SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) Mike Brey s viewing selection for his players the night before meeting top-ranked was an easy choice. The Notre Dame coach showed a video of former Irish teams upsetting No. 1 teams over the years.
Brey and the current group of Irish now have their own spot in that collection.
Jack Cooley had 17 points and 10 rebounds against a Syracuse team missing its shot-blocking, rebounding center Fab Melo and the Irish surprised the top-ranked and previously unbeaten Orange 67-58 on Saturday night.
Fans stormed the court after the Irish s rousing victory, hoisting players on their shoulders in a wild scene at the Purcell Pavilion. It was the eighth time Notre Dame has beaten a No. 1 team that ties for fourth-most all-time, with North Carolina having the most with 12.
Notre Dame has an unbelievable history against No. 1 teams, Irish forward Scott Martin said. We saw a little video to just kind of pump us up a little bit.
Cooley was certainly inspired.
Without Melo in the middle, Notre Dame s 6-foot-9, 248-pound center was a major force as the Irish won the rebound battle 38-25.
I can t even describe this right now. They were 20-0. I can t put it to words how amazing this is, Cooley said. We came out with energy. This was a great opportunity and we didn t want to squander it.
Melo had started all 20 of the Orange s first games, was their leading rebounder with 5.7 a game, averaged 7.2 points and three blocks. School officials gave no explanation why the talented center did not make the trip. He will also miss Monday s game against Cincinnati .
We had all week to prepare for Melo (not playing). We didn t know for sure (he would not play), but we were prepared for it, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said, without elaborating on the reasons.
I don t know how he affected the game because he wasn t here.
Syracuse guard Scoop Jardine said Melo was definitely missed but his absence was no excuse for such a weak offensive performance in their lowest scoring game of the season.
Fab is the key to our defense. He s an anchor. It wasn t that, though. Our offense wasn t going today, Jardine said. Fab only averaged six points for us. That s not too much points.
James Southerland scored 15 points for Syracuse, which shot just 34 percent and was 7-for-23 on 3-pointers. Martin added 13 for Notre Dame, which hit 50 percent of its field-goal attempts.
Southerland s 3-pointer with 53.9 seconds left brought the Orange to within 62-56 before the Irish held on as Jerian Grant sank four free throws in the final 32 seconds.
It was the first time the Irish have beaten a top-ranked team since 1987 when they defeated North Carolina, also in South Bend. One of the Irish s most dramatic victories over a No. 1 came in 1974, when they stopped s 88-game winning streak by 71-70, also on the Irish s homecourt.
Hence the video selection from Brey.
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