February 24, 2001

Tech fans were excited to see Notre Dame come to town, but the excitement quickly dissipated.

Notre Dame, ranked 18th in both polls, scored on seven of its first nine possessions and never trailed en route to an 85-61 BIG EAST win over Virginia Tech in front of 7,148 fans at Cassell Coliseum in the Hokies' home finale. The win - combined with Syracuse's loss to Georgetown earlier in the day - gave Notre Dame the West Division title. It also marked the largest ever for the Fighting Irish(19-6, 11-3) in a BIG EAST game.

Meanwhile, Tech (8-18, 2-13) lost its eighth straight game and its fourth straight at home. That marks just the second time in the history of Cassell Coliseum that the Hokies have lost four straight at home. Tech lost four straight at home in the 1988-89 season.

The Irish game a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds from All-American and Naismith Award candidate Troy Murphy. The junior came into the game leading the BIG EAST in scoring at better than 23 per game, made 7-of-10 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.

He got help from teammates David Graves and Matt Carroll, who both scored 19 and combined to hit five 3-pointers. Notre Dame shot 52.7 percent from the field and recorded 21 assists compared to 10 turnovers.

"They've got a lot of weapons," Tech head coach Ricky Stokes said. "They moved the ball well and they shot the ball well. And we didn't. That's pretty much the story of the game."

Tech shot just 36.8 percent from the floor. Carlton Carter led the Hokies with 17 points and nine boards. Carlos Dixon added 14 points, while Mibindo Dongo finished with 10.

Tech has the next week off before wrapping up the season March 3 at Pittsburgh. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.