MISSION STATEMENT
The 10th-ranked Irish went 22-for-23 from the line Tuesday night in a 68-57 victory over Rutgers, which was 5-for-9 on free throws.
On Sunday, Notre Dame took 20 more free throws than Seton Hall in a 10-point home victory.
While Seton Hall coach Louis Orr complained about the officiating, Rutgers coach Gary Waters was calmer when asked if the free throws made a big difference.
"Oh, yeah, that does," he said. "I won't comment on it, but they shot 23 and we shot nine."
The Knights (8-6, 0-2 Big East) had only three free throws in the first half, but Irish coach Mike Brey had a simple explanation for that.
"We certainly didn't foul anybody in the first half. We didn't guard anybody," he said.
The Irish, who trailed 36-35 at halftime, were a little late coming out for the second half because Brey gave an extended talk during the intermission.
"Coach Brey really jumped on us," said Matt Carroll, who led the Irish with 25 points.
Then the Irish (14-2, 2-1) jumped on the Scarlet Knights.
Notre Dame started the second half with a 10-2 run to go ahead 45-38 on a 3-pointer by Carroll. But the Scarlet Knights answered with a 9-0 run to take a 47-45 lead.
A 3 by Carroll gave the Irish a 50-47 lead and Jordan Cornette, who had six of his eight blocked shots in the second half, then turned up the defense. He deflected a bad pass from Mike Sherrod to Herve Lamizana out of bounds with 10 seconds left on the shot clock. Then he blocked a shot by Juel Wiggan out of bounds with 4 seconds left on the shot clock.
Lamizana, who led Rutgers with 14 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots, got the inbounds pass with Cornette guarding him, but couldn't get a shot off and the shot clock ran out as he tried to pass and the crowd of 11,054 went wild.
Two possessions later, Cornette forced a held ball as he grabbed the ball after Sean Axani rebounded it. The next time down the floor, Cornette stole a pass by Jerome Coleman, then scored at the other end on a tip-in to give the Irish a 56-49 lead.
"I'm speechless," Carroll said of Cornette. "He was unbelievable. He did so much. He was the big difference."
All three Irish big men -- Cornette, Torin Francis and Tom Timmermans -- struggled in the first half. But Cornette helped hold Kareem Wright, who had nine points in the first half, to one field goal in the second half.
"I tried my best to be a spark," Cornette said.
Carroll provided the Irish with a spark of his own, making four 3-pointers in the second half, including one with 5:19 left as Notre Dame opened a 10-point lead. It was his 22nd straight game scoring in double figures.
"He's the reason why they're having so much success," Waters said.
Waters is left to figure out what is going wrong with his team, which lost its third straight. The Scarlet Knights have been close in the final 10 minutes in all but one of their losses and are trying to figure out what is going wrong.
"Our composure went down down the stretch," Wright said. "We've got to put together a 40-minute game to be successful."
Chris Thomas added 19 points and seven assists for the Irish.
Ricky Shields had 13 points for Rutgers.
Official Basketball Box Score
Rutgers vs Notre Dame
1/14/03 7:30 p.m. at Joyce Center, Notre Dame, Ind.
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VISITORS: Rutgers (8-6, 0-2)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Lamizana, Herve..... f 7-16 0-0 0-0 3 5 8 3 14 3 2 3 2 34
02 Shields, Ricky...... f 3-4 3-3 4-4 1 2 3 1 13 1 1 0 0 32
32 Axani, Sean......... f 0-3 0-0 0-1 2 1 3 2 0 2 0 0 1 21
03 Sherrod, Mike....... g 1-5 0-0 0-2 0 3 3 3 2 1 0 0 1 28
11 Coleman, Jerome..... g 4-14 0-7 0-0 1 4 5 5 8 5 5 0 3 33
13 Wiggan, Juel........ 0-3 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 15
21 McCoy, Jason........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
44 Wooten, Calvin...... 4-6 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 9 4 1 0 0 12
55 Wright, Kareem...... 5-10 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 2 11 0 0 0 1 22
TEAM................ 5 1 6
Totals.............. 24-62 4-11 5-9 15 19 34 18 57 17 9 3 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-34 47.1% 2nd Half: 8-28 28.6% Game: 38.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 1-3 33.3% Game: 36.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-3 33.3% 2nd Half: 4-6 66.7% Game: 55.6% 2
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HOME TEAM: Notre Dame (14-2, 2-1)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 Miller, Dan......... f 2-10 2-6 2-2 0 6 6 3 8 2 3 0 0 33
34 Francis, Torin...... f 1-2 0-0 2-2 0 3 3 2 4 2 2 1 0 21
12 Cornette, Jordan.... c 3-4 0-0 2-2 2 5 7 3 8 2 1 8 1 33
01 Thomas, Chris....... g 4-9 1-4 10-11 0 3 3 3 19 7 5 0 2 40
13 Carroll, Matt....... g 7-15 5-9 6-6 0 3 3 1 25 1 1 0 1 39
02 Quinn, Chris........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
20 Jones, Torrian...... 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 4 0 1 0 0 23
50 Timmermans, Tom..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 7
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 19-43 8-19 22-23 5 25 30 14 68 14 13 9 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-23 47.8% 2nd Half: 8-20 40.0% Game: 44.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 42.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-9 100 % 2nd Half: 13-14 92.9% Game: 95.7% 1
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Officials: Mike Kitts, Andre Pattillo, Karl Hess
Technical fouls: Rutgers-None. Notre Dame-None.
Attendance: 11054
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Rutgers....................... 36 21 - 57
Notre Dame.................... 35 33 - 68
Points in the paint-RU 32,ND 18. Points off turnovers-RU 10,ND 14.
2nd chance points-RU 9,ND 4. Fast break points-RU 6,ND 9.
Bench points-RU 20,ND 4. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-6 times.
Last FG-RU 2nd-00:32, ND 2nd-04:03.
