Dec. 29, 1999
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Big East Conference games are rapidly approaching for the Irish. In fact, the Irish will kick-off Big East play, one week from today against, Connecticut.
A concern of Irish head coach Matt Doherty and his coaching staff rests with the reserves. The team?s starting five thus far has dominated the playing time with just a few exceptions.
Last night, Doherty calmed his nerves as he watched his reserves maintain the large lead over Elon College and preserve the win, 97-71.
“I was glad to get some guys in there and give them some quality minutes,” Doherty said.
With nine minutes remaining in the second half, Doherty substituted Jere Macura for David Graves. Graves was the final starter to exit the floor with a chunk of the second half remaining. He contributed 24 points, as he was the top scorer for the Irish. He also tied for the team high in rebounds with six and had three steals.
“It was nice to kick our feet up and cheer on the other guys,” Graves said about the reserves.
The reserves registered some highs of their own. Freshman Mike Monserez had a career-high of five points while fellow freshman Ivan Kartelo also had a career-high six points. Even the non-scholarship players saw action, Tony Carney and John Hiltz registered their first minutes of the season. Carney scored two points while Hiltz had six in just three minutes of play.
“It was good to see them play against that type of pressure because they are going to half to help us out,” Graves said about the reserves.
While senior point guard Jimmy Dillon watched, junior Martin Ingelsby commanded the Irish. Ingelsby has become of Doherty?s super subs. The junior contributed six points, three assists and three steals. He helped lead the reserves in preserving the win.
“That really shows that they are going to help us out this year as we enter the Big East schedule,” Murphy said.
Murphy got some well-deserved rest in the Elon game. He played just 26 minutes, which is way below his 35 minutes per game average. The sophomore scored 22 points and snagged six rebounds.
“It is nice to have a comfortable victory,” Murphy said. “We can?t really think that we are doing anything great because we have to come back in tomorrow ready to work.”
The Irish have just two more games to prepare for Big East competition. Notre Dame will play St. Peter?s on Friday and Loyola Marymount on Sunday before heading to Connecticut to take on the Huskies.