Preview: Notre Dame vs. DePaul
2nd Mar 2008
Notre Dame will be facing the Blue Demons of DePaul for the second time this season at 1:00 PM ET today. The Irish will be hoping to bounce back from a five point loss to Louisville and get their record-breaking 12th Big East victory. A win over DePaul would give this team the Notre Dame record for most Big East wins in a regular season. The Blue Demons are hoping that they can snap their four game losing streak and get revenge on the Irish. DePaul is 10-17 (5-10) on the year while #17 Notre Dame is at 21-6 (11-4).
These two teams last faced one another exactly a month ago, February 2nd. Notre Dame won that game in the Joyce Center 89-80 thanks to Luke Harangody’s 29 points. Kyle McAlarney and Zach Hillesland were the only other Irish players in double-digits with 17 and 10. The Blue Demons stayed in the game with their three-point shooting, making 11 total in the game while the Irish only had 8. Dar Tucker led the way for DePaul in that game with 19 points coming off the bench, while Mac Koshwal had 18 and Draelon Burns had 17. Those three players still lead their team in scoring.
Heading into today’s game, Luke Harangody averages 21.0 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. He is coming off of his Big East Player of the Year performance with 40 points and will try to continue this play against the Blue Demons. He dominated the last time these teams played and should be able to do that again at 1:00 to beat DePaul. He should have another big game, at least 20 points, in a relatively easy win for Mike Brey’s squad.
The game is at DePaul which may make it a closer game than I anticipate but in the end Notre Dame should come away with a victory. A loss would most certainly drop the Irish out of the rankings and possibly prevent them from getting a bye in the Big East tournament. With only three games left, Notre Dame needs to win every one to guarantee a bye as well as a decent seed in the NCAA tournament.
DePaul guard Draelon Burns is coming off of 31 point game in their loss to West Virginia. He made 7 of his 9 three-point attempts in that game and should be a major threat to the Irish today. ND has to prevent him from getting open looks from beyond the arc if they want to pull away in this game. He is a very talented leader of the team and could keep it close today.
Kyle McAlarney is coming off of one of his worst three-point shooting games. He only made 1 against Louisville and had only 7 points the entire night. If he is able to bounce back and make some shots, I guarantee a Notre Dame victory. Tory Jackson is also going to play better and score more than 3 points. He didn’t take many shots against the Cardinals and needs to get his confidence back up. Also, Ryan Ayers had a great game with 17 points and would be a big help if he can make his shots coming off of the bench.
This game will be televised on ESPN regionally this afternoon, so if you can, make sure to watch it. A strong performance would keep the Irish around #17 in the rankings because of the loss on Thursday. Let’s go beat DePaul and get another conference win. As always, Go Irish!
