Preview: Notre Dame vs. Connecticut
12th Feb 2008
Notre Dame will be in Connecticut tomorrow night to take on the Huskies at 7:00 EST. The Irish are currently on a five game winning streak while Connecticut has won seven in a row. This will be the second time these teams have met this season. Mike Brey led his team to a 73-67 victory over the Huskies in South Bend on January 5th. Since than, both teams have suffered two defeats to Big East opponents. Notre Dame stands in second place in the conference with their 18-4 (8-2) record, Connecticut in fourth at 18-5 (7-3).
Connecticut has been on fire since their loss at home to Providence, winning all of their games. They have moved up to #17 in both polls, ahead of the Irish who have the better record. Notre Dame was voted #18 in the ESPN/USA Today Poll, while #20 in the AP Poll this week. But obviously rankings don’t really mean anything in college basketball. Especially when it comes to Big East play, the best conference in the NCAA, where anyone can beat anyone.
The seven game winning streak hasn’t been an easy accomplishment for the Huskies who have beaten Marquette, Indiana, and Pittsburgh who were each ranked at the time. Louisville, currently ranked #23 in the AP Poll, was another quality victory for Connecticut. Four of the seven games were decided by five or less points, including a one point win over Cincinnati. My point is that Connecticut is a great team who has come together and knows how to win late in the game.
Notre Dame’s five game winning streak isn’t as impressive as the Huskies, but still deserves some recognition. They have beaten two teams, Villanova and Marquette, who were ranked in the top 25 at the time. The other wins include Providence, DePaul, and Seton Hall by an average of 14 points. The Irish have managed to win many of their close games so far this season, but most of them shouldn’t even come to that. For example, the Irish led Marquette by roughly ten points nearly the entire second half, but let down late in the game. They ended up winning by three, but struggled when putting the game away and need to change this soon. In order for Notre Dame to make it far in the post-season, they need to learn to finish off their opponent.
Here are some statistics from when these teams met in January. Kyle McAlarney had his best game scoring 32 points, shooting 6 of 7 from behind the arc. Luke Harangody and Rob Kurz each added 14 points while Tory Jackson had 11 assists. Jeff Adrien for Connecticut had 16 points and Jerome Dyson and A.J. Price each supplied 13 for the Huskies. The Irish out-rebounded Connecticut 42 to 41 and shot much better from three. Notre Dame made 9-17 (52.9%) threes, while the Huskies only made 2-17 (11.8%).
The key matchup in this game will be Luke Harangody versus Hasheem Thabeet. Harangody still leads the Big East in scoring with 20.3 points and second in rebounding with 10.2 per game. He’s recorded a double-double in all five games of Notre Dame’s current streak. But 7′3″ Thabeet will most certainly present a challenge for the 6′8″ Harangody. Hasheem scores an average of 11.2 points with 7.5 rebounds per game. His most notable performance occurred on Saturday against Georgia Tech when he scored 24 points leading his team to another victory. His size will prevent Harangody from pushing him over, but I’m sure Luke will be able to get to the line where he makes 79.3% of his free-throws.
This is going to be a real tough match for Mike Brey’s team to win, but if they play to the best of their ability, they could come home with a W. A team performance like against Marquette could get it done, but a McAlarney-Harangody combo works out fine for me. Let’s hope Notre Dame can pull through and grab another Big East win as we head towards the end of the season. The game will be on ESPNU, live tomorrow night and as always, Go Irish!
