Feb. 20, 2006
Notre Dame basketball guard Chris Quinn (Dublin, Ohio) continued his impressive senior season by being named to the BIG EAST’s weekly five-player Honor Roll for the third time this season, after totaling 46 points, 10 assists and four steals in a home win versus South Florida (62-55) and a road victory over Seton Hall (101-92). He averaged 23.0 points per game during the week while shooting 42.3 percent from the floor (11-of-26), 41.7 percent from three-point range (5-of-8) and nearly perfect from the free-throw line (19-of-20; .950).
Quinn’s season-long success has him poised to be among the BIG EAST’s top postseason honorees. The first 14 weeks of the BIG EAST awards have produced just six players who have received player of the week and/or been named to the honor roll a combined total of more than three times. Of those six players, only three are guards: Quincy Douby of Rutgers, West Virginia’s Mike Gansy and Villanova’s Allan Ray. The only other BIG EAST players who have received more weekly honors (player of week/honor roll) than Quinn are Marquette forward Steve Novak, UConn forward Rudy Gay and WVU center Kevin Pittsnogle.
The win over USF featured 12 points, five assists, five rebounds and three steals from Quinn. He then erupted for the second-most points of his career (and most in regulation), totaling 34 points while helping the Irish eclipse the 100-point mark in the win over Seton Hall. Quinn – who scored 30-plus points for the fourth time this season – made all 14 of his free throws versus the Pirates while connecting on half of his overall field-goal attempts (8-of-16) and half of his three-point shots (4-of-8). He added five assists, just two turnovers and a steal while playing all 40 minutes versus SHU – the 12th time this season (including the USF game) and seventh in the last eight games that Quinn has logged 40-plus minutes.
Quinn has scored in double figures in all 21 games he has played this season and has netted 20-plus points in six of those games. He leads the Irish with an 19.0 scoring average and also tops the team in assists (6.3/gm) and steals (1.6). Quinn is shooting 47.3 percent from the field, 46.2 percent from three-point range and 87.1 percent from the line.
Among BIG EAST players, Quinn is tied for third in overall scoring average (19.9) while leading the league in assists (6.27), three-point pct. (.462) and minutes played (39.59), ranking fourth in free-throw pct. (.871) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.46; 79/31), seventh in free-throw pct. (.871), ninth in three-point field goals (2.73) and 15th in steals (1.59). He joins WVU center Pittsnogle as the league’s only players currently ranked seventh or higher in all three overall shooting percentage statistics.
Quinn is the league’s only player ranked eighth or higher in both overall scoring and assists.
In league games only, Quinn leads all BIG EAST players in minutes played (41.58) while ranking second in scoring (22.9), assists (6.50) and three-point pct. (.483), third in field-goal pct. (.508), fourth in three-point baskets (3.58), fifth in free-throw pct. (.852) and sixth in assist-turnover ratio (2.29). He is the BIG EAST’s only player ranked among the top-5 in all three shooting percentage categories during league play.
Notre Dame players now have been named to the Honor Roll a total of seven times in the 2005-06 season. Sophomore forward Rob Kurz was the first Irish player to earn the honor, finding his way onto the Nov. 21 list after an 18-point, eight-rebound effort in the season opener. Senior forward Torin Francis garnered Honor Roll recognition in two consecutive weeks – Dec. 12 and Dec. 19 – by averaging 18.0 points and 9.0 rebounds and helping the Irish go 3-0 over the two-week stretch. Freshman guard Kyle McAlarney was named to the Honor Roll for the week of Dec. 29, after averaging 13.0 points per game in wins over Niagara and Columbia. Francis recently earned his own third Honor Roll selection on Feb. 13, after scoring 21 points and grabbing seven rebounds in a 90-63 win over Rutgers.
Notre Dame joins four others – West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Villanova – as the league’s only teams with multiple players who have been named BIG EAST player of the week/honor roll three-plus times this season (each with two).
Allan Ray of Villanova was named BIG EAST player of the week while Cincinnati’s Devan Downey and Marquette’s Dominic James shared rookie-of-the-week honors. Joining Quinn on the week-14 Honor Roll list were: Douby (Rutgers), Novak (Marquette), James White (Cincinnati) and Gerry McNamara (Syracuse).