Notre Dame Balance Beats DePaul
12/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S BASKETBALL
Box Score
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Notre Dame had six players in double figures and used that balance to beat DePaul 82-69 in front of 14,198 on Sunday at the Allstate Arena.
Jordan Cornette led the Fighting Irish (3-3) with 17 points while Chris Thomas had 13, Torin Francis and Colin Falls each had 12 and Rick Cornett added 10.
Jordan Cornette won the Wendell Smith Award as the game’s Most Valuable Player.
DePaul (5-2) was led by Delonte Holland’s 23 points while Andre Brown added 22 points and 11 rebounds. Quemont Greer had 10 points and nine boards.
The Blue Demons sprinted out of the gates and opened an early eight point lead at 13-5 in the game’s first four minutes. Notre Dame began to chip away at the lead and tied the game at 16 with 11:50 left. DePaul held the lead until the 1:57 when the half began to see-saw back and forth.
Notre Dame held a 39-38 advantage at the break.
The second half was all Notre Dame as the Irish build the lead up to as much as 14 (77-63) with 2:19 left.
DePaul is off until Saturday when Toledo comes to the Allstate Arena for a 1 p.m. game on WSCR (670 AM).
Notes
Today’s attendance of 14, 198 was the largest home crowd since February 10, 2001 when DePaul drew 12,236 for UCLA… the court at the Allstate Arena was dedicated Ray and Marge Meyer Court at halftime… Andre Brown’s double-double was the 23rd of his career, tops among all active C-USA players… Notre Dame has now won three straight in the series.
Quotes
Ray Meyer
“Today is one of the highlights of my career, no question about it. I have been looking forward to today this since I first heard about it. I am proud of the honor bestowed upon Marge and myself. I’m glad it’s over, it was overwhelming with all the fans. DePaul will have their day again, just give them some time, they will come around with the talent they have on this team.”
“We made the game come easy to Notre Dame, we competed for seventeen minutes and then they took over at the end of the first half which continued to the second half. They began dictating the game and what they would give us.”
“We stopped competing with three to four minutes left in the first half. We have been very consistent especially defensively, until today. We became inconsistent which gave them confidence.”
Andre Brown
“Notre Dame had more confidence than us today. They also picked it up defensively in the second half. I came into the game confident in my shots and my teammates, but the communication breakdown lead to our loss.”
Delonte Holland
“We stopped our communication with each other. When our communication breakdown happened on defensive, it allowed them to kick out and it gave them easy three point shots. I feel like we let the game slip away from us because our defensive went sour. Our lack of communication let Notre Dame penetrate easily.”