Irish Split Exhibition Games
Frank Vitovitch
November 14, 1999

Notre Dame, Ind - The Matt Doherty era got off to a good start last Friday (November 5, 1999) with the Fighting Irish collecting a 94-79 win over the International Select All Stars at the Joyce Center.  The game was the first for first year head coach Matt Doherty as a head coach of a major university.

The Irish used a 28 point, 11 rebound game from the sophomore PTPer (Prime Time Player in Dick Vitale's dialect) Troy Murphy.  Murphy is a pre season all Big East forward in almost every publication you can find and he back that up with his 28 performance in game one which he followed up with another 28 point performance in game two.

Against the International All Stars, a couple of freshman, Matt Carroll and Jere Macura, combined to score 33 points to aid the Irish win.   Macura also added 8 bounds in his first college game. 

The Irish needed a strong second half to pull away from the All Stars after trailing by two at the half.  The two aforementioned freshman gave ND the lead in the second half, a lead the Irish did not lose again. Carroll and Macura hit back to back threes in the second half giving Doherty's Irish the lead for good.

The second game however was a different story.  This Thursday (November 11, 1999) the Irish came out flat and lost to Marathon 105-81. 

As previously mentioned, Murphy added another 28 point performance while adding 15 boards in the loss.  Murphy also added 7 turnovers though, a problem which the whole team encountered.  The Fighting Irish committed 26 turnovers as a team which lead to Marathon's 24 point victory.

Freshman Matt Carroll had another good game with 12 points and 5 boards as he averaged 16 points per game  in the two exhibition games for the Irish.  Fellow freshman Jere Macura chipped in with 7 points with 6 boards and 2 steals.  The two freshman had an impressive exhibition series and look as if they will both make big impacts on the Irish in 99 and will both be major players in the rebuilding process.

Sophomore guard David Graves also had a pretty good series averaging 12 point per game while adding 9 assists and converting 4 of 5 three pointers.

Head coach Doherty was upset over the loss to Marathon suggesting the Irish may have been looking towards Ohio State more than Marathon.   Notre Dame opens the season November 16 against the Buckeyes in the opening round of the NIT.  Ohio State is a top 10 team this year coming into the season so the new look Irish have an early chance to prove they are no push over any more.