The first was last season against TCU in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament as he had 13 points and 12 rebounds. The 12 rebounds is also a career-high for Hickey.

HEAD COACH JOHN MacLEOD: Notre Dame head coach John MacLeod (Bellarmine '59) is in his seventh season in charge of the Irish program and has an overall record of 81-95 at the school and has a 171-164 mark as a college coach, which also includes six seasons at Oklahoma (1967-73). MacLeod was a head coach in the National Basketball Association for 18 seasons (Phoenix Suns from 1973-87, Dallas Mavericks from 1987-90 and the New York Knicks from 1990-91). MacLeod had an overall mark of 707-657 in the NBA.

MacLeod was named the 1997 BIG EAST coach of the year as he led his Irish to a 8-10 regular season mark in the league as Notre Dame was tied as the second-most improved club in the conference.

THE JOYCE CENTER: The Joyce Center is in its 30th year of use by the Notre Dame basketball team and the Irish have a 351-99 (.780) record in the building. Of the 450 games played in the facility, 201 have been sellouts.

EXHIBITION GAME: Notre Dame played its first exhibition game of the season on Nov. 9 as the Irish defeated Athletes in Action by a 78-77 count as sophomore Keith Friel (Durham, N.H.) hit a three-point field goal at the buzzer for the win. Notre Dame trailed by five at the half, 41-36, and was down by six points with 40.9 seconds left in the contest, but three point field goals by freshman Martin Ingelsby (Philadelphia, Pa.), junior guard Antoni Wyche (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) and Friel helped the Irish pull out the victory.

Senior forward Pat Garrity (Monument, Colo.) led the Irish with 23 points and 12 rebounds while senior forward Derek Manner (Webster, Texas) had 17 points and 11 boards. Junior center Phil Hickey (Wellsboro, Penn.) had 16 points -- 15 in the second half -- and nine rebounds.

Notre Dame also plays an exhibition game on Tues., December 9, against Marathon.

TICKET PLANS: Tickets are now on sale for the 1997-98 Notre Dame basketball season. Notre Dame is offering two ticket plans this season, all of which are in the bleacher seats. The gold package includes tickets for the St. John's (Dec. 30), Rutgers (Jan. 11), Villanova (Jan. 28) and Connecticut (Feb. 17) games while the blue package includes the Syracuse (Jan. 21), Boston College (Feb. 11), Miami (Feb. 22) and Georgetown (Feb. 25) games. Both packages are priced at $32 apiece.

Individual tickets for games not included in the blue and gold packages are also now available.

NOTRE DAME SIGNS THREE: University of Notre Dame basketball coach John MacLeod announced on November 12 that three high school basketball players have signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Irish and plan to enroll at Notre Dame next fall.

The three are: 6-6 forward David Graves from Lexington, Kent., and Lexington Catholic High School; 6-10 center Troy Murphy from Sparta, N.J., and Delbarton High School in Morristown, N.J.; and 6-8 forward Harold Swanagan from Hopkinsville, Kent., and University Heights Academy.

Graves earned first team all-state honors last season, while averaging 17.5 points per game and eight rebounds. He shot 61 percent from the field and 48 percent from three-point field goal range. Graves was named the most valuable player at the Showboat Classic in Memphis, Tenn., last summer as his team went unbeaten at the event.

Murphy averaged 23.5 points with 10.5 rebounds and 3.8 blocks per game last season. His team posted a 24-2 record and lost in the finals of the Morris County tournament He is a two-time all-Morris County selection by the Newark Star-Ledger.

Swanagan averaged 16.9 points per game last season with 9.0 rebounds for University Heights Academy.

IRISH ON TELEVISION: Notre Dame will make once again make a number of appearances on national and local television this season. Notre Dame will appear on NBC twice (Jan. 31 at St. John's and Feb. 28 at Providence), ESPN twice (Jan. 21 vs. Syracuse and Feb. 25 vs. Georgetown) and on ESPN2 twice (Dec. 3 at Indiana and Feb. 17 vs. Connecticut).

Notre Dame will make six appearances on SportsChannel Chicago (soon to be FOX Sports Chicago) as part of the ESPN-Plus package: Dec. 6, at Pittsburgh; Dec. 14, vs. Drexel; Jan. 3, at Connecticut; Jan. 11, vs. Rutgers; Jan. 28, vs. Villanova; Feb. 14, at Miami. Two games, in addition to the NBC games, two ESPN-Plus games will be shown on WNDU-TV in South Bend (Jan. 17 at Seton Hall and Feb. 7 at Georgetown) and two others on WBND-TV in South Bend (Jan. 15 at West Virginia and Feb. 5 at Rutgers).

IRISH ON THE RADIO: Host Communications, Inc., originates the Notre Dame Basketball Radio Network for the 10th year in 1997-98.

Jack Lorri will handle the play by play of all Notre Dame games and this season will mark his 29th year announcing Irish games. Lorri spent his first 14 years with Notre Dame as sports director of WTRC-AM in Elkhart, Ind., and then five doing games on WGN-AM in Chicago before teaming up with Host Communications. He served as sports director for WSJV-TV in Elkhart for 13 years beginning in 1967 and did play by play for Kentucky football and basketball on WLAP in Lexington in 1961-63. Lorri also served as sports director of the Tribune Radio Network in Chicago.

Jack Nolan handles the color commentary on the network. He has been a sports anchor at WNDU-TV, the NBC affiliate in South Bend, for over a decade. He has done play by play of Irish basketball on both television and radio as well as combining on various live telecasts of Notre Dame football. He is also the host of WNDU's highly-successful Saturday and Sunday morning news broadcasts.

Stations scheduled to be on the Notre Dame Basketball Radio Network this season in the South Bend area are: WNDU 1490 AM and 92.9 FM in South Bend, WEFM-95.9 FM in Michigan City, WGOM-860 AM in Marion and WLUV 96.7 FM and 1520 AM in Rockford, Ill.

IRISH ON THE NET: Complete information on all Notre Dame athletic teams can been found on the World Wide Web at www.und.com. For basketball, access to a Real Audio radio broadcast of the game is available and for home games, a "live" box score is updated every 15 seconds.

MacLEOD TELECONFERENCE: Notre Dame head coach John MacLeod will once again have a series of teleconferences this season. All teleconferences are held in the Notre Dame sports information office and the next one will be held Mon., December 1, to preview the Indiana, Pittsburgh, Marathon and Drexel games.