Notre Dame Team Report
GETTING INSIDE
Notre Dame has started play inside the Big East and is glad of that—a string of 13 non-conference games had gotten monotonous.
The Fighting Irish won their conference opener Wednesday night, posting a 93-78 victory over visiting Providence. Notre Dame (12-2, 1-0) will visit No. 10 Connecticut (9-3, 0-1) on Saturday afternoon.
“No offense to the (non-conference) teams, but this is when it starts to get fun,” senior forward Luke Harangody said. “You look forward to this. Every game is exciting. You don’t have to look who’s next on the schedule.”
Notre Dame certainly won’t have to be reminded that it is playing Connecticut next. The Huskies have won the last three meetings with the Fighting Irish and five of the last six.
Notre Dame lost twice to Connecticut last season, including a 69-61 defeat on Jan. 24 that ended the Fighting Irish’s string of 45 wins at the Purcell Center, then the longest active home winning streak in the country. Harangody had 24 points and 15 rebounds in that game while Jerome Dyson topped Connecticut with 15 points. Notre Dame also lost to Connecticut 72-65 on the road on Feb. 28 despite getting 17 points and five assists from Tory Jackson.
Notre Dame 93, Providence 78: Senior guard Jonathan Peoples scored a career-high 23 points and Tim Abromaitis added 22 as Notre Dame won its Big East opener and third straight game. Peoples and Abromaitis each made five 3-pointers as the Fighting Irish had a total of 11 and shot 50 percent from behind the arc. Notre Dame broke the game open by finishing the first half on a 13-1 run to build a 53-32 lead.
NOTES, QUOTES
• Freshman G Joey Brooks made the most of his limited playing time in the Bucknell rout by scoring a career-high 12 points.
• Coach Mike Brey ended the pre-Christmas break with 199 victories in his career at Notre Dame.
January At A Glance: As everyone knows, Notre Dame performs best at home, so January becomes a crucial time as the Irish hit the road for three of their first four conference games. After the home opener against Providence, Notre Dame plays at Connecticut, South Florida and Cincinnati, with a tough home challenge coming from Bob Huggins’ West Virginia team. If the Fighting Irish can steal away a victory or two on the road, it could set them up for a strong run in a really tough league.
Quote To Note: “If you’re not mature enough to understand that if you’re not ready to play, you’re going to get your butt beat after what happened (against Loyola Marymount), then I can’t get to them.”—Coach Mike Brey in the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune on how his team needs to be ready to play every game.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
Season Recap: The pre-Big East portion of the schedule went about as expected for Notre Dame, except two difficult losses to swallow, one to Northwestern in which the Irish scored only 58 points, and the other a shocker to Loyola-Marymount. The rest of the time, F Luke Harangody was hitting his shots and the boards, piling up double-doubles and F Tim Abromaitis showed he could take some of the scoring load, bouncing in with a 31-point game against North Florida. Abromaitis averaged 15.8 points per game through the first 13 games.
Player Rotation: Usual Starters—F Luke Harangody, F Tim Abromaitis, F Tyrone Nash, G Ben Hansbrough, G Tory Jackson. Key Subs —G Jonathan Peoples, G Carleton Scott.
Game Review:
Loyola-Marymount 87, Notre Dame 85
Notre Dame 84, UCLA 73
Notre Dame 101, Bucknell 69
Notre Dame 93, Providence 78
Game Preview:
At Connecticut, Saturday, Jan. 2
At South Florida, Tuesday, Jan. 5
Vs. West Virginia, Saturday, Jan. 9
At Cincinnati, Saturday, Jan. 16
In Focus: On Jan. 2, Notre Dame leaves the friendly confines of South Bend and travels to Storrs, Conn., for its first showdown game of the season against UConn. Do not be fooled by UConn’s two early losses, they were to Duke and Kentucky. The Huskies will be zeroing in on F Luke Harangody, around whom everything Notre Dame does revolves. He’ll get his points and rebounds. He always does, but UConn’s Jerome Dyson can match Harangody point for point, sitting second in the conference scoring race with more than 20 points a game.
On The Spot: F Carleton Scott played a season-low three minutes against Providence as coach Mike Brey shortened his rotation to six players. With four starters playing at least 30 minutes in the Big East opener, Scott might have a hard time getting much playing time if Brey continues using a short bench.
Roster Report:
• G Jonathan Peoples set a career high with 23 points in 26 minutes off the bench against Providence. The senior had 17 points in the first half when he went 5-for-5 from three-point range. Peoples’ previous best was also against Providence, a 14-point performance on Feb. 21, 2009.
• F Luke Harangody had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the 57th double-double of his career, breaking the Notre Dame record. The record had been held by LaPhonso Ellis, now the color analyst on Fighting Irish radio broadcasts. Harangody has posted double-doubles in seven of the first 14 games of his senior season.
• G Ben Hansbrough flirted with the second triple-double in school history in his first Big East game as he had 10 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists. He established season highs in rebounds and assists. Hansbrough had four rebounds in a victory over St. Francis (Pa.) on Nov. 16 and a loss to Northwestern on Nov. 27 and nine assists in a loss to Loyola Marymount on Dec. 12.
• G Tory Jackson became the 50th player to score 1,000 points in Notre Dame history but only the fourth to have 1,000 points and 500 assists.
